THE WAR IN QUITO.
1821--1822.
After the battle of Boyacá, the defeated Royalists had retreated to the
Highland Provinces of Pasto and Patia, in the south of Columbia, and
were there strongly reinforced by Aymerich, Captain-General of Quito.
General Valdez was sent against them, with three battalions of infantry,
one of which was the Albion. On the 6th June, 1820, Valdez was attacked
by 1,100 infantry under Calzada at the town of Pitayo to the north-west
of Popayán. His vanguard was driven in, but the Albion re-established
the fight, and decided the day by an impetuous charge with the bayonet;
the Royalists retreated to Patia.
Valdez being reinforced, then occupied the city of Popayán with an army
of 2,300 men, which was soon reduced to 1,000 by sickness and desertion.
Then in January, 1821, in obedience to positive orders from Bolívar, he
marched into the Province of Pasto. The Patianos, as was their custom,
gave him free passage, but closed in upon his rear, cutting his
communications with Popayán. He marched upon the city of Pasto,
surrounded by enemies. Colonel Garcia who had succeeded Calzada in
command, waited for him with 850 men in the pass of Jenay, and on the
2nd February, completely defeated him. The Albion battalion suffered
very heavily in this action, and it was only the armistice of Trujillo
which saved Valdez from total destruction.
On the resumption of hostilities, General Torres, who had succeeded
Valdez in command, was forced by Garcia to shut himself up in Popayán.
He afterwards marched with 1800 men upon Pasto, but suffered such heavy
losses by sickness and desertion, that he was compelled to retreat, and
in August he abandoned Popayán.
The Royalists of Patia and Pasto, aided from Quito, might have prolonged
the war indefinitely but that the operations of San Martin and Cochrane
threw their base open to attack, and the revolution of Guayaquil cut off
all communication between Quito and the Pacific. Bolívar saw this, and
as Quito was not included in the armistice of Trujillo, determined to
attack from the South as well as from the North, and at the same time
open for himself a road to the Pacific. Looking about for an officer to
whom he could entrust the undertaking, he chose General Sucre, who was
at that time Minister of War of the Republic of Columbia.
Sucre was a native of Cumaná, had received a scientific education, and
had served from his early youth in all the campaigns of the revolution
of Venezuela, under Miranda, Piar, and Bolívar. Bolívar said of him:--
“Sucre has the best organized head in all Columbia.”
San Martin, who never met him, wrote of him in after years, that he was
one of the most noteworthy men produced by the Republic of Columbia, and
of greater military skill than even Bolívar himself.
The mission confided to Sucre was both political and military. He was to
aid the new State of Guayaquil against the Royalists, and was to induce
her to join the Republic of Columbia. At Popayán he collected a thousand
of the dispersed troops, and reached Guayaquil by sea in May, 1821. He
found that the majority of the people were in favour of union with Peru,
and that they had already suffered defeat in their first brush with the
Royalists.
At this juncture the flotilla and a battalion of native troops revolted
in the name of the King. Sucre put down the movement, and thus became
master of the situation, and commander-in-chief of all the forces.
At the head of a combined army, Sucre then marched against the
Royalists, who under Aymerich were descending the mountain slopes from
Quito, in two separate columns. One of these columns he totally defeated
at Yahuachí on the 19th August, and compelled the other, which was led
by Aymerich himself, to return to Quito with heavy loss. He then
ascended the slopes of Chimborazo and occupied the plateau of Ambato,
but was here attacked by Colonel Gonzalez with very superior forces, and
was completely defeated, with a loss of 300 killed and 640 prisoners. He
himself was wounded, and returned to his former position with a remnant
of his force. Here he was fortunately reinforced by a battalion of 500
Columbian infantry, and as Aymerich did not follow up the victory, held
his ground, till on the 20th November he arranged an armistice of ninety
days.
At this time the Royalists, whose total force of regular troops amounted
to 3,000 men, in the Provinces of Cuenca, Quito, and Pasto, received a
reinforcement of 800 men, under General Murgeón, who had been appointed
Viceroy of New Granada on the death of Sámano. Murgeón had arrived from
Europe at Puerto Cabello with a smaller force, which being increased by
La Torre, he led across the Isthmus to Panamá, whence he went by sea to
Atacames, and from there marched for sixty miles through a dense forest
and then over the Cordillera to Quito, where he arrived on the 24th
December, 1821, and took the command.
