The Lima campaign is the third land campaign of the War of the Pacific, carried out by Chile between December 1880 and January 1881. The campaign ended with the Chilean occupation of the Peruvian capital and the establishment of the Chilean authority in it and other surrounding territories, which would extend until 1883, with the end of the war.
After the battles of Alto de la Alianza and Arica, which occurred on May 26 and June 7, 1880, respectively, the governments of Bolivia, Chile and Peru began talks to end the war in the port of Arica. In addition, the Lynch Expedition departed from the port with the aim of destroying the sugar estates that contributed financially to Peru and demanding war contributions from the Peruvian landowners.[7]
U.S. intervention was carried out through Secretary of StateWilliam M. Evarts, who promoted the Arica Conferences in order to stop the conflict, since, as a result of Chilean attacks, civilian properties had been involuntarily affected, both of Europeans and Americans. The peace negotiations were unsuccessful, however.[7]
The Government of Chile demanded the transfer of some territories already occupied in various ways, which was promoted in the Chilean Congress by the deputy José Manuel Balmaceda, and the new Minister of War and Navy, José Francisco Vergara, pressured by public opinion.[8] Chilean tax revenues began to improve with the taxes collected by the exports of minerals from the regions that were occupied, thereby paying for the war. The tax charged by Chile was $ 1.60.
Nicolás de Piérola, dictator of Peru, thought that the Chilean landing in the capital would take place in Ancón and Barranco, north of Lima. Against this opinion was Colonel Andrés Avelino Cáceres and other military leaders who were of the opinion that the Chilean landing would take place in the south. De Piérola allocated a large part of the defense to the north and south in Pisco, leaving a force of 3,000 men under the command of Colonel Anselmo Zamudio. Chile sent an expedition under the command of Rear Admiral Patricio Lynch to stop the production of the haciendas on the Peruvian coast. In it, Lynch committed looting and burning, as well as collecting war quotas.
In this expedition, buildings and public services, sugar and cotton farms were affected, where their owners refused to pay the war quotas. Chinese workers worked in the haciendas in conditions of semi-slavery, who were freed as the Chilean troops passed by and joined as porters.
On the coast of Lima, the Chilean ships "Loa" and "Covadonga" were sunk by torpedoes prepared by Peruvian engineers. Faced with these sinkings, the ship "Cochrane" bombed the towns of Chorrillos, Ancón and Chancay.
Landing in Pisco
The port of Chilca, which is located 70 km south of the city of Lima, obtained the preference of the Chilean General Staff. The presence of major Peruvian forces was thought unlikely.
On November 20, 1880, the 1st Division of the Chilean Army, with 8,800 men, embarked on 15 transports and the corvettes Chacabuco and O'Higgins, arrived in Pisco, coming from Arica, under the command of General José Antonio Villagrán. The Division was reinforced with 3,500 soldiers who arrived on December 2 in the corvettes Abtao and Magellan under the command of Colonel Francisco Gana.
Contrary to Andrés Avelino Cáceres' belief that the landing would take place in the south, president de Piérola arranged his troops between Ancón and Barranco, north of Lima; to the south, in the city of Pisco, he left a force of 3,000 soldiers under the command of Colonel Anselmo Zamudio, who, seeing the Chilean numerical superiority, withdrew.
On December 14, the Chilean 1st Division arrived at Tambo de Mora and from there two brigades marched under the command of captain Patricio Lynch. Colonel José Domingo Amunátegui's brigade followed later. On their way through the desert towards the Cañete river's valley, the brigade was forced to return to Pisco due to time constraints caused by a lack of water wells. The delay meant the replacement of General Villagrán by Patricio Lynch, whom Manuel Baquedano appointed the new head of the 1st Division.
Landing in Curayacu
Chilean Army landing in Curayacu
On December 22, 1880, 15,000 soldiers under General Baquedano's command landed in 29 transports, along with the Blanco Encalada and Cochrane armored vehicles, the O'Higgins corvette and the Angamos transport ship.
The Peruvian military command ordered troops under the command of Andrés Avelino Cáceres to march south from Lima in order to occupy Lurín, but the desert and the lack of means of transportation ended up forcing these forces to return to Lima.
