Once there he joined the Army of the Andes, and fought in the battles of Chacabuco and Talcahuano (1817), Cancha Rayada and Maipu (1818). He married Teresa González de Labra y Ros on July 18, 1819, and together they had three sons, among them the future general Manuel Baquedano. After the death of his first wife, he married for a second time on June 27, 1848, to Mercedes Concha Fuentealba, with whom he had another 6 children.