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Updated: May 13, 2025
The admiral, Don Fadrique, was in control for but a short time; and upon the return to power of Alvaro, John was driven out of the country, after being wounded in battle, and the admiral himself was killed in the fighting at Olmedo. John took his wife with him to Pamplona, where he now went, as that city offered him a most convenient exile.
On the day following, having erected a crucifix and built an altar, the name of Tabasco was changed to that of Santa Maria de la Vittoria; and on this occasion, the twenty Indian women who had been presented to Cortes by the chiefs were baptized by our chaplain, Olmedo, who preached to them many good things of our holy faith, Aguilar serving as interpreter.
Cortez endeavored to induce the inhabitants of the city to embrace Christianity; and would have resorted to force here, as at Cempoalla, but he was dissuaded by Father Olmedo; who, as on former occasions, urged that conversions effected by force were of little use, and that the cause would be injured, rather than benefited by such measures.
He asked for a confessor from the Society, but the governor would not grant this, only consenting that he might confess to one of three fathers whom he designated; these were Juan Gonzalez, Don Esteban Olmedo adherents of himself and the Dominicans and Doctor Atienza, brother of the Atienza already named.
He consoled her by his assurances that their parting would not be for long; and that the next time they met, whatever the circumstances, he would make her his own. "If we retire, and you join me in Tlascala," he said, "we will be married by Father Olmedo, in Christian fashion.
Of course Cortés knew well enough that he had no such commission to show. Soon after the departure of Guevara he resolved to send a special envoy of his own, and chose Father Olmedo for the task, with instructions to converse privately with as many of the officers and soldiers as he could with a view to securing their goodwill; and to this end he was also provided with a liberal supply of gold.
All the rest of us, even Barba the lieutenant-governor of the Havanna, were entirely devoted to the interest of our general, who was fully aware of all that was intended against him, as Garnica brought letters from a friar who resided with the governor, to our chaplain de Olmedo, by which Duero and Lares sent intelligence of all the schemes of Velasquez.
They had listened attentively to the preaching and exhortations of Father Olmedo; but their faith in their own gods was unshaken, the bloody sacrifices were carried on as usual in the temples, and these horrible spectacles naturally excited the wrath and indignation of the Spaniards to the utmost; although they themselves had, in Cuba and the islands, put to death great numbers of the natives in pursuance of their own religious views.
Cortés celebrated the event by a banquet as sumptuous as circumstances would permit, and the next day, at the request of Father Olmedo, the whole army took part in a solemn service and procession in token of their thankfulness for victory.
At midnight all was ready, and after a solemn mass had been celebrated by Father Olmedo, the Spaniards for the last time sallied forth from the ancient fortress, the scene of so much suffering and of such great courage. The night was dark, and a fine rain fell steadily.
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