Codex Florentino, Plate 1. The Landing of the Spaniards (The American Museum of Natural History)
As Cortes was enjoying the company of Moctezuma, a messenger came to him with word that Captain Narvaez had landed with 800 men and arms. It seemed that he intended to take the glory that Cortes would get for invading and meeting the native people. Narvaez also wanted to steal the gold that Cortes had aquired. Cortes immediately left Mexico and, with 150 men, went back to Veracruz to challenge Narvaez (de Fuentes, 1963). Cortes rushed Narvaez's fortress and before he could fire more than one round of canon fire, Cortes and his men had entered the camp and were disarming and otherwise disabling Narvaez's forces. Narvaez was captured and the majority of his forces swore allegiance to Cortes and the Spanish Crown. One of Narvaez's men had smallpox, which would later spread to the Indians and wipe a great number of them (Gomara, 1964).
While Cortes was dealing with Narvaez, there was an uprising in Mexico against the Spanish. Cortes heard of this and hurried back as fast as he could. When he returned he found his men stuck in their quarters trying to defend themselves. Cortes went and joined them and learned the cause of the revolt. It seemed that the man the man that Cortes had left in charge in his stead, Pedro de Alvarado, had killed 600 Mexican nobles during one of their ceremonies in order to steal the gold jewelry that they were wearing (de Fuentes, 1963). A great battle had ensued and Cortes now desperately tried to put an end to the fighting and restore peace. He begged Moctezuma to order his men to cease fighting but Moctezuma said that he had already been replaced as leader by his brother so it would do no good. But, in a show of good will, Moctezuma climbed to the top of the building to see what he could do. Unfortunately, the angry crowd could not make out who he was, and when he showed his face to speak he was struck in the head with a stone. He would die three days later from this wound (Gomara, 1964).
Next, Cortes tried speaking to the nobles to get them to stop fighting. He told them of Moctezumas death and asked that the fighting stopped so they could have a proper funeral, which Cortes would attend as a friend. He also told them that if they did not let him and his men leave he would be forced to destroy their city, something he did not want to do because of the shear beauty of it. The nobles refused his request and continued their attacks (Gomara, 1964).
After many days of fighting Cortes and his men decided to make a run for it. They packed up as much gold as they could get their hands on and set out. As they were cross the Great Causeway it gave out, causing many of the soldiers to drown. Now Cortes seemed trapped, but they ended up pushing the Indian porters they had with them out in front and off the edge of the causeway. The bodies piled up high enough to allow the soldiers to cross on the backs of the drowned men (de Fuentes, 1963). Before they reached the end of the causeway they had one more line of Mexicans to break through. Cortes charged his horse and was followed by two other men on horseback. He knocked the standard from the hand of the Mexican commander and one of the other horsemen killed him. This sent the Mexicans into confusion and allowed the remaining Spanish to escape. They payed a terrible toll however. After the battle of Mexico, more than half of the Spanish soldiers who had fought in it were killed (Diaz, 1956). Cortes and his remaining men traveled back to Tlaxcala to regroup and get reinforcements to defeat the Mexicans.