Battle of Ayacucho

Battle of puerto Ayacucho
Part of the Independence of Peru and the Hispanic American War of Independence
Oil painting of the Battle of Ayacucho, a work by Martín Tovar y Tovar
Date December 9, 1824 Location Ayacucho, Peru 13.042500°S 74.131667°W / -13.042500; -74.131667 Result Decisive victory of the Pro-independence Army. Consequences: Signing of the Capitulation of Ayacucho and end of the great campaigns of emancipation in South America.
Belligerents
Gran Colombia Peruvian Republic	Viceroyalty of Peru
Commanders and leaders
Antonio José de Sucre José María Córdova José de La Mar Agustín Gamarra	José de la Serna  (WIA) José de Canterac
Units involved
Pro-independence Army	Royal Army of Peru
Strength
5,780-8,500 soldiers 1-2 artillery pieces and crews	6,906-9,310 soldiers 14 artillery pieces and crews
Casualties and losses
370 dead and 609 wounded	1,800 dead, 700 wounded and 2,000-3,000 prisoners

Animated map of the Hispanic American emancipation processes (1808 - 1826):
■ Territories under royalist control.
■ Territories under the control of emancipation movements.
■ Territories under the control of Gran Colombia.
■ Spain under French occupation.
■ Spain during the liberal revolution.
■ Areas without a clear government.

The Battle of Ayacucho was the last great clash within the land campaigns of the Hispanic American wars of independence (1809-1826), and it meant the definitive end of Hispanic viceregal administrative rule in South America.

The battle took place on the Pampa de Quinua in Ayacucho, Peru, on December 9, 1824.

The victory of the insurgents brought about the disappearance of the most important royalist military contingent still standing, sealing the independence of Peru with a military capitulation that put an end to the Viceroyalty of Peru.

The last royalist strongholds would surrender successively from then on. In 1825, Upper Peru in Sucre's campaign and at Tumusla. In 1826 the fortress of the Real Felipe of Callao fell, having withstood a siege for 718 days. In that same year, 1826, the island of Chiloé was also handed over. The guerrilla hotbed was extinguished during the Iquicha War (1825-1828). In 1828, the royalist Brigadier Francisco Javier de Aguilera led the last uprising, occupying the city of Vallegrande in Bolivia. In 1831, the caudillo José Dionisio Cisneros surrendered in Venezuela. In Chile, the montonera of the Pincheira brothers would be definitively destroyed in 1832.

In 1833, after the death of King Ferdinand VII, the Spanish government definitively abandoned its plans for the reconquest of Hispanic America. Three years later, in 1836, the Spanish Cortes formally renounced any claim over continental America. Recognition of Peru was obtained de facto in 1865, and the definitive treaty of peace, friendship and recognition was signed in 1879.

Background

In the year 1820 Spain entered a political crisis because of the pronunciamiento against King Ferdinand VII and the restoration of the Liberal Constitution, supported by General Rafael de Riego, who caused the expedition of 20,000 soldiers meant to aid the royalists of America to rise up. This put an end forever to the reinforcement expeditions from Spain, which from then on were not readied for any place in America, and caused the two great viceroyalties, of Peru and of New Spain, which until then had contained the advance of the Hispanic American revolution, to take opposite paths.

In Mexico the monarchists, strengthened after destroying the insurgents, completed their separation from Liberal Spain through the Plan of Iguala, the Treaties of Córdoba and the Trigarante pact. In Peru, on the contrary, Viceroy Pezuela was discredited by the defeat of Mariano Osorio's expedition in Chile and weakened by José de San Martín's expedition to Lima. The absolutist Viceroy was finally overthrown by General José de la Serna on January 29, 1821 in the military coup of Aznapuquio, who then proclaimed his adherence to the Spanish liberal Constitution.

The secessionists began at Cerro de Pasco a promising campaign to defeat the Royal Army of Peru commanded by Viceroy La Serna. But the royalists, under solid military subordination, destroyed successive pro-independence armies. The first at the Battle of Ica, commanded by Domingo Tristán and Agustín Gamarra. A year later, in the campaigns of Torata and Moquegua, they annihilated the expedition led by Rudecindo Alvarado, José de San Martín having withdrawn after the Guayaquil Interview.

The year 1823 ended with the unexpected destruction of another pro-independence army commanded by Andrés de Santa Cruz and Agustín Gamarra, in another campaign opened over Puno, which began with the Battle of Zepita, which occupied the city of La Paz on August 8, managing to reach Oruro in Upper Peru. Viceroy La Serna ended the Zepita campaign by scattering Santa Cruz's isolated troops and recovering Arequipa after beating Antonio José de Sucre, who re-embarked the Colombians on October 10, 1823.

