Preliminary moves
The Restoring Army lands at Ancon on August 7, 1838. Bulnes believed that Orbegoso had abandoned the Confederacy, but the latter refused to authorize Bulnes' forces disembark. This tense situation led to a confrontation and a subsequent engagement at Portada de Guias on August 21, where Bulnes obtains his first victory in this campaign and enters in Peru's capital city. [6] Four days later, Peruvian Marshal Agustin Gamarra is appointed as a provisional President of Peru.
This caused Santa Cruz to march over Lima. In the ensuing combat of Matucana, Bulnes results triumphant again. This setback diminishes Santa Cruz' army morale. [7] Before these events, General Brown had defeated the bulk of the Argentinean Army at the Battle of Montenegro on June 24, 1838. [8] On November 12, General Heredia is assassinated, ending the participation of Argentina in the war.
With the army decimated by deceases, the lack of discipline of the newly added Peruvian troops under Agustin Gamarra, and surrounded and beset by montoneros, a council decides to leave Lima on November 8. General Moran enters Lima the very next day.
The restoring plan consists in to leave Lima and move north, trying to avoid a direct confrontation with outnumbering Santa Cruz' army. Once arrived to Huacho on the 13, the sick and the wounded are sent to Trujillo and Piura, along with the poor trained Peruvian soldiers, while the rest of the army are to occupy the Huaylas Corridor, where the chances of gaining tactical advantages are stronger. [8] During this march, a detachment of the Restoring Army under Juan Colipi contain a major confederate force at Llaclla on December 18 [3]
On January 5, Bulnes is almost surprised at Huaraz, retreating from the town but forced to detain on the northern edge of the Buin River and present battle. [9]
The battle
Since a storm broke out before the battle, the Buin became impossible to cross in any point but by the bridge over there. Thus, this bridge became the strategic goal for both armies.
Bulnes deployed Colonel Valenzuela's Carampangue Battalion on the centre, with Gomez' Valdivia Battalion on the right flank and Garcia's Portales Battalion on the left. The skirmishers of the first unit were to guard the bridge over the river and to keep it from falling on confederate hands [10]
Santa Cruz formed his army over the road, with Moran's division on the rear with the rest of the army; all the skirmishers were set on a nearby height and two cannons under Colonel Pareja were aiming the bridge.
The beginning
With this positioning, the battle broke out at 15:30 hrs. When Gomez began to form his unit over the shore, Pareja opened fire upon the restoring centre. With both armies separated by the river, Santa Cruz' efforts logically focused on the bridge, but he was contained. [11] This sector of the battlefield witnessed heavy action since the bridge was the key of victory for both sides. Also a detachment of soldiers, exhausted for the march were cut by a group of confederate troops trying to surrender them. Hence, the Portales advanced to defend them, successfully taking the company out of their difficult situation.
After an intense infantry and artillery fire, Santa Cruz ordered Moran and Guilarte to engage the enemy from different directions. General Guarda with his light division assaulted the bridge, but his column was caught by the Chilean infantry fire, falling Guarda severely wounded and forcing him to retreat. Whilst, Moran frontally charged the Carampangue Battalion, while Guilarte forwarded against Garcia's position on the restoring right flank. [12] Then, Moran's division advanced over the bridge as well, but he was rejected too.
Around the bridge the fight was pretty vicious. A detachment from all the restoring units were defending the position under Lt. Colipi, who being surrounded charged repeatedly against their enemy. The Bolivian Captain Juan Jose Perez with a company of the Cazadores Nº 2 Battalion, threw himself with a few soldiers to the river trying to cross it, but almost all of his men drowned. Also, a few soldiers could reach the other shore under the command of Captain Leuper, but was forced to retreat, resuming the fire from both sides of the river.
The fight continued with an intense infantry cross fire, but nobody could obtain any advantages. Meanwhile, Bulnes' vanguard undid its advance trying to reach the battle in time. Vidaurre-Leal's Valparaiso Battalion was the first one to get to the battlefield, arriving on the afternoon. Fore seeking the proximity of both armies and the arrival of his vanguard would force a general battle, Bulnes ordered Valenzuela to move to the rear, and ordered Vidaurre-Leal to advance to the front line, taking the place of the Valdivia Battalion, which exhausted all of its ammunition.