The Chilean landing in the ports of Chilca, Curayacu and Pisco was finally carried out without Peruvian opposition. Chilean troops established their camp in the Lurín Valley.
First encounters
On December 25 and 26, after eight days of marching, the two halves of Lynch's Chilean brigade arrive successively, which followed each other 24 hours apart to facilitate the use of food and water. This 180 km journey was made meeting very little Peruvian resistance, which consisted mainly of attacks by local Montoneras.
The Peruvian command sent Colonel Pedro José Sevilla and the Cazadores del Rímac, with 200 cavalry horsemen armed with carbines, to monitor the advance of the Chileans, confronting them in Yerba Buena and then in Bujama. The Chilean command sent Colonel Orozimbo Barbosa's brigade to confront the Peruvian troops, fighting in Manzano on December 27, 1880, where Sevilla was taken prisoner.
Chilean troops confiscated money and livestock from the wealthy owners of the Cañete valley, setting fire to and looting the towns of San Antonio and Mala. A thousand Chinese workers, who had come to put themselves at the disposal of the Chilean regiments, hoping in this way to be freed from their commitments to their owners, helped the Chilean troops as porters. From the confiscated estates, more than six hundred donkeys were seized, which were loaded with sacks, weapons, and kitchen utensils, with the mules loading the food and the barrels of water.[9]
Since January 4, 1881, Peruvian Colonel Mariano Vargas had been in Rinconada de Ate with a force of 340 soldiers, made up of landowners and residents of the area armed with Minié rifles and artillery pieces. Vargas organized his artillery on the Vásquez hill. On January 9, 1881, the Chilean division of Barbosa reached Pampa Grande after a march through Pachacamac. Barboza's division faced Vargas's men in the battle of La Rinconada de Ate, achieving Vargas's withdrawal to Vásquez hill, where the Peruvian artillery came into action but without causing significant losses to the Chilean division, which later After inspecting the area, retired to Pampa Grande.
Main square of Chorrillos before the Battle of San Juan
Main square of Chorrillos after the Battle of San Juan
At 4 A.M. on January 13, the battle began with Patricio Lynch's 1st Division facing the 1st Army Corps of Colonel Miguel Iglesias in Villa. Emilio Sotomayor's 2nd division is delayed in entering the combat. Baquedano then ordered Colonel Martínez's reserve to reinforce the First Division, which was overrun by Iglesias' troops. The Chilean reserve then manages to isolate the units of Iglesias from the rest of the Peruvian troops.
The Sotomayor division enters into action by attacking first in Villa, and then turning and heading to the position of San Juan, defended by Colonel Cáceres' IV Army Corps. General Silva sent troops from the III Corps of Dávila to reinforce Cáceres, meanwhile the III Chilean Division of Colonel Pedro Lagos began the attack on the left flank of the III and IV Corps of Dávila and Cáceres. Sotomayor's troops evicted Cáceres from his positions on Cerro San Juan, separating the Peruvian lines at a second point.
Colonel Miguel Iglesias, head of the First Army Corps, brought together the Peruvian Guard No. 1 and Callao No. 9 battalions that had fought in Villa, which combined with the Cajamarca No. 5, Tarma No. 7 and Trujillo No. 11 battalions added 4,500 soldiers in address of Marcavilca.
After the actions of San Juan, part of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Division, made up of the 4th in line and Chacabuco regiments, plus the navy's artillery advanced towards Marcavilca. Colonel Arnaldo Panizo observed from Morro Solar the withdrawal of Iglesias's forces and supported his withdrawal with the "Provisional" battery, resulting in his offensive. Iglesias organizes the attack with the First Corps and in this way the Chilean advance is stopped near the La Calavera hill. At that point a part of the troops of the Chacabuco Regiment was killed or wounded, with 19 officers and 350 soldiers falling, with their commander Toro Herrera wounded and the second major commander Belisario Zañartu killed in action, with Major Quintavalla taking charge. The same happened in the 4th in Line regiment.
Patricio Lynch sent for reinforcements, which could not arrive, and Baquedano did not learn of his difficulties because he was in the town of Chorrillos. At that time the ammunition began to lack and the infantry had to retreat. Reinforcements were requested from Commander Pedro Lagos who was in the houses of San Juan. The first officer to enlist the help of Lynch's division was, of his own free will, Diego Dublé Almeyda, commander of the Atacama Regiment, who brought with him some ammunition. This allowed the Chilean retreat to be halted and the offensive to continue.