Finally, what remained of optimism was extinguished by the accusations of treason against the Peruvian presidents José de la Riva Agüero and José Bernardo de Tagle. Riva Agüero deported deputies of the Congress of Peru and organized a parallel congress in Trujillo, and after being declared guilty of high treason by the Congress of Peru he was exiled to Chile. Torre Tagle, on the other hand, sought to sign a peace without battles with Viceroy La Serna, for which he went to meet with the royalists. This act was considered treason by Simón Bolívar. Tagle ordered all the forces under his command to support Bolívar in facing the enemy, while the latter sought to capture him in order to have him shot. José Bernardo de Tagle found refuge with the royalists in the besieged fortress of Callao.

Thus it was that at the close of the year 1823, despite their resounding royalist triumphs in the previous feats of arms, and while the newly arrived Bolívar was writing to request reinforcements from Colombia and actively preparing what would be the final campaign against the Royal Army of Peru, the situation was beginning to become critical for the supporters of the King's cause:

"..Viceroy La Serna for his part, without direct communications with the Peninsula, with the most melancholy news of the state of the metropolis... and therefore reduced to his own and exclusive resources, but trusting notably in the resolve, in the unity, in the loyalty and in the fortune of his subordinates, was also hastening the reorganization of his troops and preparing for the struggle he saw approaching with the colossus of Costa-firme. One more triumph for Spanish arms in that situation would make the Castilian banner wave again with unfading glory as far as the Equator itself; but a very different fate was already irrevocably written in the books of destiny. .."

— Gen. Andrés García Camba.

The events of 1824

Truce in Buenos Aires and mutiny in Callao

Main article: Callao Mutiny

The historian Rufino Blanco Fombona says that "Still in 1824 Bernardino Rivadavia makes a pact with the Spaniards, thus hindering the Ayacucho campaign": on July 4, 1823, Buenos Aires concluded a truce with the Spanish commissioners (Preliminary Peace Convention (1823)) which obliged it to send negotiators to the other South American governments so that it could take effect. It was stipulated that hostilities would cease 60 days after its ratification and that it would remain in force for a year and a half, while a definitive treaty of peace and friendship was negotiated. For this purpose Juan Gregorio de Las Heras met in the city of Salta with Brigadier Baldomero Espartero, without reaching any agreement. Among other measures taken by the Viceroy to contain his imminent rebellion, on January 10, 1824 Olañeta was ordered:

I advise Your Excellency that you must not arrange any expedition in any direction over the provinces below without my express order, since in addition, in Salta General Las Heras on behalf of the Government of Buenos Aires and Brigadier Espartero on behalf of this superior Government are gathered to try to negotiate (...)

Rivadavia believed that the project would establish peace and paralyzed the efforts of the authorities of Salta over Upper Peru, denying aid and withdrawing the advanced posts, damaging the cause of Peru.

In this regard, the Irish-born historian and military man Daniel Florencio O'Leary was of the opinion that with that truce "Buenos Aires has implicitly withdrawn from the contest", and that "the Government of Buenos Aires makes a pact with the Spaniards, to the detriment of the American cause".

On January 1, 1824, Bolívar fell seriously ill in Pativilca. Around that time Félix Álzaga, minister plenipotentiary of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, arrived in Lima to request Peru's adherence to the truce, which was rejected by the Peruvian Congress. But likewise, from February 4, 1824, the Callao garrison rose up, made up of the entire Argentine infantry of the expedition, together with some Chileans, Peruvians and Colombians: about 2,000 men, who moreover went over to the royalists, hoisting the Spanish flag and handing over the fortresses of Callao. The regiment of mounted grenadiers of the Andes also mutinied in Lurín on February 14; two squadrons headed to Callao to join the rebels, but on learning that they had gone over to the royalists, a hundred of them, with the chiefs of the regiment, headed to Lima to join Bolívar. The corps was later reorganized by General Mariano Necochea by order of Simón Bolívar.

The Siege of Callao prolonged the war until 1826; furthermore, it immediately led to the occupation of Lima by Canterac, and it is asserted that in May 1824, with a military action against Bolívar, "they would have dealt the final blow to the independence of this part of America".

