Editing Spanish conquest of Yucatán (section)

====Battle at Chʼichʼ, 2 February 1696====
By mid-January, Captain García de Paredes had arrived at the advance portion of the ''Camino Real'' at Chuntuki.<ref>Jones 1998, pp. 189, 226.</ref> By now he only had 90 soldiers plus labourers and porters.<ref name="Jones98p226">Jones 1998, p. 226.</ref> Captain [[Pedro de Zubiaur]], García's senior officer, arrived at [[Lake Petén Itzá|Lake Petén Itza]] with 60 musketeers, two [[Franciscans]], and allied [[Yucatec Maya language|Yucatec Maya]] warriors.<ref>Jones 1998, p. 227.<br>Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 776.</ref> They were also accompanied by about 40 [[Maya peoples|Maya]] porters.<ref name="Jones98p227">Jones 1998, p. 227.</ref> They were approached by about 300 canoes carrying approximately 2,000 [[Itza people|Itza]] warriors.<ref>Jones 1998, p. 228.<br>Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 776.</ref> The warriors began to mingle freely with the Spanish party and a scuffle then broke out; a dozen of the Spanish party were forced into canoes, and three of them were killed. At this point the Spanish soldiers opened fire with their muskets, and the Itza retreated across the lake with their prisoners, who included the two Franciscans.<ref name="Jones98p228">Jones 1998, p. 228.</ref> The Spanish party retreated from the lake shore and regrouped on open ground where they were surrounded by thousands of Itza warriors. Zubiaur ordered his men to fire a volley that killed between 30 and 40 Itzas. Realising that they were hopelessly outnumbered, the Spanish retreated towards Chuntuki, abandoning their captured companions to their fate.<ref name="Jones98p229">Jones 1998, p. 229.</ref>
 
[[Martín de Ursúa]] was now convinced that [[Kan Ekʼ]] would not surrender peacefully, and he began to organise an all-out assault on [[Nojpetén]].<ref name="SharerTraxler06p776">Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 776.</ref> Work on the road was redoubled and about a month after the battle at [[Nixtun Chʼichʼ|Chʼichʼ]] the Spanish arrived at the lakeshore, now supported by artillery. Again a large number of canoes gathered, and the nervous Spanish soldiers opened fire with cannons and muskets; no casualties were reported among the [[Itza people|Itza]], who retreated and raised a white flag from a safe distance.<ref name="Jones98p229"/>