Cochrane would settle the decisive blow to the Royalists in Chile when, in 1820, he seized the Valdivian Fort System, the most fortified place in South America at the time. Cochrane succeeded in the Capture of Valdivia using a surprise land assault. He then sent a small force in charge of Jorge Beauchef to pursue the Royalist army fleeing from Valdivia to Chiloe and, in the process, conquered the cities located further south of Valdivia - including Me Río Bueno and Osorno.