The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-04-23

ish armor, while the Spanish caval-
moved them down. The Aztecs
were in half dozen years enslaved
and held in bondage for we'll nigh
three centuries. In this time there
grew up in Mexico three classes
the Spanish born in Europe, who
were the ruling class, the creoles, or
Mexicans OF Spanish blood and the
ful1-blooded Indians and Mestizos,
who formed nine-tenths of the pop
Eulation, and were held in peonage.
This lower class, in spite of the de-
graduation in which it was held, de-
veloped not a few men Of high char
acter, and two of these, the soldier
priests Hidalgo and Morelos, in 1910
and 1911, taking advantage of the
invasion Of Spain by Napoleon, led
their countrymen in an attempt to
| obtain their independence. There
were only about 1000 Spanish sol
diers in Mexico, and none could be
sent from the home country; never
theless, the revolt was put down and
both Hidalgo and Morelos, with
hundreds of their followers, were
put to death. The tMexicans had few
| weapons except their farming i'm
lplements, and were so ignorant of
~ fr;n
to stop the fire of the Spanish can
non by rushing on the guns and
showing their straw hats into the
muzzles.
The creoles, however, had imbib-
ed the idea of independence from
the United States, and when reyo-
luton broke out in Spain in 1920
they made common cause with the
Mexican poems, and soon drove out
1.-The Spanish. A republic was form
ed of twenty-seven states and fed
eral district, and system of gov.
Iernment modelled on that of the
RUnited States. The republic, how
ever, proved to be a government b,
succession of military chiefs, ant
the country was worse off than under
Spain.
: AT that time Mexico extended
: from Guatemala to Oregon, ant
: from the Pacific to Louisiana. TIL,
northeastern part of this vast area
! the present state of Texas, abou
l the year 1880, began to be peoplet
f by restless and fearless settler
) from the United States, who natural
/ 1y had an affection for their nativt
E country and a dislike for the com
e parative mongrels who held the gov
t eminent of that to which they hat
a come.
Il 1t was not long before there wa
S trouble-Mexico trying to assert it
: authority and the Texans rebelling
War followed and in 1886, the Tex
!, | ans tho vastly outnumbered, drov
r out the Mexicans west of the Neuce
t river. The Texans set UP republi
: of their own, which the Mexicans re
j fused to recognizes; however Their
e iwere no more battles Of any impor
d lance, and the land between tn
e Neuces and the Rio became sort @
n neutral ground.
t In 1915 Texas became a state @
: the American Union, and an arm
It under General Zachary Taylor wa
d sent to protect the newly acquire
n land. There might not have bee
Iany war If Texas had accepted tn
l. Neuces river as the boundary, bu
e first as a nation, then as a state
o Texas insisted that she owned tn
d land TO the Rio. In January, 1S4'
e Taylor marched his army into th
d disputed territory, and the Mexican
Is regarded this as invasion.
IS Early in March, Taylor's arm.
some 5000 strong, reached the RI
l. opposite Matamoras, in which eli
n lay the Mexican army of Ampudit
,e 1000 men or more. The American
3 threw up intrenchments on the rive
Is bank. Some weeks passed durin
" which Taylor's force became reduce
,e by sending out small detachment
Y, while the Mexicans increased.
u April &c occurred the attack G