Iglesias carried out a counterattack led by Colonel Justiniano Borgoño's Libres de Trujillo Battalion and Suárez's Zepita No. 29 Battalion, attacking and pushing back the Chilean troops and recovering the positions they had left behind.
At 12:00, the Peruvian I Corps forces left their positions in Marcavilca and withdrew in the direction of Chorrillos and others towards Morro Solar, attacked by the Chileans from Marcavilca.[10] Miguel Iglesias is captured by Chilean forces in the direction of Chorrillos at 12:45 pm after descending from Cerro Panteón.[11] Zepita No. 29 manages to enter Lima Street and fight in Chorrillos.
At 1:45 p.m. at the top of Morro Solar are the last 100 soldiers, among soldiers from different battalions of the 1st Corps and Artilleros del Morro, all under the command of Colonel Arnaldo Panizo, who, surrounded, defend their positions. The machine gun operated by Major Manuel Hurtado y Haza was rendered useless and a 12-piece piece continued to operate. Finally, the Chilean troops occupied the Morro Solar plain.[10] After occupying Chorrillos, the Chileans looted the city and reduced it to ashes.
The Peruvian defense line participating in the battle was made up of the civilian population of the city of Lima united with the battalions that had fought in San Juan. At approximately 2:00 p.m. on January 15, 1881, a surprise firefight between groups of both armies began to escalate until combat became general throughout the battle front.
The brigades of the II Chilean Division were in Chorrillos and Barranco advancing towards Miraflores, and Patricio Lynch's division were not in position The III Lagos Division was the closest to the front, and for that reason it was the first to engage in combat with the Peruvian forces. The troops of Andrés Avelino Cáceres, who were defending the right flank in Redoubts 1 and 2, faced off with Francisco Barceló's 2nd Brigade, while Martiniano Urriola's 1st Brigade was deployed in disorder.[12] The Chilean artillery retreats about 1500 meters, since it was thought that an imminent retreat from the Lagos division was expected.[13]
On the left flank, Suárez's troops face the 2nd Brigade of the II Division, while the I Division fights in the center of the line. After two hours of battle the attack is reinforced by two regiments and the bombardment of the ships Blanco Encalada, Cochrane and Huascar to the town of Miraflores. Barceló's brigade attacks the Cáceres line, who retreats from Miraflores. Upon being overwhelmed by this flank and attacked from the rear, the defenses of Redoubts 1, 2 and 3 withdrew from the line.
At 18:30 the Santiago Regiment arrives in Miraflores. Piérola withdraws the rest of the troops who do not fight. Of the 10 strongholds, only the forces of 3 strongholds enter into combat. The mayor of Lima Rufino Torrico hands over the government of the city to Manuel Baquedano, who seizes him to avoid ambushes to the Chilean army at the entrance to Lima. The town of Miraflores was looted and burned.
In the battle of Miraflores, the Chilean army suffered 2,124 casualties, while the Peruvian army had about 3,000.[13]
The occupation began on January 1881, with Chilean troops occupying the capital and establishing a military administration headquartered in the Government Palace.
Reports of Chilean destruction and looting resulted in a meeting between the different observing powers, concluding that such an event would not be allowed in Lima proper. Had the Chilean army destroyed and looted the city as it had done in Barranco, Chorrillos and Miraflores, the observing powers would have used their military power in the form of a bombardment of the city against the occupying army.[2][3]
In absence of a Peruvian President who was willing to accept their peace terms, on 22 February 1881, the Chileans allowed an open cabildo of notables outside of Lima to elect Francisco García Calderón as President, also allowing him to raise and arm two infantry battalions composed of 400 men each, as well as two small cavalry squadrons in order to give more consistency to the provisional government.[14][15]
At that time, the U.S. Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, who saw the war as an inadmissible intervention of British capital in the United States' sphere of influence, outlined a new policy in June 1881 reversing the U.S.' previous neutrality for a denial of any territorial annexation of territories.[14] On 26 June 1881, the United States recognized President Calderón as President of Peru. Because of Calderón's refusal to accept the Chilean peace conditions, which involved the cession of Tarapacá and Arica to Chile, he was placed under arrest by the Chileans, with Lizardo Montero Flores succeeding him as provisional president of Peru.[16]
↑ Neutral observers during the conflict. Were only to attack in support of Peru if Chilean troops destroyed and looted Lima instead of occupying it.[1][2][3]
The War of the Pacific, also known as the Nitrate War and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Chilean claims on coastal Bolivian territory in the Atacama Desert, the war ended with victory for Chile, which gained a significant amount of resource-rich territory from Peru and Bolivia.
