The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico by Bernal Diaz, a review. From the review:
The Diaz account is the best history book that I have read. It has all the advantage of a first person account and reads like a well written adventure novel.
The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico by Bernal Diaz del Castillo is the only extant first person account of the campaign under the command of Hernando Cortez from 1519 to 1520. The campaign resulted in the discovery and conquest of the Aztec civilization in Mexico.
Cortez himself wrote five long letters to Carlos V in Spain. Parts of them are included in this edition to help explain the narrative. But Cortez' letters were essentially reports of a Conquistador commander seeking favor, and explaining his actions, which were mostly extralegal.
The entire Conquest was a massive verification of the adage that “It is easier to obtain forgiveness than permission.”
Bernal Diaz' account is a first person narrative of the entire campaign, with the amazing detail of a foot soldier who is vitally interested in food, women, weapons, and gold. He includes accounts of two separate expeditions before Cortez.
Bernal Diaz made extensive remarks on the use of firearms in his narrative. The initial numbers were tiny, but contributed significantly to the success of the conquest. Of the initial 400 to 500 men under the command of Cortez, there were 16 with horses, 13 with individual guns, four small cannon, “some brass guns” (more cannon), and 32 crossbowmen. The 13 personal guns were almost certainly arquebuses, the first really practical personal gun, with early matchlocks. Diaz mentions “much powder and ball”.
Cortez had 1000s of Indian allies who hated the Aztecs so it wasn’t just him and a few caballeros.
Another interesting thing about the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs is a direct descendant of Montezuma survives to this day as part of the Spanish nobility. Also the Spanish ennobled several of the caciques of his Indian allies. Their descendants are also in today’s Spanish nobility.
Near as I can tell Pizarro wasn’t so accommodating!
They were a tough bunch to be sure. Diaz talks of a "Captain Sandoval being wounded seven times but only one was serious, where air leaked from his chest."
Apparently the preferred method of treating wounds was to sear it first, then coat it with grease. After one battle, they ran out of grease, so they cut open some of the dead Indians and used their body fat instead.