# The Emancipation of South America/Chapter 18

CHAPTER XVIII.
MAIPO.
1818.
At daybreak on the 20th March the Royalist army, although triumphant, was in utter confusion. Only one battalion, that of Arequipa, under Rodil, had not dispersed. Osorio, leaving his convent, rode over the field of battle, endeavouring to estimate the value of the victory he had done nothing to win. The orderly retreat of Las Heras filled him with apprehension, and his own cavalry was worn out. He crossed the Lircay and advanced to Pangue, from whence he despatched Ordoñez with a flying column in pursuit, and returned with the rest of his force to Talca to reorganize. Ordoñez reached Quecheraguas the next day, when Las Heras had already crossed the Lontué. On the 24th he was joined by Osorio with the rest of the army.
The country was a desert; the roads were inundated by the waters from the irrigating ditches which the Patriots had cut as they retreated; the Royalist general could learn nothing of the position or condition of the Patriot army. Marching blindly on, he reached San Fernando on the 28th, and sent forward a detachment of 200 horse, which, being attacked and dispersed by sixty grenadiers under Captain Cajaravilla on the 30th, were the first to give him certain information that there still remained an enemy in front of him.
On the 31st the Royal army, 5,500 strong, crossed the ​Cachapoal, and advanced so cautiously that only on the afternoon of the 2nd April did it encamp on the left bank of the Maipó. Leaving the main road, Osorio crossed by a ford lower down, and encamped at Calera on the 3rd, moving on in the afternoon to the farmhouse of Espejo, where he established his headquarters, with the Patriot army close at hand. On the 4th he held a council of war, and proposed to retire on Valparaiso. Ordoñez, Rivera, and the principal officers opposed this idea, so it was resolved to fight the next day.
The scene of the decisive battle of the 5th April, 1818, is a plain bounded on the east by the river Mapocho, which divides the city of Santiago, on the north by a range of hills which separates it from the valley of Aconcagua, and on the south by the river Maipó, which gives it its name. The west of this plain consists of a series of downs, with some low hills, covered with natural grasses and occasional clumps of thorny trees. From Santiago there runs in this direction a stretch of high land called the "Loma Blanca," from the chalky nature of the soil. On the crest of this Loma the Patriot army was encamped. In front of the western extremity of this Loma rose another of triangular form, beyond the south-western angle of which stood the farmhouse of Espejo, communicating with the higher ground by a sloping road of about twenty-five yards in width, shut in by vineyards and by the mud walls of enclosures, and crossed at the foot by a ditch. This Loma was occupied by the Royalist army. Between the two Lorn as lay a stretch of low ground, varying in width from 300 to 1,250 yards, which was shut in on the west by a hillock which formed a sort of advanced work on the left of the Royalist position.
The position held by the Patriot army commanded the three roads from the capital to the passes of the Maipó, and the road to Valparaiso. For its further security San ​Martin had entrenched the city, and garrisoned it with 1,000 militia and one battalion of infantry, under command of O'Higgins, whose wound precluded him from service in the field. The army was in three divisions: the first, under Las Heras, on the right; the second, under Alvarado, on the left; and a reserve in a second line, under Quintana. Balcarce was in general command of the infantry, San Martin keeping the cavalry and the reserve under his own orders. San Martin issued the most precise orders for the regulation of the troops in action, especially enjoining upon every corps, whether cavalry or infantry, that they should never await a charge from the enemy, but that, when fifty paces distant, they should rush forward with sabre or bayonet.
During the whole day of the 4th April skirmishers of the Patriot army were constantly engaged with the enemy advancing from the fords of the Maipó. Early on the morning of the 5th San Martin, attended by O'Brien and D'Albe, with a small escort, rode to the edge of the Loma to watch for himself the movements of the foe. He feared that they would go far to the west and secure the road to Valparaiso for retreat in case of a reverse. As he saw them occupy the high ground in front of him with their left only extending to the road, he exclaimed:—
"What brutes these Spaniards are! Osorio is a greater fool than I thought him. I take the sun for witness that the day is ours."
At that moment the sun shone forth over the snowy crests of the Andes from a cloudless sky upon him.
At half-past ten the Patriot army advanced by the crest of the Loma from its camping-ground. On the march, Marshal Brayer presented himself to San Martin, asking permission to retire to the Baths of Colina.
​The Marshal answered that he could not "because of an old wound in the leg."
"Señor General," replied San Martin, "the lowest drummer in the united army has more honour than you." And, turning rein, he gave orders to Balcarce to announce to the army that the general of twenty years of warfare was cashiered for unworthy conduct.
On reaching the edge of the Loma, the army was drawn up in order of battle, four heavy guns in the centre, the light pieces and the cavalry on the wings, and the reserve two hundred yards in the rear.
The first movement of the Royalist general was to detach Primo de Rivera with eight companies of infantry and four guns to occupy the detached hill on his left, threatening the right of the Patriots, taking them in flank if they crossed the low ground, and securing, as he thought, the road to Valparaiso; Morgado, with some cavalry, keeping up the connection with the main body. The crest of the Loma was occupied by the infantry in two divisions with four guns each, the rest of the cavalry being stationed on the extreme right. Both armies were in such excellent positions that neither could attack except at a disadvantage.