Olañeta's Rebellion

Main article: Olañeta's Rebellion

Surprisingly, at the beginning of the year 1824, the entire royalist army of Upper Peru rose up together with the Spanish absolutist caudillo Pedro Antonio Olañeta against the Viceroy of Peru, after it became known that the Constitutional government had fallen in Spain. Indeed, the Monarch Ferdinand VII of Spain and his absolutist supporters were recovering the government, supported by 132,000 French soldiers of the army of the Holy Alliance, who would occupy Spain until 1830. Rafael del Riego died by hanging on November 7, 1823, and the promoters of the liberal movement were executed, marginalized or exiled from Spain. On October 1, 1823, the Monarch decreed the abolition of everything approved during the three years of constitutional government, which annulled the appointment of La Serna as Viceroy of Peru. The reach of the purge over the constitutionalists of the Viceroyalty of Peru seemed infallible.

The last Viceroy of Peru, José de la Serna e Hinojosa, Count of the Andes.

Olañeta ordered the attack of the Upper Peruvian royalists against the constitutionalists of the Peruvian viceroyalty. La Serna changed his plans to descend to the coast to beat Bolívar, and sent Jerónimo Valdés with a force of 5,000 veterans to cross the Desaguadero River, which was carried out on January 22, 1824, to direct it to Potosí against his former subordinate. The Memorias para la historia de las armas españolas en el Perú by the peninsular officer Andrés García Camba (1846) detail the upheaval that the events of Upper Peru produced in the Viceroy's defensive calculations. After a prolonged campaign in the battles of Tarabuquillo, Sala, Cotagaita, and finally la Lava on August 17, 1824, both royalist forces, those of the Viceroyalty of Peru (liberals) and those of the provinces of Upper Peru (absolutists), decimated each other.

Bolívar, in communication with Olañeta, took advantage of the dismantling of the royalist defensive apparatus to "move ourselves throughout the month of May against Jauja", and to confront José de Canterac, isolated at Junín, on August 6, 1824. An incessant pursuit then began, with the consequent desertion of 2,700 royalists, who subsequently swelled the pro-independence ranks. Finally, on October 7, 1824, with his troops at the gates of Cuzco, Bolívar handed over to General Sucre the command of the new battlefront, which ran along the course of the Apurímac River, and withdrew to Lima to take more loans from the capital to sustain the war in Peru, and to receive a Colombian division of 4,000 men dispatched by Francisco de Paula Santander, which would not arrive until after Ayacucho.

The Ayacucho Campaign

The Grand Marshal of Ayacucho Antonio José de Sucre.

The disintegration of Canterac's observation corps forced La Serna to bring Jerónimo Valdés from Potosí, who came with his soldiers by forced marches. With the royalist generals gathered, and despite the displays of sincere adherence from Cusco, the Viceroy ruled out a direct assault because of the lack of training of his militias, enlarged through mass recruitments of peasants a few weeks earlier. Instead, he tried to cut off Sucre's rearguard through maneuvers of marches and countermarches, which followed one another from Cusco to the encounter at Ayacucho, along the Andean cordillera. In this way, the royalists sought a surprise blow, which they obtained on December 3 at the Battle of Corpahuaico or Matará, where at the cost of only 30 men they inflicted more than 500 casualties on the secessionist army and the loss of a good part of its park and artillery. But Sucre and his staff managed to maintain the organization of the troops and prevented the Viceroy from exploiting that local success. Even at the cost of significant losses in men and materiel, Sucre kept the United Army in orderly withdrawal, and always placed in secured positions of difficult access, such as the field of Quinua.

Another book of memoirs, In the service of the Republic of Peru by General Guillermo Miller, offers the view of the pro-independence side. In addition to the talent of Bolívar and that of Sucre, the United Army drew on a good part of the military experience of the century: the Rifles battalion of the army of Colombia was composed of European mercenary troops, who were mostly British volunteers. This unit suffered considerable casualties at Corpahuico. Also among its ranks were veterans of the Spanish Independence, of the North American war, and of the Hispanic American Wars of Independence, down to cases such as the major of German origin Carlos Sowersby, a veteran of the Battle of Borodino against Napoleon Bonaparte in Russia.

The royalists had used up their resources in a war of movement without having managed to obtain a decisive victory over the secessionist army. Because of the extreme harshness of the conditions of a campaign in the Andean cordillera, both armies were left with their troop numbers seriously reduced by illness and desertion, which affected the pro-independence forces to the same degree, and which was likewise concentrated in militias lacking military training or in recruits formed from enemy prisoners. The royalist chiefs had positioned themselves on the heights of Cerro Condorcunca (in Quechua: condor's neck), a good defensive position that they could not hold, given that in less than five days they would be forced to withdraw because of the starvation of the troops, which amounted to the dispersal of their army and a certain defeat given the imminent arrival of reinforcements from Colombia, which is why they were driven to make a desperate decision: the Battle of Ayacucho was beginning.

