After our return, we were busily occupied in preparing for a general sally on the next day after but one, with four military engines of strong timber like towers, each of which was calculated to contain twenty-five men under cover, with portholes for the artillery, and for muskets and crossbows. During this interval we had likewise to repair the breaches which the Mexicans had made in our walls, and to resist their attempts to scale them, often in twenty places at once. The Mexicans constantly used the most injurious language against us; saying that the voracious animals in the great temple had been kept fasting for two days, that they might be ready to devour our bodies, when we were sacrificed to their gods. They assured us at the same time that our allies were to be put into cages to fatten, and that they would soon recover our ill got treasure. Sometimes they adjured us in the most plaintive terms to restore their king to liberty, and they annoyed us without ceasing by flights of arrows, constantly shouting and whistling. On the ensuing morning at day-break, having first recommended ourselves to GOD, we sallied out from our quarters with the turrets, such as I have seen in other places, and called mantas or burros. Our column was headed by a party of musketeers and crossbow-men, and our cavalry on our flanks, occasionally charging the enemy. Our purpose was to assail the great temple, which by its elevation and strong enclosures, served as a citadel to the Mexicans, and we advanced therefore in that direction, accompanied by our turrets; but the enemy resisted all our efforts with the most determined obstinacy. I will not attempt to relate all the circumstances of this desperate battle, or the difficulty which we had to encounter in driving the enemy from a very strong house which they occupied. The arrows of the Mexicans wounded many of our horses, notwithstanding that they wore defensive armour; and when our cavalry attempted at any time to charge or to pursue the enemy, they threw themselves into the canals, while others sallied out from the houses on both sides with long lances, assailing our people in the rear and on both flanks. It was utterly impossible for us to burn the houses, or to pull them down, as they all stood singly in the water, communicating only by means of draw-bridges; and it was too dangerous for us to attempt reaching them by swimming, as they showered vollies of stones upon us by slings, and threw large stones upon our heads from the terraces of their house tops. Even when a house was set on fire, it was very long of taking effect; and even when we succeeded, the flames could not communicate to the other houses, as they were all separated by canals, and their roofs were terraced, not thatched.

At length we reached the great temple, into which four thousand of the Mexicans immediately rushed, independent of other large bodies who were previously stationed there for its defence. They defended their temple with the most obstinate valour, and for some time prevented us from being able to ascend, our turrets, musketry, and cavalry, being of no avail to force them to give ground. The pavements of the temple courts were so smooth, that the horses fell when our cavalry attempted to charge. They opposed us in front from the steps of the great temple, and assailed us with such fury on both flanks and in the rear, that though our guns swept off a dozen or fifteen of them at every discharge, and though in each charge of our infantry we killed many of them with our swords and lances, they continually filled up the chasms we had made among them, and their numbers and resolution were so great that we could not make any permanent or effectual impression. We were even forced to abandon our mantas or turrets, which the enemy had demolished. At length, by a desperate effort, we forced our way up the steps, and in this assault Cortes shewed himself a hero. Our battle in this place was most desperate, every man among us being covered with blood, and above forty of our number lay dead on the spot. We reached with infinite difficulty the place where we had formerly set up the image of the blessed Virgin, which was not to be found, as it had been removed by order of Montezuma, either through fear or from devotion to his idols. We set fire to the buildings, and burnt down a part of the temples of Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca; and while some of us were employed in setting fire to the buildings, and others fighting, in which our Tlascalan allies seconded us most gallantly, above three thousand Mexican nobles, headed by their priests, made a most severe attack, and drove us down eight or ten of the steps. Others of the enemy from the corridors, or within the railings and concavities of the temple, assailed us on every side with arrows and other missiles, so that we were unable even to maintain the ground we had gained. We were constrained therefore to retreat, every man of us being wounded, and forty-six of our number slain. We regained our quarters with the utmost difficulty, which the enemy had almost gained possession of, as they had been continually endeavouring to carry them by assault during our absence, or to set them on fire. But they desisted in a great measure from the assault on our arrival, yet continued to throw in perpetual showers of arrows, darts, and stones. In the course of this most terrible engagement, we made two of the chief priests prisoners, whom we carried along with us to our quarters. I have often seen representations of this battle in Mexican paintings, both at Mexico and Tlascala, in which the various incidents were represented in a very lively manner. Our ascent to the great temple; the setting the temple on fire; the numerous warriors defending it in the corridors, from behind the rails, and in the concavities, and others on the plain ground, in the courts of the temple, and on all sides of us; many of our men being represented as dead, and all of us covered with wounds. In these paintings, the destruction of our turrets is conspicuously represented as a most heroic achievement.

The night which succeeded this unfortunate battle was passed by us in a most melancholy state; repairing the breaches which had been made in the walls of our quarters, dressing our wounds, burying our slain companions, and consulting upon measures for extricating us from our present almost hopeless situation. The followers of Narvaez heaped maledictions on Cortes for leading them to Mexico, and Velasquez came in for an ample share of their abuse, for having induced them to quit their peaceful habitations in Cuba. The enemy assembled around us again at day-break, and assailed our quarters with greater fury than ever, insomuch that our fire-arms were insufficient to repel them, though they mowed them down in great numbers. In this desperate situation, Cortes sent for Montezuma, whom he desired to address his subjects from a terrace, desiring them to desist from their attacks, assuring them that we would immediately evacuate the city. On receiving this message, Montezuma burst into tears, exclaiming, "What does he want with me now? I have been reduced to my present unhappy state on his account, and I neither wish to see him nor to live any longer?" He therefore dismissed the messengers with a refusal, and it is reported that he added, that he desired not to be any more troubled with the false words and specious promises of Cortes. Father Olmedo and Captain De Oli went to wait upon him, and used all possible expressions of respect and affection to induce him to comply with the request of Cortes. To this he replied, that he did not believe any thing he could now do would be of any avail, as the Mexicans had elected another sovereign, and were resolved not to allow a single Spaniard to quit the city alive. He made his appearance however at the railing of a terraced roof, attended by many of our soldiers, and made a very affectionate address to the people below, earnestly entreating a cessation of hostilities, that we might evacuate Mexico. As soon as Montezuma was perceived, the chiefs and nobles made their troops to desist from the attack, and commanded silence. Then four of the principal nobles came forwards, so near as to be able to hold conversation with Montezuma whom they addressed, lamenting the misfortunes which had befallen him and his family. They told him that they had raised Cuitlahuatzin27 to the throne; that the war would soon be ended, as they had promised to their gods never to desist till they had utterly destroyed the Spaniards; that they offered up continual prayers for the safety of Montezuma their beloved sovereign, whom they would venerate and obey as formerly, as soon as they had rescued him from our hands, and hoped he would pardon all they had done for the defence of their religion and independence, and their present disobedience. Just as they concluded this address, a shower of arrows fell about the place where Montezuma stood; and though the Spaniards had hitherto protected him by interposing their shields, they did not expect any assault while he was speaking to his subjects, and had therefore uncovered him for an instant; in that unguarded state, three stones and an arrow hit him on the head, the arm, and the leg, wounding him severely. Montezuma refused every assistance, and all the endeavours of Father Olmedo could not prevail upon him to embrace the holy Catholic faith, neither could he be prevailed upon to have his wounds attended to. When informed of his death, Cortes and our captains lamented him exceedingly, and all of us soldiers who had been acquainted with his generosity and other amiable qualities, grieved as for the loss of a father. He was said to have reigned seventeen years, and to have been the best of all the sovereigns who had ruled over Mexico; having fought and conquered in three pitched battles, while subjugating other states to his dominions.