The confederate army was rejected once again and forced to return to Huauyan. When the Colchagua Battalion arrived, it couldn't engage because after the confederates retreated, Lieutenant Juan Colipi destroyed the bridge, following an order existing since Huacho to destroy anything that could help the advance of the confederate army. [2]
With the bridge cut, both armies limited to fire upon each other from their respective positions. [12] Having his vanguard Commander injured, Santa Cruz could not take advantage of this new positioning. He also did not allow Moran to attack the restoring troops when they were crossing the creek.
Afterwards, the storm broke out again. When it stopped around 20:00 hrs, a confederate column crossed the river to scout the position, but Bulnes had already left towards San Miguel.
The Peru–Bolivian Confederation was a short-lived state that existed in South America between 1836 and 1839. The country was a loose confederation made up of three states: North Peru and South Peru—states that arose from the division of the Peruvian Republic due to the civil wars of 1834 and 1835 to 1836—as well as the Bolivian State.
Agustín Gamarra Messia was a Peruvian soldier and politician, who served as the 4th and 6th President of Peru.
Manuel Bulnes Prieto was a Chilean military and political figure. He was twice President of Chile, from 1841 to 1846 and from 1846 to 1851.
The Battle of Yungay was the final battle of the War of the Confederation, fought on January 20, 1839, near Yungay, Peru. The United Restorer Army, led by Chilean General Manuel Bulnes, consisting mainly of Chileans and 600 North Peruvian dissidents, attacked the Peru-Bolivian Confederation forces led by Andrés de Santa Cruz in northern Peru, 200 kilometers (120 mi) north of Lima.
The Battle of Pisagua, was a landing operation of the War of the Pacific, fought on November 2, 1879, between Chile and the combined forces of Bolivia and Peru. The Chilean army commanded by Erasmo Escala, supported by the Chilean Fleet, launched an amphibious assault on the port of Pisagua and successfully drove the defending Bolivian-Peruvian forces, led by Gen. Juan Buendia, back from the shore. They established a beachhead that allowed an initial force of about 1,000 Chilean soldiers in two assault waves to disembark onto Peruvian territory at Pisagua in Tarapacá Department. This region was the principal territory in dispute.
The Battle of San Francisco, also known as the Battle of Dolores, was a major battle in the Tarapacá Campaign of the War of the Pacific, fought on November 19, 1879, in the Peruvian department of Tarapacá. A Chilean army under Colonel Emilio Sotomayor had moved via Dolores rail road deep into the desert and was encamped at San Francisco Saltpeter Office, about 30 kilometers south east of the port of Pisagua. Allied forces under General Juan Buendía launched an attack on Sotomayor's army. At the beginning, Bolivian General Carlos Villegas pressed the attack over a poorly defended battery right in the Chilean centre and almost succeeded. Only the arrival of infantry support allowed Colonel José Domingo Amunátegui to hold the position.
The War of the Confederation was a military confrontation waged by Chile, along with Peruvian dissidents, and the Argentine Confederation against the Peru–Bolivian Confederation between 1836 and 1839. As a result of the Salaverry-Santa Cruz War, the Peru-Bolivia Confederation was created by General Andrés de Santa Cruz, which caused a power struggle in southern South America, with Chile and the Argentine Confederation, as both distrusted this new and powerful political entity, seeing their geopolitical interests threatened. After some incidents, Chile and the Argentine Confederation declared war on the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, although both waged war separately.
The Republic of North Peru was one of the three constituent republics of the short-lived Peru–Bolivian Confederation of 1836–1839.
The Battle of Miraflores occurred on January 15, 1881 in the Miraflores District of Lima, Peru. It was an important battle during the War of the Pacific that was fought between Chile and the forces of Peru. The Chilean army led by Gen. Manuel Baquedano defeated the army commanded by Nicolás de Piérola guarding the second defensive line of the Peruvian capital city. Two days later, Lima, the capital city of Peru was occupied by Chilean troops. Gen. Baquedano's forces marched into Lima triumphant, while Peru's president and his officers fled into the interior, leaving the country without any government. Even after the fall of Lima, the war continued between the occupation army and the troops of Andres Caceres for another three years. During the occupation of Lima, Peru's National Library was burned, while a number of other monuments were ransacked by Chilean forces and taken as war trophies.