Order of battle

Pro-independence forces

Royalists

Commander in Chief Antonio José de Sucre Officers chief of staff Agustín Gamarra first aide-de-camp Francis Burdett O'Connor Division of Peru (Left), division chief José de La Mar Line Battalion number 1, chief Francisco de Paula Otero Line Battalion number 2 (Trujillo), chief Ramón Gonzales Line Battalion number 3 (Callao), chief Miguel Benavides Battalion of the Peruvian Legion, chief José María Plaza 1st Division of Colombia (Reserve), division chief Jacinto Lara Vencedores Battalion, chief Ignacio Luque Batalla Pantano de Vargas Battalion, chief José Trinidad Moran Rifles Battalion, chief Arthur Sandes 2nd Division of Colombia (Right), division chief José María Córdova Bogotá Battalion, chief León Galindo Voltígeros Battalion, chief Pedro Guash Pichincha Battalion, chief Manuel León. Caracas Battalion, chief José Leal Cavalry Division, division chief William Miller 2 squadrons of Hussars of Junín, chief Isodoro Suárez Argentine provinces 1 squadron of Mounted Grenadiers of the Andes[ 2 squadrons of Grenadiers of Colombia, chief Lucas Carvajal. 2 squadrons of Hussars of Colombia, chief José Laurencio Silva Origin of the troops 4,000 from Gran Colombia 1,500 from the Republic of Peru approx. 300 to 1,000 from the Republic of Chile approx. 80 to 100 from the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata 300 from other places German Confederation France United Kingdom

Commander in Chief José de La Serna Officers José de Canterac, chief of staff Valdés Division Centro Battalion (formerly Azángaro); chief: Felipe Rivero Cantabria Battalion; chief: Antonio Tur Volunteers of Castro Battalion; chief: José Hugue 1st Battalion of the Imperial Alejandro (formerly Extremadura); chief: Francisco Palomares † González Villalobos Division 1st Battalion of the regiment of Cuzco; chief: Joaquín Rubín de Celis † 2nd Battalion of the Imperial Alejandro; chief: Domingo Alonso † 1st and 2nd Battalions of Gerona; chief: Domingo Echezarraga Fernando VII Battalion; chief: José Carratala Monet Division General's Guides Battalion (of Upper Peru); chief: Joaquín Bolívar 2nd Battalion of the regiment of Cusco; chief: Francisco Villabase † Burgos Battalion; chief: Juan A. Pardo Victoria Battalion (formerly Talavera); chief: Manuel Sánchez Infante don Carlos Battalion (formerly Real de Lima); chief: Mariano Cucalón † Ferraz Division (cavalry) Dragoons of San Carlos, chief: Jerónimo Villagra Grenadiers of the Guard; chief: Valentín Ferraz Dragoons of the Union; chief: Ramón Gómez de Bedoya Hussars of Ferdinand VII; chief: Felipe Fernández Dragoons of Peru; chief: Dionisio Marcilla Alarbaderos of the Viceroy (honorary corps of the viceroys of Peru) Origin of the troops ~6,000 from the Viceroyalty of Peru held by the monarchy 1,500 ~ 3,000 from the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, for the most part from Upper Peru, held by the monarchy. 500-900 from Spain 495 from Chiloé

There is a debate surrounding the figures of combatants, since the figure for the royalists in Sucre's battle report was actually taken from the captured Spanish military roster with the number of men on leaving Cuzco. But it must be borne in mind that both sides began the campaign with an initial strength of armies (8,500 pro-independence vs. 9,310 royalists) that decreased in number in the following weeks of campaign, up to the very day of the battle (5,780 pro-independence vs. 6,906 loyalists), for the reasons set out above. On the battlefield the royalists numbered 5,876 infantrymen and 1,030 cavalry.

Battle of Ayacucho

Secessionist army

• Commander: General Antonio José de Sucre
• Chief of Staff - General Agustín Gamarra
• Cavalry – General Guillermo Miller
• First Division - General José María Córdova (2,300 men)
• Second Division - General José de La Mar (1,580 men)
• Reserve - General Jacinto Lara (1,700 men)

According to General Sucre's description:

Our line formed an angle; the right, composed of the Bogotá, Boltijeros, Pichincha and Caracas battalions, of the first division of Colombia, under the command of General Córdova. The left, of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd battalions and Peruvian legion, with the hussars of Junin, under the most illustrious General La Mar. In the center, the grenadiers and hussars of Colombia, with General Miller; and in reserve the Rifles, Vencedor and Bargas battalions, of the first division of Colombia, under the command of General Lara.

