Battle of Chacabuco

In 1814, having been instrumental in the establishment of a popularly elected congress in Argentina, Jose de San Martin began to consider the problem of driving the Spanish royalists from South America. He realised that the first step would be to drive them from Chile, and, to this end, he set about recruiting and equipping an army. In just under two years, he had an army of some 6,000 men with 1,200 horses and 22 guns, and, on January 17, 1817, he set out with this force to cross the Andes and liberate Chile. Careful planning on his part had meant that the Royalist forces in Chile were deployed to meet threats that did not exist, and his crossing went unopposed.

The Army of the Andes (as San Martin's force was called) suffered heavy losses during the crossing, losing one-third of its men and more than half of its horses. The Royalist forces had rushed north to respond to their approach, and a force of about 1,500 under Brigadier Rafael Maroto blocked San Martin's advance at a valley called Chacabuco, near Santiago. All he had to do was delay San Martin, as he knew that further Royalist reinforcements were on the way from Santiago. San Martin knew this as well, and opted to attack whilst he still had the advantage of numbers.

[edit] The battle

San Martin divided his army into two parts. The first, under General Bernardo O'Higgins, was to fix the attention of the Royalist force to their front, whilst the second, under General Soler, was to move around their left flank. Unfortunately, the flanking force experienced a series of delays, and, as the day wore on, O'Higgins found himself confronting the majority of the Royalist army in an exchange of fire over a deep creek. Taking decisive action (although disobeying orders), O'Higgins ordered a general advance and attacked the Royalist line. The line buckled under the attack, allowing O'Higgins' cavalry to sweep through. The defeated Royalists retreated towards a farm on the vicinity. In the meanwhile, San Martin had personally gone to find the flanking force, and with his arrival turned the Royalist retreat into a rout.