The Battle of San Juan, also known as the Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos, was the first of two battles in the Lima Campaign during the War of the Pacific, and was fought on 13 January 1881. This battle is really a group of smaller, yet fierce confrontations at the defensive strongholds of Villa, Chorrillos, Santiago de Surco, San Juan de Miraflores, Santa Teresa and Morro Solar. The Chilean army led by Gen. Manuel Baquedano inflicted a harsh defeat on the Peruvian army commanded by the Supreme Chief Nicolás de Piérola. The Chilean triumph eliminated the first defensive line guarding Lima, and almost obliterated the Peruvian army defending it.
The Battle of Tacna, also known as the Battle of the Peak of the Alliance, effectively destroyed the Peru-Bolivian alliance against Chile, forged by a secret treaty signed in 1873. On May 26, 1880, the Chilean Northern Operations Army led by General Manuel Baquedano González, conclusively defeated the combined armies of Peru and Bolivia commanded by Bolivian President, General Narciso Campero. The battle took place at the Inti Urqu (Intiorko) hill plateau, a few miles north of the Peruvian city of Tacna. As a result, Bolivia was knocked out of the war, leaving Peru to fight the rest of the war alone. Also, this victory consolidated the Chilean domain over the Tarapacá Department. The territory was definitively annexed to Chile after the signing of the Tratado de Ancón, in 1884, which ended the war. Tacna itself remained under Chilean control until 1929.
The Battle of Los Ángeles was a military action fought on 22 March 1880 between the Chilean and Peruvian armies during the Tacna and Arica Campaign of the War of the Pacific. The Chilean forces under Commander in chief Manuel Baquedano assaulted and defeated the Allied stronghold guided by Andrés Gamarra garrisoned at Los Angeles hill top.
The Battle of Portada de Guías, also known as the Battle of Guía or Battle of Piñonate, was a battle between an alliance made up of Chile and the Restoration Army of Peru, and the secessionist Peruvian Republic in 1838 during the War of the Confederation.
The Salaverry-Santa Cruz War, sometimes called the Peruvian Civil War of 1835–1836, was an internal conflict in Peru with the involvement of the Bolivian army of Andres de Santa Cruz. At the Battle of Yanacocha, Santa Cruz's army lost 211 killed and 71 wounded, while Gamarra's army lost 400 killed and 985 taken prisoner. At the Battle of Uchumayo, Santa Cruz's army lost 315 killed.
The Battle of Callao was a confrontation during the War of the Confederation, between the Chilean blockade of Callao under the command of Commander Bynnon and the Confederate corsair fleet under Juan Blanchet.
The Army of the North of Peru or Restoration Army of Peru was the army of the Northern Peruvian Republic that was made up of Peruvians opposed to the establishment of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, who accused Bolivian President Andrés de Santa Cruz of having invaded and divided Peru with the support of Peruvian President Luis José de Orbegoso whom his opponents did not recognize as legitimate. It later merged with the Chilean Army to form the United Restoration Army. The goal of the army was to restore the united Peruvian state prior to the establishment of the Confederation.
The Peruvian Republic was a state that seceded from the Peru–Bolivian Confederation in 1838 under the leadership of General Luis Orbegoso.
The third siege of Callao was a siege that took place in 1838 during the War of the Confederation between the United Restoration Army, supported by the Chilean army and the Peru–Bolivian Confederation. The confederates defeated the restorationist forces, who then retreated to Huacho due to the advance of the confederate army led by Andrés de Santa Cruz.
The Battle of La Rinconada de Ate was a battle of the Lima campaign of the War of the Pacific. The battle occurred a few days before the Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos due to a surveying conflict.
Martiniano Urriola Guzman was a Chilean colonel of the War of the Pacific. He participated across many campaigns of the war as well as being one of the primary commanders of the Chilean North Operations Army.
Chile 
Peruvian dissidents
Peru-Bolivian Confederation