— Report of the Battle of Ayacucho

Note that Marshal Sucre omits mentioning in the report the Mounted Grenadiers of the Río de la Plata. General Miller, in his Memoirs of General Miller: in the service of the republic of Peru, gives the complete composition of the forces under Sucre's command:

Cordova Division (on the right): Bogota, Caracas, Voltigeros, Pichincha.

Cavalry, Miller (in the center): Regiments Husares de Junín, Grenadiers of Colombia, Hussars of Colombia, Mounted Grenadiers of Buenos Aires.
La Mar Division (left flank): Legion, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3.

Lara Division (in reserve): Vargas, Vencedores, Cazadores.

Miller's statement that the Hussars of Junín were in his division contradicts what Sucre says in the report.

Royal Army of Peru

• Commander: Viceroy José de La Serna
• Cavalry Commander – Brigadier Valentín Ferraz
• Chief of Staff – Lieutenant General José de Canterac
• Vanguard Division - General Jerónimo Valdés (2,006 men)
• First Division - General Juan Antonio Monet (2,000 men)
• Second Division - General Alejandro González Villalobos (1,700 men)
• Reserve Division - General José Carratalá (1,200 men)

The Spaniards swiftly brought down their columns, passing into the ravines on our left the Cantabria, Centro, Castro, 1st Imperial battalions and two squadrons of hussars with a battery of six pieces, overloading their attack on that side. Over the center were formed the Burgos, Infante, Victoria, Guias and 2nd of the first Regiment battalions, supporting the left of this with the three squadrons of the Union, that of San Carlos, the four of the Grenadiers of the Guard and the five artillery pieces already placed; and on the height of our left the 1st and 2nd battalions of Gerona, 2nd Imperial, 1st of the first Regiment, that of the Fernandinos, and the squadron of Grenadiers of Halberdiers of the Viceroy.

Europeans in Viceroy La Serna's army

The number of soldiers native to Spain who fought at Ayacucho has been delimited by the very testimonies after the contest. In the year 1824 the Europeans fighting in the whole viceroyalty amounted to 1,500 according to Brigadier García Camba, while according to the royal commissioner Diego Cónsul Jove Lacomme the total number of Europeans was 1,200, of whom only 39 men served in the division of Upper Peru.

By December 9, the day the Battle of Ayacucho was fought, and according to later publications, the Europeans in the Viceroy's army numbered approximately 500 men according to García Camba, while Bulnes cites 900 "from the viceroy down to the last bugler", relying on the diary of Captain Bernardo F. Escudero y Reguera, an officer of Valdés's staff. But the testimony of General Jerónimo Valdés refutes him, corroborating the figure of 500 men "from soldier to chief".

Of the reported number of royalist prisoners captured after the Battle of Ayacucho, 1,512 were Americans, while 751 were Spaniards, from which it is deduced that the number of peninsular combatants under the command of Viceroy La Serna may be around that figure.

Course of the actions

Sketch of the Battle of Ayacucho.
A. Royalist positions on the night of the 8th to the 9th
B. Preparatory maneuver for the royalist attack
C. March of the battalions under the command of Colonel Rubín de Celis
D. Maneuver and attack of the Monet division
E. Attack of Valdés's vanguard on the house occupied by the pro-independence forces
F. Charge of the royalist cavalry
M. Advance and dispersal of the Gerona battalions, part of the royalist reserve
K. Fernando VII Battalion, last royalist reserve

The deployment organized by Canterac's plans envisaged that Valdés's vanguard division would, on its own, go around the enemy grouping, crossing the Pampas River to pin down on the ground the units of Sucre's left, which was carried out in the first phase of the battle. Meanwhile, the rest of the royalist army would descend frontally from Cerro Condorcunca, abandoning its defensive positions and charging against the bulk of the enemy, which it expected to find disorganized; the Gerona and Fernando VII battalions would remain in reserve, arranged in the second line to be sent wherever they were required.

Sucre immediately realized the risky maneuver, which was evident inasmuch as the royalists were on a slope, unable to camouflage their movements. The Spanish Colonel Joaquín Rubín de Celis, who commanded the First Regiment of Cuzco, and who was to protect the emplacement of the artillery, which was still dismantled and loaded on its mules, impetuously advanced to the plain far too prematurely, misinterpreting direct orders from the Viceroy; "he threw himself alone and in the most reckless manner into the attack", where his unit was destroyed and he himself killed in the decisive counterattack of Córdova's division, which then advanced in compact line formations, and which with effective fire also pushed back the scattered skirmishers of Villalobos's division, who had just descended in Guerrilla formations. Córdova's division, supported by Miller's cavalry, directly attacked the disorganized mass of royalist troops which, unable to form for battle, were descending in files from the mountains; it was in this attack that General José María Córdova uttered his famous phrase "Division, arms at will, forward, victors' pace".