José Nicolás Baltasar Fernández de Piérola y Villena was a Peruvian politician and Minister of Finance who served as the 23rd and 31st President of the Republic of Peru, from 1879 to 1881 and 1895 to 1899.
Pedro Lagos Marchant was a Chilean infantry commander. He is best remembered for commanding the assault and capture of the city of Arica during the War of the Pacific.
Manuel Jesús Baquedano González was a Chilean soldier and politician, who served as Commander-in-chief of the Army during the War of the Pacific, and briefly as President of Chile during the civil war of 1891.
Patricio Javier de los Dolores Lynch y Solo de Zaldívar was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and a rear admiral in the Chilean Navy, and one of the principal figures of the later stages of the War of the Pacific. He has been nicknamed the "Last Viceroy of Peru", and the Chinese slave-labourers he liberated from the Peruvian haciendas called him the "Red Prince" because of his red hair.
Miguel Iglesias Pino de Arce was born on 11 June 1830 in Cajamarca, Peru, and died on 7 November 1909 in Lima, Peru. He was a Peruvian soldier, general, and politician who served as the 26th President of Peru from 1882 to 1885.
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.
This is the order of battle for the Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos in 1881 during the War of the Pacific.
The occupation of Lima by the Chilean Army in 1881-1883 was an event in the land campaign phase of the War of the Pacific (1879-1883).
After the naval campaign of the War of the Pacific was resolved, the Chilean terrestrial invasion began.
The Chilean occupation of Peru began on November 2, 1879, with the beginning of the Tarapacá campaign during the War of the Pacific. The Chilean Army successfully defeated the Peruvian Army and occupied the southern Peruvian territories of Tarapacá, Arica and Tacna. By January 1881, the Chilean army had reached Lima, and on January 17 of the same year, the occupation of Lima began.
Gregorio Urrutia Venegas was a Chilean military official who made a career in the Chilean Army, reaching the rank of brigadier general. He held several military positions and participated in four military conflicts. He was also a deputy and businessman of a company that built railway lines.
Sofanor Parra Hermosilla, was a Chilean military officer who served in the Chilean Army, in the cavalry branch, and who reached the rank of divisional general.
Pedro Silva Gil (1820-1883) was a Peruvian brigadier general serving under the Peruvian Army. At the outbreak of the War of the Pacific in 1879 he was already retired, but he requested and obtained his return to service, being appointed Chief of Staff of the Defense Army of Lima. He fought in the Battles of San Juan and Miraflores in 1881. He then joined the resistance of the mountains led by General Andrés Avelino Cáceres and was killed in the Battle of Huamachuco.
Tomás Segundo Yávar Ruiz de Cabrera was a Chilean cavalry colonel of the Chilean Army who was a war hero of the War of the Pacific before being killed at the Battle of San Juan and Chorrillos.
Arnaldo Panizo Avasolo was a Peruvian general of the 1857–1860 Ecuadorian–Peruvian War and the War of the Pacific as well as a key commander of the Lima campaign.
Martiniano Urriola Guzmán 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.
The Peruvian resistance movement was composed of the Peruvian militias and guerrillas commanded by local, civilian or military leaders, who confronted the Chilean Army and Navy during the period of occupation that took place during the War of the Pacific.
The Parque Reducto No. 2 is a 20,000 m2 public park located at the intersections of Benavides and Luis Bedoya Reyes avenues, in Miraflores District, Lima, Peru. Located in a former redoubt built by the Peruvian Army during the War of the Pacific, it was declared a National Monument in 1944, and a Patriotic Sanctuary in 1965.
Villalobos, Sergio (2004). Chile y Perú, la historia que nos une y nos separa, 1535–1883 (in Spanish) (2ed.). Chile: Editorial Universitaria. ISBN9789561116016.
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