When New Granada was secure, Bolívar wrote to O’Higgins that:--“The Army
of Columbia was about to march on Quito with orders to co-operate with
the Argentine-Chileno Army in their operations against Lima,” but after
that, affairs in the North distracted his attention. After the fall of
Cartagena, he wrote to San Martin, proposing to take 4,000 men across
the isthmus, and by sea to Peru, to aid him in crushing the Royalists in
the centre of their power, leaving them in their positions on the
equatorial Andes till afterwards. But the defeat suffered by Sucre, and
the arrival of Murgeón, determined him first of all to prosecute the war
in the south of Columbia.
Under the name of the “Columbian Guard,” Bolívar had organized an army,
with which he incorporated at Popayán the remnants of the division of
General Torres, raising his total force to about 3,000 men. During his
march through a hostile country, he was compelled to leave 1,000 sick in
the hospitals, and with the rest reached the frontiers of Quito on the
24th March, 1822. Avoiding a conflict with the Pastusos, which had so
often proved fatal to the Patriot arms, he turned to the right and tried
to find a pass over the River Guáitara, a mountain torrent whose course
lies at the bottom of an almost impassable abyss. Finding one suspension
bridge cut, he marched to the left in search of another, and on the 7th
April came upon the Royalist army under Garcia, strongly posted between
the river and the volcano of Pasto. It was already past noon, but
Bolívar seeing that to retreat was impossible, attacked the enemy at
once. He drew up his army on the plain of Bomboná, and sent a column
against the left wing of the enemy, where the ground presented fewer
difficulties than on their right and centre. This column being repulsed,
then attacked the centre of the position and was almost annihilated in
the attempt to force its way through an abatis which covered this part
of the Royalist line. Meantime another column, directed against the
right wing of the Royalists, had detached a battalion of light infantry,
which climbed the face of the mountain and secured a commanding position
on the flank of the enemy, on which Bolívar made another attack upon the
centre with a battalion drawn from the reserve. This attack was also
repulsed, but when night came on the Royalists hurriedly retreated,
abandoning their artillery. The Patriots were left masters of the field,
but it was a Phyrric victory, they had lost 600 men in killed and
wounded, while the loss of the Royalists was not over 250.
Bolívar remained for eight days encamped on the plateau of Bomboná, and
then retreated, leaving 300 sick and wounded behind him. During the
retreat his losses were very heavy, but at Patia he received
reinforcements from Popayán. The climate and the people were both
against him; two months he remained inactive, uncertain what to do, when
news reached him that Sucre, aided by a contingent of Argentine-Peruvian
troops, sent to his assistance by San Martin, had taken Quito. The
moment had arrived in which the two revolutions of the North and of the
South of the Continent joined hands on the Equator, in accordance with
the plan of San Martin.
On the eve of setting out on his first expedition against Quito, Sucre
had written to San Martin asking for his co-operation. After his defeat
at Ambato, he wrote again, this time to the Peruvian Minister of War,
showing the danger which threatened Guayaquil. From Columbia he received
a reinforcement of 500 men, but this was quite insufficient to enable
him to take the field. Again he wrote to the Protector of Peru, and San
Martin now resolved to give him efficient help.
General Arenales, who was president of the department of Trujillo, had a
division stationed on the Peruvian frontier of Quito. San Martin sent
him orders to march with it to the assistance of Sucre. Arenales was
ill, and declined the command, which was then bestowed upon Colonel
Santa Cruz, and by a convention the Republic of Columbia undertook to
pay the troops, and to supply the places of all who might fall in war.
The auxiliary division consisted of about 1,200 men, among them being
one squadron of the mounted grenadiers, under command of
Lieutenant-Colonel Juan Lavalle.
Sucre left Guayaquil with such troops as he had, and joined the
auxiliaries in the Province of Cuenca in February, 1822, forming an army
of 2,000 men, and in March went in search of the enemy. While on the
march Colonel Santa Cruz received a despatch from the Government of Peru
directing him to withdraw from the army at once with his contingent,
which strange order arose from the misunderstanding concerning
Guayaquil. Santa Cruz showed the despatch to Sucre, who forbade him to
act upon it, telling him that he was no longer under the orders of the
Protector. Fortunately the officers of the contingent upheld the
authority of Sucre, whose firmness on this occasion prevented a great
disaster, and a few days later a despatch was received from San Martin
himself cancelling the order.
The situation of the Royalists was now very difficult. The Army of
Quito, though numbering 2,000 good soldiers, was isolated, and might
defend the mountain passes, but was powerless to take the offensive. The
affair at Bomboná had greatly depressed the spirits of the Pastusos.
Murgeón had died of despair on seeing the untoward course of events, and
Aymerich was again in command.