Charge of the Venezuelan llanero cavalry at the Battle of Ayacucho.

Seeing the disaster his left had suffered, General Monet, without waiting for his cavalry to form on the plain, crossed the ravine and at the head of his division threw himself upon Córdova's, managing to form two of his battalions in battle order, but, promptly attacked by the pro-independence division, he was enveloped before the rest of his troops could also form in battle order. During these actions Monet was wounded and three of his chiefs killed. The stragglers of his line dragged the masses of militiamen with them in their retreat. The royalist cavalry under Ferraz's command charged the enemy squadrons that were harassing Monet's left, but these, supported by the lively fire of their infantry, caused an enormous number of casualties among Ferraz's horsemen, whose survivors were forced to wheel about and withdraw from the battlefield.

At the other end of the line, the second division of José de La Mar, supported by the Vargas battalion of the third division of Jacinto Lara, together halted the onslaught of the veterans of Valdés's vanguard, who had launched themselves to take the solitary house occupied by some pro-independence companies, which were at first overrun and forced to fall back, and which, reinforced by the charge of the Hussars of Junín under Miller's direction and then by the mounted grenadiers, returned to the attack, to which Córdova's victorious division would later be added.

Viceroy La Serna and other officers tried to restore the battle and reorganize the fleeing stragglers, and General Canterac himself led the reserve division onto the plain. However, the recruits of the Gerona battalions were not the same who had won the battles of Torata and Moquegua, for during Olañeta's rebellion they had lost almost all their veterans and even their former Commander Cayetano Ameller. This troop, composed of soldiers forced to fight, scattered before facing the enemy, followed afterwards, after weak resistance, by the depleted Fernando VII Battalion. At one in the afternoon the Viceroy had been wounded and taken prisoner together with a great number of his officers, and although Valdés's division was still fighting on the right of his line, the battle was won for the pro-independence side. The casualties admitted by Sucre were 370 dead and 609 wounded, while the royalist ones were estimated at 1,800 dead and 700 wounded, which represents a high mortality in combat.

Denis Auguste Marie Raffet - Memorable and decisive Battle of Ayacucho in Peru. 1926

With the decimated remnants of his division, Valdés managed to withdraw to the heights in his rear, where he joined 200 horsemen who had gathered around General Canterac and a few stragglers from the defeated royalist divisions, whose demoralized fleeing soldiers even went so far as to fire on the officers who were trying to regroup them. With the bulk of the royal army destroyed, the Viceroy himself in the hands of the secessionists, and his enemy Pedro Antonio Olañeta occupying the rearguard, the royalist chiefs opted for capitulation after the battle.

The Capitulation of Ayacucho

Main article: Capitulation of Ayacucho

Capitulation of Ayacucho (oil painting by Daniel Hernández).

"Don José Canterac, lieutenant general of the royal armies of H. C. M., entrusted with the superior command of Peru because the most excellent lord viceroy don José de La Serna was wounded and taken prisoner in the battle of this day, having heard the lord generals and chiefs who gathered after the Spanish army, having fulfilled in every sense all that the reputation of its arms demanded in the bloody day of Ayacucho and in the whole war of Peru, has had to yield the field to the independent troops; and having to reconcile at the same time the honor of the remnants of these forces with the lessening of the ills of the country, I have deemed it fitting to propose and settle with the lord general of division of the Republic of Colombia, Antonio José de Sucre, commander in chief of the united liberating army of Peru".

It is the treaty signed by the royalist chief of staff, Canterac, and General Sucre at the conclusion of the Battle of Ayacucho, on that same December 9, 1824. Its main consequences were several:

• The royalist army under the command of Viceroy La Serna renounced continuing the struggle.
• The permanence of the last royalist soldiers in the fortresses of Callao.
• The Republic of Peru had to settle the economic and political debt to the countries that contributed militarily to its independence.

From Lima, on December 7, Bolívar convened the Congress of Panama for the unity of the new independent countries. The project was ratified only by Gran Colombia. Four years later Gran Colombia, because of the personal desire of many of its generals and the absence of a unitary vision, would end up dividing into the nations that make it up today.

The city of Cuzco would be taken by Agustín Gamarra's troops on December 23.

