July 7, 1520

Battle of Otumba

Spanish and Tlaxcalan survivors defeat a Mexica-led force near Otumba

In Cortés's own earliest account the turning point is stark and anonymous: one important person fell, and the battle stopped.

Intercepted on the plain

On Saturday 7 July 1520 the retreating Spanish–Indigenous column was intercepted on the plain near Otumba, traditionally identified as Temalcatitlan, by a large Mexica-led force. It had marched about a league and a half from its camp.

Cortés described his people as exhausted, hungry and nearly all wounded, attacked from every side and so crowded that the two sides became intermingled. The date is reconstructed from his statement that the column entered Tlaxcala the next day, Sunday 8 July.

Who gets named, and by whom

Cortés's near-contemporary letter says the fighting lasted much of the day and ended when a leading opponent fell. It does not name that person, and it does not mention Juan de Salamanca or a captured standard.

Later Spanish narratives identify the fallen leader as Matlatzincatzin, the cihuacoatl of Tenochtitlan — the city's second-highest political and military office, not a high priest. One version has Cortés knocking him from his litter and Salamanca killing him and seizing the standard. That detail belongs to the later accounts.

Enough to reach Tlaxcala

The pursuit was broken sufficiently for the survivors to continue. No reliable strength or casualty totals exist; Spanish narratives emphasize overwhelming odds and later estimates vary enormously.

Tlaxcalan and other Indigenous fighters fought on both sides, though Cortés's account centres the Spanish survivors. On 8 July the surviving Spanish and Indigenous column entered Tlaxcalan territory, where it received food and shelter.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes Traditional date

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Traditional date. This date is the conventional one, not one fixed by a contemporary record.

What the sources leave uncertain

The 7 July date is reconstructed from Cortés's statement that the column entered Tlaxcala on Sunday, 8 July, the day after the battle. Some later chronologies give different dates.
Dates are conventionally given in the Julian calendar used by the Spaniards.
No reliable strength or casualty total exists. Spanish narratives emphasize overwhelming odds, and later estimates vary enormously.
The detailed story of Cortés's targeted charge, Salamanca's killing of Matlatzincatzin, and the captured standard comes from later narratives and should be attributed rather than presented as the unqualified near-contemporary account.