San Martin, uncertain of the whereabouts of the enemy's artillery, was the first to open fire with his four heavy guns from the centre. The reply gave him the information he required, and he at once ordered the two divisions to attack the enemy. Las Heras advanced resolutely with the 11th battalion, under the fire of the four guns on the hill, to another hill to the right of Primo de Rivera, while the grenadiers, under Escalada, Medina, and Zapiola, drove Morgado and his horsemen in confusion from the field. Rivera was thus cut off from the main body. At the same time the left wing crossed the hollow, ascended the slope in front of them, and reached the high ground without seeing an enemy, but were then vigorously charged by the bulk of the Royalist infantry, under Ordoñez and Morla, ​and driven back with heavy loss; but the Royalists pursuing them down the slope were in their turn forced to retire by a withering fire from the Chilian guns, under Borgoño, which had remained on the crest of the Loma Blanca.
San Martin now sent orders to the reserve to advance at once, in support of the left wing, by an oblique movement across the low ground, so as to fall upon the flank of the Spanish infantry. On his way Quintana was joined by three battalions of those that had been driven back, and fell with great impetuosity upon the Royalists, who, however, held their ground most tenaciously. Meantime Freyre, with the Chilian cavalry, had charged and put to flight the Royalist cavalry on the right, and now came back upon the other flank of the Spanish infantry. Alvarado, having rallied his broken division, came to the assistance of Quintana with Borgoño and his eight guns.
Osorio, after sending orders to Rivera to withdraw from his advanced position, fled, leaving Ordoñez in command, who at once commenced to retreat in excellent order upon the farmhouse of Espejo.
At this moment O'Higgins, wounded as he was, appeared upon the field, and, meeting San Martin, greeted him as the saviour of Chile; but it was already five o'clock, and the battle was not yet won. Ordoñez, with heavy loss, had made good his retreat to the farmhouse, where he made the most active preparations for defence.
Las Heras, in pursuit of the left wing, was the first to arrive there, but found several detached corps there before him. He immediately ordered the occupation of the high grounds around it, which commanded the position, but Balcarce coming up ordered an immediate attack by the road. Colonel Thompson, with a battalion of Chilian light infantry, led the assault, but was beaten back with grape and musketry, losing 250 killed, and all his officers wounded. Borgoño and Blanco Encalada from the high ground then opened fire with seventeen guns, and soon drove the enemy from his outer defences into the houses ​and vineyards. Then the 11th battalion, supported by pickets of the 7th and 8th, broke their way through the mud walls and took the houses by assault. The carnage was frightful till Las Heras succeeded in putting a stop to it.
Ordoñez and all his principal officers, with the exception of Rodil, who escaped, gave up their swords to Las Heras, and the victory was complete. This was the hardest fought battle in all the War of Independence. The Royalists lost 1,000 killed, twelve guns, four flags, and a great quantity of small arms, ammunition, and baggage captured; and one general, four colonels, seven lieutenant-colonels, 150 officers, and 2,200 men were made prisoners. The Patriots lost more than 1,000 men killed and wounded, the greatest sufferers being the freed negroes of Cuyo, of whom more than half remained upon the field.
Great tactical skill was displayed by San Martin in this battle. The victory was achieved by the opportune attack of the reserve upon the weakest flank of the enemy. Like Epaminondas, he won only two great battles, and both by the oblique movement invented by the Greek general. Its importance was only equalled by that of Boyaca and that of Ayacucho; and without Maipó neither the one nor the other would have been fought. Maipó crushed the spirit of the Spanish army in America, and that of all adherents to the cause of royalty from Mexico to Peru. It had, further, the singular merit of being won by a beaten army fifteen days after its defeat.
​San Martin made small use of his victory. He at once despatched Freyre in pursuit with a party of cavalry, but not until the guerillas began to commit depredations did he send Zapiola with 250 grenadiers to maintain order in the South. Osorio made use of this respite to strengthen himself in Concepcion and Talcahuano, and, by calling in outlying detachments, succeeded in collecting 1,200 men by the middle of May.
Pezuela, who fully appreciated the magnitude of the disaster, wrote to the Viceroy of New Granada and Venezuela for reinforcements. Sámano sent him the Numancia battalion, 1,200 strong, weakening himself at the time that he was threatened by BolÍvar; but Morillo could send him none from Venezuela, and he confined his efforts to making preparations against invasion, leaving Osorio unaided to sustain himself in Chile as he could.
On the 21st May Osorio sent two detachments across the Nuble, one of which surprised the town of Parrol. Zapiola sent off Captain Cajaravilla with 200 horse to retake the town, which task he gallantly accomplished, capturing 70 prisoners; while Lieutenant Rodriguez of the grenadiers cut the other detachment to pieces at Quirihue. This put a stop to the efforts of the Royalists for that time, and Zapiola, being reinforced, determined to attack Chillán, where Colonel Lantaño was in command with a garrison of 500 men. The expedition was confided to Cajaravilla, who attempted to carry the place by assault, but was beaten off and compelled to retire.