# Battle of the Altos de Chipe

The Battle of the Altos de Chipe (Spanish: Combate de los Altos de Chipe), Battle of Locumba (1841), Christmas Battle of Locumba or Locumba Christmas massacre (Spanish: Batalla de Navideña de Locumba o Masacre Navideño de Locumba) (occurred at midnight on Christmas Eve) was a confrontation between a detachment of Peruvian cavalry and infantry and Bolivian troops near the town of Locumba in Tacna that occurred on December 25, 1841, being a Peruvian victory in the framework of the Peru-Bolivian War.

## Background

After the Battle of Ingavi, the Bolivians invaded southern Peru from Puno, Tacna, Arica, Tarapacá and for a very short time, Moquegua.
This invasion took place with the aim of securing the main ports of Peru, from there various fighting fronts opened in southern Peru.
On December 9, 1841, a regiment under the command of Colonel Manuel Rodríguez Magariños (Head of the Second Bolivian Division) occupies Tacna, another under the command of Colonel Bernardo Rojas occupies Arica , and another under the command of Colonel José María García occupies Tarapacá, while the forces of José Ballivián occupy Moquegua and Puno.

## History

The prefect of Moquegua, Manuel de Mendiburu, led the resistance of the people in the interior of Tacna from Camiara. The guerrilla groups commanded by Juan Bautista Ramos and Manuel Lavayen successfully repelled the Bolivian army that had left that city at the place called Altos de Chipe. The emigrants from Tacna led by José Rosa Ara y Robles and Justo Arias y Aragüez distinguished themselves in this encounter. The Peruvian Navy contributed to the successes of the guerrillas on the coast.

## Battle

The troops of Major EP Juan Bautista Ramos and Colonel EP Manuel Lavayen, continued their advance and during the route they saw in the distance the troops of Manuel Rodríguez Magariños who totaled just over 335 men. Due to the surprise factor and the strategy of guerrilla warfare; the Bolivian army was almost completely annihilated, no surrender was accepted, it was the memory of those killed in the Hospital de la Paz (after the battle of Mecapaca), the mockery and mistreatment of the corpse of Gamarra and his faithful soldiers.
The Peruvian guerrillas of Ramos and Lavayen had other clashes with the invaders. The entire region of Sama (Battle of Sama (1842)) was in their hands. In the following weeks they continued to successfully attack Bolivian patrols and detachments throughout that region. When they crossed the Andes mountain range due to the imminent arrival of the best armed Peruvian troops from the north and who would therefore arrive in Tacna and Arica in the next few days; adding to that all the setbacks suffered by the Bolivian army, made Ballivián order the definitive evacuation of the entire region of Arica on February 19 and of Tacna on February 21, 1842 of the same year with damage to property, in the population and at the cost of numerous desertions. To avoid being attacked, they undertook a hasty retreat towards Puno, but the route was marked by death and hardships which they suffered attacks from the Peruvian militias and volunteers who did not want to give them quarter and the desertions of Rodríguez Magariños' troops were numerous.