Irish volunteers played a central role in the wars in which Colombia gained independence from Spain. Between 1,000 and 2,000 Irish volunteers led by Irishmen such as William Aylmer, Francisco Burdett O'Connor and James Towers English assisted in the struggle. The Irish leader James Rooke led his British Legions with Simon Bolivar's army in its epic march from Eastern Venezuela across the plains and up into the Andes, where the Irish troops played a key role in the Battle of Vargas Swamp and the subsequent decisive Battle of Boyacá. When offered laurels after the victory at Boyacá, Bolívar credited the victory at Boyacá to the English and Irish volunteers, declaring that "those soldier liberators are the men who deserve these laurels". In the subsequent upheavals in Colombia in the 1820s, Irishmen such as Daniel Florence O'Leary, Arthur Sandes and John Johnston were among Bolívar's most faithful officers. Descendants of the Irish volunteers live in Colombia to this day.