Part 47 (1/2)
As the forces turned a spur of the hills which had hitherto screened them from their enemies, they came in sight of the latter, formed along the crest of a gentle eminence, with their snow-white banners, the distinguis.h.i.+ng color of the Almagrians, floating above their heads, and their bright arms flinging back the broad rays of the evening sun. Almagro's disposition of his troops was not unlike that of his adversary. In the centre was his excellent artillery, covered by his arquebusiers and spearmen; while his cavalry rode on the flanks. The troops on the left he proposed to lead in person. He had chosen his position with judgment, as the character of the ground gave full play to his guns, which opened an effective fire on the a.s.sailants as they drew near. Shaken by the storm of shot, Vaca de Castro saw the difficulty of advancing in open view of the hostile battery. He took the counsel, therefore, of Francisco de Carbajal, who undertook to lead the forces by a circuitous, but safer, route. This is the first occasion on which the name of this veteran appears in these American wars, where it was afterwards to acquire a melancholy notoriety. He had come to the country after the campaigns of forty years in Europe, where he had studied the art of war under the Great Captain, Gonsalvo de Cordova. Though now far advanced in age, he possessed all the courage and indomitable energy of youth, and well exemplified the lessons he had studied under his great commander.
Taking advantage of a winding route that sloped round the declivity of the hills, he conducted the troops in such a manner, that, until they approached quite near the enemy, they were protected by the intervening ground. While thus advancing, they were a.s.sailed on the left flank by the Indian battalions under Paullo, the Inca Manco's brother; but a corps of musketeers, directing a scattering fire among them, soon rid the Spaniards of this annoyance. When, at length, the royal troops, rising above the hill, again came into view of Almagro's lines, the artillery opened on them with fatal effect. It was but for a moment, however, as, from some unaccountable cause, the guns were pointed at such an angle, that, although presenting an obvious mark, by far the greater part of the shot pa.s.sed over their heads.
Whether this was the result of treachery, or merely of awkwardness, is uncertain. The artillery was under charge of the engineer, Pedro de Candia. This man, who, it may be remembered, was one of the thirteen that so gallantly stood by Pizarro in the island of Gallo, had fought side by side with his leader through the whole of the Conquest. He had lately, however, conceived some disgust with him, and had taken part with the faction of Almagro. The death of his old commander, he may perhaps have thought, had settled all their differences, and he was now willing to return to his former allegiance. At least, it is said, that, at this very time, he was in correspondence with Vaca de Castro. Almagro himself seems to have had no doubt of his treachery. For, after remonstrating in vain with him on his present conduct, he ran him through the body, and the unfortunate cavalier fell lifeless on the field. Then, throwing himself on one of the guns, Almagro gave it a new direction, and that so successfully, that, when it was discharged, it struck down several of the cavalry. *22
[Footnote 22: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 17-19. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 7, lib. 3, cap. 11. - Dicho del Capitan Francisco de Carbajal sobre la informacion hecha en el Cuzco en 1543, a favor de Vaca de Castro, Ms. - Carta del Cabildo de Arequipa al Emperador, Ms. - Carta de Ventura Beltran, Ms. - Declaracion de Uscategui, Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap.
149.
According to Garcila.s.so, whose guns usually do more execution than those of any other authority, seventeen men were killed by this wonderful shot. See Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 16.]
The firing now took better effect, and by one volley a whole file of the royal infantry was swept off, and though others quickly stepped in to fill up the ranks, the men, impatient of their sufferings, loudly called on the troopers, who had halted for a moment, to quicken their advance. *23 This delay had been caused by Carbajal's desire to bring his own guns to bear on the opposite columns. But the design was quickly abandoned; the clumsy ordnance was left on the field, and orders were given to the cavalry to charge; the trumpets sounded, and, crying their war-cries, the bold cavaliers struck their spurs into their steeds, and rode at full speed against the enemy.
[Footnote 23: The officers drove the men according to Zarate, at the point of their swords, to take the places of their fallen comrades. ”Porque vn tiro llevo toda vna hilera, e hico abrir el Escuadron, i los Capitanes pusieron gran diligencia en hacerlo cerrar, amenacando de muerte a los Soldados, con las Espadas desenvainadas, i se cerro.” Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 1.]
