Note 11 — ROJO’S JOURNAL

Of this sortie, Le Gentil says (ii, p. 243): “This sortie was only a kind of boast and bravado, for how could one flatter himself, with at the most sixty men (for I do not take any account of the eight hundred Indians and two small cannons) that he could give any trouble to six thousand men of good troops, withdrawn into two or three citadels, which it would really have been necessary to have besieged in order to try to dislodge them; for the walls of all these churches are made of cut stone, and are as thick as the walls of the royal observatory, namely, five or six feet thick, and are octagonal.” The reënforcements sent to Fayette consisted of two Spanish companies and 1,500 Indians, commanded by Pedro Iriarte; and later one other company commanded by Fernando de Araya.

Opinions are divided as to the conduct of Fayette (Fallet), some accusing him of treason and others exonerating him. Ferrando (iv, p. 623) says, when speaking of his night sortie, that he retired only because of superior numbers, and adds: “Without reason and justice, the suspicion of treason against the French official (Sr. Fallet) who directed that sortie according to good principles of [military] science (which do not always triumph over tenfold the number of legions), would lie then on the conscience of the country.” At the assault, however (ut supra, p. 628), Fayette, who was ordered to guard the breach in the wall, was with some reason accused of treason because of the lukewarmness which he displayed in its defense; and because he finally went over to the British lines, being received there gladly. In fact when the British were forming for the assault Fayette had ordered the Indian archers to retire from the breach under pretext of taking some refreshment and rest before the assault—which was well calculated to aggravate suspicions. The English, seeing this move, were quick to take advantage of it. Monterory Vidal says (ii, p. 27) that he played the traitor at the assault by not offering any resistance. The Marquis de Ayerbe (Sitio y conquista, p. 44) calls him a Swiss. ↑