Battle of Otumba — Cortés Survives Aztec Counterattack

Pursuing the battered Spanish force through the Valley of Mexico, a massive Aztec army intercepts Cortés at Otumba plain. Exhausted, wounded, and hugely outnumbered, the Spanish are on the verge of defeat when Cortés leads a cavalry charge directly at the Aztec commander and kills him, seizing the feathered royal standard. The Aztec army, following military custom, stops fighting when the commander falls. The Spanish escape to Tlaxcala, regroup, and begin planning the conquest of Tenochtitlan.