User:Chbhurst/new sandbox2

persuading him that the move was entirely the Totonac's idea and that he had no knowledge of it. The Totonacs provided Cortés with 20 companies of soldiers for his march to Tlaxcala, having effectively declared war on the Aztecs. At this time, several of Cortés' soldiers attempted to mutiny. When Cortés discovered the plot, he had his ships scuttled and sank them in the harbor to remove any possibility of escaping to Cuba. [edit] However, Alonso Hernandez Puertocarrero and Francisco de Montejo reported when they returned to Spain that the ships were rotting and unseaworthy and that the captains themselves decided to beach them.