Well had it been for Almagro, if he had remained firm on the post which gave him such advantage. But from a false point of honor, he thought it derogatory to a brave knight pa.s.sively to await the a.s.sault, and, ordering his own men to charge, the hostile squadrons, rapidly advancing against each other, met midway on the plain. The shock was terrible. Horse and rider reeled under the force of it. The spears flew into s.h.i.+vers; *24 and the cavaliers, drawing their swords, or wielding their maces and battle-axes, - though some of the royal troopers were armed only with a common axe, - dealt their blows with all the fury of civil hate. It was a fearful struggle, not merely of man against man, but, to use the words of an eyewitness, of brother against brother, and friend against friend. *25 No quarter was asked; for the wrench that had been strong enough to tear asunder the dearest ties of kindred left no hold for humanity. The excellent arms of the Almagrians counterbalanced the odds of numbers; but the royal partisans gained some advantage by striking at the horses instead of the mailed bodies of their antagonists.
[Footnote 24: ”Se encontraron de suerte, que casi todas las lancas quebraron, quedando muchos muertos, i caidos de ambas partes.” (Ibid., ubi supra.) Zarate writes on this occasion with the spirit and strength of Thucydides. He was not present, but came into the country the following year, when he gleaned the particulars of the battle from the best informed persons there, to whom his position gave him ready access.]
[Footnote 25: It is the language of the Conquerors themselves, who, in their letter to the Emperor, compare the action to the great battle of Ravenna. ”Fue tan renida i porfiada, que despues de la de Rebena, no se ha visto entre tan poca gente mas cruel batalla, donde hermanos a hermanos, ni deudos a deudos, ni amigos a amigos no se davan vida uno a otro.” Carta de Cabildo de Arequipa al Emperador. Ms.]
The infantry, meanwhile, on both sides, kept up a sharp cross-fire from their arquebuses, which did execution on the ranks of the cavaliers, as well as on one another. But Almagro's battery of heavy guns, now well directed, mowed down the advancing columns of foot. The latter, staggering, began to fall back from the terrible fire, when Francisco de Carbajal, throwing himself before them, cried out, ”Shame on you, my men! Do you give way now? I am twice as good a mark for the enemy as any of you!” He was a very large man; and, throwing off his steel helmet and cuira.s.s, that he might have no advantage over his followers, he remained lightly attired in his cotton doublet, when, swinging his partisan over his head, he sprang boldly forward through blinding volumes of smoke and a tempest of musket-b.a.l.l.s, and, supported by the bravest of his troops, overpowered the gunners, and made himself master of their pieces.
The shades of night had now, for some time, been coming thicker and thicker over the field. But still the deadly struggle went on in the darkness, as the red and white badges intimated the respective parties, and their war-cries rose above the din, - ”Vaca de Castro y el Rey,” - ”Almagro y el Rey,” - while both invoked the aid of their military apostle St. James. Holguin, who commanded the royalists on the left, pierced through by two musket-b.a.l.l.s, had been slain early in the action. He had made himself conspicuous by a rich sobrevest of white velvet over his armour. Still a gallant band of cavaliers maintained the fight so valiantly on that quarter, that the Almagrians found it difficult to keep their ground. *26
[Footnote 26: The battle was so equally contested, says Beltran, one of Vaca de Castro's captains, that it was long doubtful on which side victory was to incline. ”I la batalla estuvo mui gran rato en peso sin conoscerse vitoria de la una parte a la otra.”
Carta de Ventura Beltran, Ms.]
It fared differently on the right, where Alonso de Alvarado commanded. He was there encountered by Almagro in person, who fought worthy of his name. By repeated charges on his opponent, he endeavoured to bear down his squadrons, so much worse mounted and worse armed than his own. Alvarado resisted with undiminished courage; but his numbers had been thinned, as we have seen, before the battle, to supply the governor's reserve, and, fairly overpowered by the superior strength of his adversary, who had already won two of the royal banners, he was slowly giving ground. ”Take, but kill not!” shouted the generous young chief, who felt himself sure of victory. *27
[Footnote 27: ”Gritaba, Victoria; i decia, Prender i no matar.”
Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 7, lib. 3, cap. 11.]
But at this crisis, Vaca de Castro, who, with his reserve, had occupied a rising ground that commanded the field of action, was fully aware that the time had now come for him to take part in the struggle. He had long strained his eyes through the gloom to watch the movements of the combatants, and received constant tidings how the fight was going. He no longer hesitated, but, calling on his men to follow, led off boldly into the thickest of the melee to the support of his stouthearted officer. The arrival of a new corps on the field, all fresh for action, gave another turn to the tide. *28 Alvarado's men took heart and rallied. Almagro's, though driven back by the fury of the a.s.sault, quickly returned against their a.s.sailants. Thirteen of Vaca de Castro's cavaliers fell dead from their saddles. But it was the last effort of the Almagrians. Their strength, though not their spirit, failed them. They gave way in all directions, and, mingling together in the darkness, horse, foot, and artillery, they trampled one another down, as they made the best of their way from the press of their pursuers. Almagro used every effort to stay them. He performed miracles of valor, says one who witnessed them; but he was borne along by the tide, and, though he seemed to court death, by the freedom with which he exposed his person to danger yet he escaped without a wound.
