12 February 1524
The ambush in the pass
On 12 February 1524 the army climbs the gorge of the Samalá towards the pass into the valley of Xelajú. In the pass K'iche' warriors ambush the Mexican allies and drive them back down the road.
The gorge of the Samalá River at Chicovix, Cantel, QuetzaltenangoWikimedia Commons, Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Chicovix 17.jpg)
Alvarado sends the Spanish cavalry forward. The K'iche' have never seen horses, and the charge comes as a shock to them. The horsemen scatter the warriors in the pass, and the army climbs on towards the open ground of the valley.
Maya warriors of the time fight with bows and arrows, spears and wooden swords edged with obsidian, and wear quilted cotton armour that the Spanish later adopt in place of their own steel. Against horsemen the highland Maya dig pits on the roads, set them with sharpened stakes and cover them with grass. The Spanish accounts agree that the fighting on the approach to Xelajú is fierce, and that at least one and possibly two of the lords of Q'umarkaj die in it.
Sources
- Robert J. Sharer and Loa P. Traxler, The Ancient Maya (6th ed. 2006), p. 764.
- Francis Gall, Los Gonzalo de Alvarado, conquistadores de Guatemala (1967), pp. 41 to 42.
- Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (ed. 2005), p. 510.
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