Battle of Ayacucho - Ayacucho Campaign

Ayacucho Campaign

The defeat of the expeditionary force of Canterac, forced La Serna to bring Jerónimo Valdés from Potosí, who came on a forced march with his soldiers. The royalist generals gathered, and in spite of the signs of sincere adhesion to Cusco, the viceroy rejected a direct assault because of the lack of instruction of his army, enlarged by the massive return of peasants a few weeks earlier. On the contrary, he intended to cut Sucre's rearguard through march and countermarch maneuvers, which happen since Cusco to the encounter in Ayacucho, along the Andean range. Thereby, the royalists planned a quick strike which they made on December 3 in battle of Corpahuaico or Matará, where they caused the liberator army more than 500 casualties and the loss of a large part of ammunition and artillery, having lost only 30 men. However, Sucre and his adjutant managed to keep the troops organized and prevented the viceroy from exploiting this local success. Although having suffered important losses of men and material, Sucre kept the United Army in an ordered retreat, and always situated in secure positions of difficult access, like Quinoa field.

Another book of memories, In the service of the Republic of Peru, from general Guillermo Miller, offers the point of view of the independentists. Besides Bolívar's and Sucre's talents, the United Army drew from an important part of the century's military experience: the Rifles battalion of the army of Colombia was composed of European mercenary troops, which were mostly British volunteers. This unit was substantially damaged in Corpahuico. Among its ranks, there were also veterans from the Spanish Independence, the North American (American Revolution|War of Independence), and from the Spanish American Wars; there were even cases like the Anglo-German Major Carlos Sowersby, veteran from the Battle of Borodino against Napoleón Bonaparte in Russia in 1812.

The royalists had consumed their resources in a war of movement without achieving a decisive victory against the liberator army. Because of the extremely harsh conditions of a campaign in the Andean range, both armies felt the effects of disease and desertion, which affected the independentists as well as the armies lacking in military training and the armies made up of enemy prisoners. The royalist chiefs had positioned themselves in the heights of Condorcunca (which means condor's neck in Quechua). This was a good defensive position but one which they couldn’t hold for long given that they had food supplies for less than five days, which would mean the dispersion of the army and certain defeat upon the pending arrival of Colombian reinforcements. The army was compelled to make a desperate decision: the Battle of Ayacucho was about to begin.