The defeated Maya had no choice but to retreat into the interior of the east coast rainforests, an uninhabited area largely unknown to the whiteman. There was a mass migration as the various Maya groups eventually congregated around hideaways and cenotes deep in the forest. Pat led his followers to a place called Tabi some forty miles south of Valladolid. Cecilio Che moved further southeast to Chanchen near the coast.
Here in December 1848, Che was murdered by his Meztizo secretary who was having an affair with the Batab's wife. The Mayan cause had lost its most uncompromising leader.
In the April of 1849 the Maya again took the offensive unsuccessfully besieging Tihosuco and Saban during a spring of heavy fighting. The Ladino's responded by sending larger and larger "search and destroy" guerilla into the jungle to bum the vital Mayan cornfields, seek out hidden supply caches and break up Mayan concentrations. In the midst of defeat, rivalries sprang up among the leaders of the fragmented Mayan groups. In September a disappointed Jacinto Pat sought to reopen negotiations with the Ladinos through the British Superintendent in Belize. One of Che's old adherents, Venancio Pee a rival leader with his own large band denounced Pat as a traitor and had the "Gran Cacique" assassinated as he made his way toward Belize. Thus the Maya lost its most farsighted leader.
Among the most successful of the new Mayan leaders was Jose Maria Beffera, one of Pat's lieutenants, and a capable guerilla fighter. In an otherwise dismal year of defeats he logged one of the bright spots with a successful action outside of Ticul. A Ladino column led by Colonels Pasos, Pavia, and Novelo (the fact there were three colonels commanding may have had something to do with the defeat) was ambushed and largely destroyed netting Beffera some 178 pack animals, 48 cases of cartridges, plus weapons and other equipment. Over 300 Ladinos were killed. Berrera's forces drew the attention of the main Ladino military effort and the Maya were forced back deeper into the forest and nearer to the coast.
In February, 1850, Mexican General Manuel Micheltorena took command of the forces in Yucatan determined to lead yet another "final offensive" that would crush the Maya for once and for all. Throughout the dry season and into the wet season Micheltoreno directed an aggressive series of operations that netted many prisoners and severely tried Mayan morale and resistance. For the hungry and harried Maya there was a sense of desperation.
Beffera took his followers to a remote uninhabited cenote forty miles southeast of Saban known as Chan Santa Cruz (Little Holy Cross). Here, taking advantage of his people's desperation, traditional Mayan superstitions, and their belief in speaking idols, he established the Cult of the Speaking Cross.
Near the cenote entrance Berrera
with the help of Manuel Nahuat, a skilled
ventriloquist set up a wooden cross
through which "God spoke" to Berrera and
his followers. Through the Speaking
Cross Beffera restored hope to a people
on the verge of giving up. The Cross
offered its worshippers deliverance from
white oppression, admonished them to
continue resisting the whites, and
promised them protection from the
bullets of the whiteman. The Cross
directed its followers to attack the village
of Kampocolche.
[6]
The followers of the Cross became known as the Cruzob.
On January 4th, 1851 the fanatic
Maya trusting to their immunity launched
a desperate night charge on Kampocolche
that almost succeeded but was repulsed
with heavy loss. Through prisoners taken
at Kampocolche the Ladinos learned of
the new cult. The Cruzob faith in the
cross survived the defeat at Kampocolche
(presumably those felled by the bullet
were not true believers); and a surprise
Ladino raid against the shrine at Chan
Santa Cruz. After the brief but successful
raid the Ladino commander reported the
existence of a village of more than a
thousand people. The settlement would
continue to grow over the years.
During the raid on Chan Santa Cruz
Berrera's ventriloquist Nahuat was killed
and Berrera had to change his act. Now
the Cross communicated with him
through letters signed with three crosses.
The Cross wrote [7]:
However he did it and despite the
recent defeats the Maya genuinely
believed in the cross and Maya refugees
flocked to Chan Santa Cruz. The Cruzob
of Chan Santa Cruz became the dominant
Mayan group and long after the other
Maya fringe groups reached an
accommodation with the Ladinos the
Cruzob continued to fight. [8]
Even after the death of Berrera in
1852 the cult flourished. Throughout the
follow ing years the Ladinos kept up the
pressure on the Cruzob, but through,
enemy raids ' famine, and disease the
Maya persisted. Finally in 1855 the
Ladinos, themselves war weary, with a
nearly bankrupt treasury decided the
rebellion was over. "If it could not be
suppressed, Yucatecan pride decreed it
should be ignored." [9]
Machete and Musket Part II The Yucatan Indian Uprising 1847-1855
Because of the sacrilegious
murder of Nahuat, the Crosses will
never speak again... and they would
only speak with the Patron (Berrera).
The Mazehualob (Maya) must now rise
and take vengeance for the spilt
blood.
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© Copyright 1992 by Milton Soong.
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