Those surrendering were the lieutenant generals, Viceroy José de la Serna and José de Canterac; marshals Gerónimo Valdés, José Carratalá, Juan Antonio Monet and Alejandro González Villalobos; brigadiers Ramón Gómez de Bedoya, Valentín Ferraz, Andrés García Camba, Martín de Somocurcio, Fernando Cacho, Miguel María Atero, Ignacio Landazuri, Antonio Vigil and Antonio Tur y Berrueta; 16 colonels, 68 lieutenant colonels, 484 majors or other officers and 2,000 soldiers.

Conspiracy theories about the Battle of Ayacucho

Honorary badge awarded to the officers who took part in the Campaign of Peru in 1823-24.

The capitulation has been called by the Spanish historian Juan Carlos Losada "the betrayal of Ayacucho", and in his work Batallas decisivas de la Historia de España (Ed. Aguilar, 2004) he asserts that the outcome of the battle had been agreed beforehand. The historian points to Juan Antonio Monet as the one in charge of the agreement: “the protagonists always kept a scrupulous pact of silence and, therefore, we can only speculate, although with little risk of being mistaken” (P. 254). A capitulation without a battle would undoubtedly have been judged as treason. The Spanish chiefs, of liberal ideas, and accused of belonging to Freemasonry like other pro-independence military leaders, did not always share the ideas of the Spanish King Ferdinand VII, a monarch who was a firm upholder of absolutism.

On the contrary, the Spanish commander Andrés García Camba relates in his memoirs how the Spanish officers later nicknamed "ayacuchos" were unjustly accused upon their arrival in Spain: "gentlemen, that was lost masonically" they were told accusingly; "That was lost, my general, as battles are lost", the veterans of the battle replied.

Upper Peru after the Battle of Ayacucho

Main article: Sucre's campaign in Upper Peru

View of the Palace of Congresses of Bolivia.

After the triumph of Ayacucho, and following precise instructions from Bolívar, General Sucre entered the territory of Upper Peru on February 25, 1825. His military campaign served to give an appearance of legality to a process of independence that the Upper Peruvian insurgents themselves had already set in motion with the guerrilla war of Upper Peru. Sucre also maintained civil order in the country and restored the administration of the government in La Paz. The royalist general Pedro Antonio Olañeta remained in Potosí, where in January he received the "Unión" battalion coming from Puno under the command of Colonel José María Valdez, and then convened a Council of War which agreed to continue the resistance in the name of Ferdinand VII. Olañeta distributed his troops between the fortress of Cotagaita, with the "Chichas" battalion under the command of Colonel Medinacelli, while Valdez with the "Unión" was sent to Chuquisaca, and Olañeta himself marched to Vitichi with 60,000 gold pesos from the Mint of Potosí.

However, Cochabamba rose up, with Colonel José Martínez and the First Battalion "Fernando VII"; followed in Vallegrande by the Second Battalion "Fernando VII", which deposed the royalist brigadier Francisco Aguilera on February 12. The pro-independence colonel José Manuel Mercado then occupied Santa Cruz de la Sierra, abandoned by Aguilera on February 14, while Chayanta fell into the hands of Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Arraya, with the "Santa Victoria" and "Dragones Americanos" squadrons, and in Chuquisaca the "Dragones de la Frontera" battalion of Colonel Francisco López declared for the pro-independence side on February 22, whereby the majority of the royalist troops of Upper Peru renounced continuing the struggle against Sucre's powerful army. Colonel Medinaceli with three hundred soldiers also rose up against Olañeta, and on April 1, 1825 they clashed in the Combat of Tumusla, which ended with the defeat of Olañeta and his death the following day. A few days later, on April 7, General José María Valdez surrendered at Chequelte (Santiago de Cotagaita) to the pro-independence general Urdininea, putting an end to the war in Upper Peru.

The birth of Bolivia

Simón Bolívar, with the approval of the Peruvian congress on February 23, 1825 and of the Argentine congress on May 9, 1825, ratified the decision of Antonio José de Sucre to convene a sovereign congress of Upper Peru, which expressed in its declaration of independence its wish not to unite with Peru or with the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

By means of a decree the Assembly determined that the new state born in Upper Peru would bear the name of «República Bolívar», in homage to Simón Bolívar, designated «Father of the Republic». He was also granted the supreme executive power for life, with the honors of Protector and President. Bolívar was grateful for these honors, but declined to accept the office, designating the Marshal of Ayacucho Antonio José de Sucre.

Declaration of the independence of Bolivia

Main article: Bolivian Declaration of Independence

Act of Independence of Bolivia in the Casa de la Libertad, Sucre.