Aymerich detached Colonel Lopez with 1,500 men to protect the western
passes. Lopez stationed himself at Rio Bamba, but was out-manœuvred
by Sucre, who entered the valley at the foot of Chimborazo. In
accordance with his instructions, Lopez avoided an action, and slowly
retreated from one impregnable position to another, till on the 21st
April, 1822, Sucre managed to gain his rear by an undefended pass. The
Royalists retreated to another position behind the town of Rio Bamba. As
they were marching, Lavalle took advantage of a faulty manœuvre, and
with ninety-six grenadiers charged the whole of their cavalry, 420 in
number, and drove them in confusion upon the positions held by their
infantry. Then retreating at full trot, he was joined by thirty
Columbian dragoons. The Royalist horse having rallied, came down upon
him at full gallop, upon which he wheeled round, charged them again, and
completely routed them, with a loss of 52 killed and 40 wounded. One
Argentine and one Columbian were killed and twenty were wounded, and the
Royalist horse were of no further use in that campaign.
The infantry continued their retreat to the inaccessible position of
Jalupano. Then Sucre, by a flank march of four days over the
snow-covered heights of Cotopaxi, gained the valley of Chilló, 14 miles
from Quito, but found the enemy again in an inaccessible position
between him and the city. On the night of the 23rd May, during heavy
rain, the Patriot army defiled by a narrow road, covered with loose
stones, over the slopes of the volcano of Pichincha, and at eight
o’clock the next morning reached the heights overlooking the city of
Quito, where the steep mountain side below them was covered by a forest
of trees and brushwood.
Before the whole army had reached this position the Royalists had
ascended the mountain side, and rushed out of the forest upon the 2nd
battalion of Peru, which led the van. Colonel Olazabal, who was in
command, stubbornly held his ground till his ammunition was exhausted.
The position was held by one battalion after another, as it came up, so
long as any cartridges were left, but the reserve ammunition was far in
the rear, and the Royalists gained ground. A Columbian regiment charged
with the bayonet and recovered the position. Then the Royalists
advancing under shelter of the trees, endeavoured to turn the left flank
of the Patriots, but were in their turn taken in flank by three
companies of the Albion battalion and driven back in confusion. Colonel
Cordova then brought up his regiment of Columbian infantry, and, with
the aid of the Albion, drove the Royalists down the steep mountain side
in utter rout. On such ground the cavalry on neither side could come
into action, but the Royalist horse, drawn up as a reserve in the
suburbs of the city, was attacked later on by the Patriot cavalry and
dispersed.
Sucre then summoned the city to surrender. Next day, the 25th May, 1822,
Aymerich capitulated. The Royalists lost 160 officers and 1,100 men
taken prisoners, 400 killed and 190 wounded, 14 guns, and all their
flags. The Patriots had 200 killed, of whom half belonged to the
auxiliaries from Peru, and 140 wounded.
The victory of Pichincha was the seal of the continental alliance, and
concluded the war in the North. Garcia, with his isolated force,
capitulated to Bolívar, but the indomitable Pastusos refused to lay down
their arms till Garcia appealed to Padilla, Bishop of Popayán, who had
hitherto, both by his preaching and by his example, encouraged them in
their fanatic loyalty to the King of Spain. Thanks to Bishop Padilla, a
capitulation was agreed upon, by which these brave mountaineers were
secured in possession of all their local laws and customs.
The Liberator entered Pasto in triumph, and thence, on the 8th June,
addressed a bulletin to the Columbian people:--
“From the banks of the Orinoco to the Andes of Peru the liberating army,
marching from one triumph to another, has covered with its protecting
arms the whole of Columbia. Share with me the ocean of joy which bathes
my heart, and raise in your own hearts altars to this army which has
conquered for you glory, peace, and liberty.”
The deification of the armies of Columbia inaugurated prætorianism in
South America, which was soon to press heavily upon the independent
States, and was to bring the career of Bolívar to an end. The soldiery
began to look upon the people they had freed as upon men whom they had
conquered. The victors of Pichincha declared that Quito was annexed to
Columbia. The municipality protested, and were banished from the city.
Nevertheless, Bolívar on his arrival was received with enthusiasm. On
the 16th June he made a triumphal entry, and was presented with a laurel
wreath of gold, the third he had received in commemoration of his
victories.
The two Liberators of the North and of the South were now about to meet
on the dividing line of their several campaigns. Their triumphant armies
converged upon Peru. History presents no other example of so vast a
military combination, carried out with steady perseverance for twelve
long years, ending in the concentration of the forces of an entire
continent upon one strategical point, which concentration gave the final
victory.