They waited a few days but no attack
came. Colonel Juan Jose Mendez now
commanding what was left of the Fourth
Division sent out two guerrillas of 400 men
each to reconnoiter the road to Izamel.
Approaching cautiously the Ladinos entered the
burned remains of the town, meeting and
dispatching only a few Mayan looters. The
enemy had gone. In the south the aggressive
Colonel Cetina also pushed his men forward in a
successful raid against Ticul to find that the
enemy was withdrawing. Merida went wild with
joy at the news of their salvation. To top off the
good news contact was made with Colonel
Pasos and the "lost" Third Division. Pasos had
been so hotly engaged with the Maya that he
didn't have the time to contact headquarters.
In later years the son of a Maya leader
explained what happened. As the Maya
prepared to take Merida [4]:
... [the Maya] talked among
themselves and argued, thinking deeply,
and then when morning came ... my
fathers people said, each to his Batab
[leader] ... I am going - and in spite of
the supplications and threats of their
chiefs each man rolled up his blanket
and put it in his food pouch, tightened
his sandals and started for his home and
his cornfield.
[The Mayan commanders]
knowing how useless it was to attack
the city with the few men that
remained, went into council and
resolved to go back home. Thus true to their annual tradition and the
native way of thinking, the Maya returned
home to attend their overdue spring planting.
They had lost the race to capture Campeche
and Merida before the rains came but they did
not think it important. The Maya while master
guerilla tacticians had no concept of strategy.
They did not think that the Ladinos could
recover their strength and simply felt
Campeche and Merida could wait till after the
already late planting, besides they would have
to eat the next year. So they lost their best
chance for driving the hated white man
completely from their land. At heart the
Mayans are farmers, not soldiers.
The few disciplined fanatics that
remained continued to raid; burning fields within
sight of Campeche and pressing the their
attacks to within 17 miles of Merida. But the
enemy they encountered was a revitalized
Yucatecan army. Following up his initial
success against Izamel Colonel Mendez
(exceeding his orders) drove up the Valladolid
road with a 1200 man column to take Tunkas
halfway to Valladolid. Setting up a base he sent
small guerrillas to follow, track, or pursue, the
dispersing Maya to their homes and cornfields a
potentially devastating strategy.
To the south around Ticul Jacinto Pat with
some foresight and generally better disciplined
troops had managed to keep a large part of his
force intact. Here he faced the aggressive
Colonel Cetina throughout June and July in a
seesaw struggle of ambushes, raids and counter
raids. Finally on July 29 Pat tired of the struggle
and withdrew his battered forces. He
conducted a tenacious fighting withdrawal
toward Peto through Ticul and Tekax. After
Tekax fell to a Ladino pincer movement, Cetina
in true Caste War fashion had the Maya
prisoners whipped, and then ordered them
(including children) tossed from the balcony of a
public building onto waiting bayonets below.
Fighting was also heavy elsewhere. In the
central sector the Cocome Maya still besieged
the small town of Huhi eight miles south of
Hocaba. Opposed by the hard fighting troops of
Colonel Pasos' Third Division, the Cocome gave
up the siege and abandoned Yaxcaba and Sotuta
as they fell back.
Around Campeche the faint hearted
garrison discovered they were opposed by only a
few stray marauders and became more
aggressive. The Sixth Division, newly raised
from the villages along the Campeche-Merida
road took up the offensive against Hopelchen
where after heavy fighting t ey established a
fortified camp.
By August the tide had definitely turned for
the Ladino defenders. The counter offensive had
recovered much of the frontier as far as Tunkas,
Sotuta, Yaxcaba, Tekax, and Hopolchen.
Outside assistance in the form of foodstuffs and
weapons from Cuba and the United States, were
arriving in quantity. Governor Barbachano was
able to assure Mexican assistance by
renegotiating terms of reunification with the new
Mexican government. Reunification with Mexico
was announced on the 17th of August.
For the Maya August meant the end of
planting and the return of the warriors to the
front. Cecilio Che took some 5000 of his
reassembled warriors and set out to recapture
Yaxcaba. Here the fighting resembled that of the
previous year with aggressive Ladino sorties
being chopped up by the Mayan besiegers.
After some touch and go fighting the
Ladino's fell back on Sotuta. The Maya followed
up but a large influx of Ladino reinforcements
discouraged the would be siege and the Indians
melted away into the forest. The Ladino's were
able to reoccupy Yaxcaba.
The Ladino success during the summer
campaign reflected an improvement in Ladino
tactics and fighting skills as well as a decline in
Indio morale and unity. The Ladinos now
deployed their forces in a more coordinated
"hedgehog" fashion. The forward fortified camps
were deliberately kept small so as to be self
supporting by local foraging which also denied the enemy local
crops. These positions were also mutually
supporting; when one camp was threatened,
nearby posts would send help ideally striking the
enemy rear. In bush fighting the Ladino veterans
were now better at utilizing cover and
concealment, and more adept at flanking those
pesky Indian barricades. Even the Maya
noted the improvement: "we think we will
surprise them in our ambushes, we are the ones
who are surprised in the rear." [5]
In contrast among the Maya Leadership
there was increasing dissention. Pat and Che, of
course, never got along and among Pat's
command a prominent Batab in Peto was
executed for suggesting surrender.
In another incident a Batab received 200
lashes for losing a position entrusted to him.
These were sure signs morale was slipping.
Worst, as the Yucatecan Fifth Division
advanced to Tizimin they offered amnesty and
for the first time Batabob (pl.) and their entire
families were surrendering.
As the autumn approached General Llergo
prepared to launch his grand offensive; a
coordinated effort by the First, Second, Third,
Fourth, and Sixth divisions to sweep the Cocome
region and converge on Peto. The Third and
Fourth divisions concentrated around Yaxcaba
moved south via Tiholop and Tinum, fighting
their way into position east of Peto. Advancing
from Teabo the Second and Sixth divisions met
heavier resistance and were bogged down in
extended skirmishing. The First Division striking
from Tekax however made rapid progress after
smashing Berrera's defenses and captured Peto
unopposed on October lst, later to be joined by
the delayed Second and Sixth Divisions.
With the Indians in general withdrawal the
advance continued after a month's pause to
secure and organize the rear area and lines of
communication. In rapid secession Progreso,
Dzonotchel, Sacala, and Ichmul were
recaptured. By the end of the year Tihosuco
and Valladolid fell undefended, followed by
Chancenote and Chemax. Only Bacalar of the
Ladino settlements remained in Maya hands
and it would fall the next year. The reconquest
of the frontier was complete.
Machete and Musket Part II The Yucatan Indian Uprising 1847-1855
As May came to an end the Ladino
defenders deployed in an arc around the
environs of Merida girded themselves for the
final onslaught. By now those that remained to
man the defenses were the true fighting men
"the garrison heroes; parade officers were
gone". [3]
... the sh'mataneheeles
[winged ants, harbingers of the first
rains] appeared in great clouds ... all
over the world. When my fathers people
saw this they said ... "the time has come
for us to make our planting,for if we do
not we shall have no Grace of God to fill
the bellies of our children".
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© Copyright 1992 by Milton Soong.
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