With the Deliberative Assembly convened again in Chuquisaca by Marshal Sucre on July 9, 1825, and upon its conclusion, the complete independence of Upper Peru was determined, under the republican form. Finally, the President of the Assembly, José Mariano Serrano, together with a commission, drafted the "Act of Independence", which bears the date of August 6, 1825, in honor of the Battle of Junín won by Bolívar. Independence was declared by 7 representatives of Charcas, 14 of Potosí, 12 for La Paz, 13 for Cochabamba and 2 for Santa Cruz. The act of independence, drafted by the President of the Congress, Serrano, says in its expository part:

The world knows that Upper Peru has been, on the continent of America, the altar where the first blood of the free was shed and the land where the tomb of the last of the tyrants lies. The departments of Upper Peru, it adds in its resolutive part, protest before the face of the whole earth that their irrevocable resolution is to govern themselves.

Recognition of the combatants

In honor and recognition of the pro-independence combatants of the battle, an obelisk commemorating the battle was built in 1974 at the site of the events, the work of the Spanish artist Aurelio Bernandino Arias.

With a concrete structure and clad in white travertine marble, this monument is located in the Pampa de Ayacucho Historic Sanctuary, in the district of Quinua, Province of Huamanga. It is 37 km northeast of the city of Ayacucho, at 3,300 m above sea level.

Obelisk at Pampa de Quinua, Ayacucho, Peru

Honors to Sucre

Monument of the Nation to the Venezuelan Heroes of the independence of America. On the Paseo Los Próceres (Caracas, Venezuela).

Bolívar, who in 1825 wrote and published his succinct summary of the life of General Sucre, the only work of its kind he produced, did not spare praise for the culminating feat of his faithful lieutenant:

"The Battle of Ayacucho is the summit of American glory, and the work of General Sucre. Its disposition was perfect, and its execution divine". The generations to come await the victory of Ayacucho to bless it and contemplate it seated on the throne of liberty, dictating to Americans the exercise of their rights, and the sacred empire of nature".

"You are called to the highest destinies, and I foresee that you are the rival of my Glory. (Bolívar, Letter to Sucre, Nazca, April 26, 1825) ".

"The Congress of Colombia then made Sucre General in Chief, and the Congress of Peru gave him the rank of Grand Marshal of Ayacucho,".

Bibliography

• Liévano Aguirre, Indalecio (1983). Bolívar (in español). Madrid: Cultura Hispánica del Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana. ISBN 84-7232-311-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link).
• Basadre Grohmann, Jorge (?). Historia de la República del Perú (in español). Lima: Diario La República. Eighth edition ISBN 9972-205-62-2. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: publisher location (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
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• BENCOMO BARRIS, HECTOR (1995). “Diccionario Multimedia de Historia de Venezuela”, “Batalla de Ayacucho” (in español). Caracas, Fundación Polar.
• Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela, Universidad Central de Venezuela y Senado de la República (1995). “Sucre época épica 1795 – 1995” (in español). Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela, Caracas.
• BOULTON, ALFREDO. 1980: “Miranda, Bolívar y Sucre. Tres estudios iconográficos”. Biblioteca de Autores y Temas Mirandinos. Caracas – Venezuela.
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• PRESIDENCIA DE LA REPÚBLICA Y BANCO PROVINCIAL. 1995: “Documentos en honor del Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Antonio José de Sucre”. Marvin Klein Editor. Caracas - Venezuela.
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• MANGIN, CHARLES. 1982: “La independencia de la América del Sur y la batalla de Ayacucho”. Revista Bolívar. 1(1):29-45.
• MÉNDEZ SALCEDO, ILDEFONSO. 1995: “Asesinato de Antonio José de Sucre”. In: “Diccionario Multimedia de Historia de Venezuela”. Fundación Polar. Caracas – Venezuela.
• OROPESA, JUAN. 1995: “Sucre”. Homenaje de la Presidencia de la República. Caracas - Venezuela.
• PINILLA, SABINO. 1995: “La cremación de Bolivia”. Comisión Nacional Bicentenario del Gran Mariscal Sucre. Caracas - Venezuela.
• Romero Martínez, Vinicio. 1987: “Mis mejores amigos 110 biografías de venezolanos ilustres”. Editorial Larense, C. A. Caracas-Venezuela.
• Corsi Otálora, Luis (2006). Bolívar: la fuerza del desarraigo (in español). Argentina: Nueva Hispanidad, Con el patrocinio de la Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada /Madrid. First edition ISBN 987-1036-37-X.

External links

• Peruvian video of the 2009 battle reenacted on the pampas of Ayacucho.
• Historical reenactment of the Battle of Ayacucho - 2009.
• TheArtofBattle channel - YouTube.