[Footnote 28: The letter of the munic.i.p.ality of Arequipa gives the governor credit for deciding the fate of the day by this movement, and the writers express their ”admiration of the gallantry and courage he displayed, so little to have been expected from his age and profession.” See the original in Appendix, No. 13.]
Others there were of his company, and among them a young cavalier named Geronimo de Alvarado, who obstinately refused to quit the field; and shouting out, - ”We slew Pizarro! we killed the tyrant!” they threw themselves on the lances of their conquerors, preferring death on the battle-field to the ignominious doom of the gibbet. *29
[Footnote 29: ”Se arrojaron en los Enemigos, como desesperados, hiriendo a todas partes, diciendo cada vno por su nombre: Yo soi Fulano, que mate al Marques; i asi anduvieron hasta, que los hicieron pedacos.' Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 19.]
It was nine o'clock when the battle ceased, though the firing was heard at intervals over the field at a much later hour, as some straggling party of fugitives were overtaken by their pursuers.
Yet many succeeded in escaping in the obscurity of night, while some, it is said, contrived to elude pursuit in a more singular way; tearing off the badges from the corpses of their enemies, they a.s.sumed them for themselves, and, mingling in the ranks as followers of Vaca de Castro, joined in the pursuit.
That commander, at length, fearing some untoward accident, and that the fugitives, should they rally again under cover of the darkness, might inflict some loss on their pursuers, caused his trumpets to sound, and recalled his scattered forces under their banners. All night they remained under arms on the field, which, so lately the scene of noisy strife, was now hushed in silence, broken only by the groans of the wounded and the dying. The natives, who had hung, during the fight, like a dark cloud, round the skirts of the mountains, contemplating with gloomy satisfaction the destruction of their enemies, now availed themselves of the obscurity to descend, like a pack of famished wolves, upon the plains, where they stripped the bodies of the slain, and even of the living, but disabled wretches, who had in vain dragged themselves into the bushes for concealment. The following morning, Vaca de Castro gave orders that the wounded - those who had not perished in the cold damps of the night - should be committed to the care of the surgeons, while the priests were occupied with administering confession and absolution to the dying. Four large graves or pits were dug, in which the bodies of the slain - the conquerors and the conquered - were heaped indiscriminately together. But the remains of Alvarez de Holguin and several other cavaliers of distinction were transported to Guamanga, where they were buried with the solemnities suited to their rank; and the tattered banners won from their vanquished countrymen waved over their monuments, the melancholy trophies of their victory.
The number of killed is variously reported, - from three hundred to five hundred on both sides. *30 The mortality was greatest among the conquerors, who suffered more from the cannon of the enemy before the action, than the latter suffered in the rout that followed it. The number of wounded was still greater; and full half of the survivors of Almagro's party were made prisoners. Many, indeed, escaped from the field to the neighbouring town of Guamanga, where they took refuge in the churches and monasteries. But their asylum was not respected, and they were dragged forth and thrown into prison. Their brave young commander fled with a few followers only to Cuzco, where he was instantly arrested by the magistrates whom he had himself placed over the city. *31
[Footnote 30: Zarate estimates the number at three hundred.
Uscategui, who belonged to the Almagrian party, and Garcila.s.so, both rate it as high as five hundred.]
[Footnote 31: The particulars of the action are gathered from Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta de Ventura Beltran, Ms. - Zarate, Zarate Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 17-20. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms. - Dicho del Capitan Francisco de Carbajal sobre la informacion hecha en el Cuzco en 1543 a favor de Vaca de Castro, Ms. - Carta del Cabildo de Arequipa al Emperador, Ms. - Carta de Barrio Nuevo, Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de las Ind., cap. 149. - Garcila.s.so, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 15-18. - Declaracion de Uscategui, Ms.
Many of these authorities were personally present on the field; and it is rare that the details of a battle are drawn from more authentic testimony. The student of history will not be surprised that in these details there should be the greatest discrepancy.]
At Guamanga, Vaca de Castro appointed a commission, with the Licentiate de la Gama at its head, for the trial of the prisoners; and justice was not satisfied, till forty had been condemned to death, and thirty others - some of them with the loss of one or more of their members - sent into banishment. *32 Such severe reprisals have been too common with the Spaniards in their civil feuds. Strange that they should so blindly plunge into these, with this dreadful doom for the vanquished!