Ojeda, in Herrera, loc. cit. Solis, Hist. Mex., ii. 379, thinks that it would
have been hazardous to hang him at Tezcuco, where many Tlascaltecs were
gathered; but he forgets that nearly all this people had already set out for
Mexico. His supposition is based on Bernal Diaz, who intimates that he was
not hanged in Tezcuco. Alvarado had pleaded for his life, and Cortés, while
pretending compliance, secretly ordered the alguacil to despatch him. Hist.
Verdad., 139.
Cortés divided the lordship of the chieftain afterward between his two
sons, and the name of Xicotencatl has been perpetuated by more than one
line, as Camargo shows in his Hist. Tlax. Two officers of that name figured
during the American invasion of 1847 in defence of their country. Brasseur
de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 447.
Most writers say the 10th, misled by an error in Cortés, Cartas, 208; and
this error causes Prescott, among others, to fall into more than one mistake,
which he upholds with vain arguments. On earlier pages in the Cartas are
given dates in connection with religious festivals which show that Whitsunday
fell on the 19th of May, and the departure took place three days later.
Bernal Diaz gives the 13th, and says that the Xicotencatl affair had detained
them a day. He afterward varies the date.