Battle of Pisagua - Prelude

Prelude

War was declared in April 1879, among the nations of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. The War resulted in the loss of not only valuable mining areas in Bolivia, but the loss of Bolivia's access to the Pacific. Peru also lost a large piece of her southern mining region.

The three nations recognized the strategic importance of the sea for access to the contested territory. Control of the coast and adjacent seas was the principal objective from the beginning of hostilities, and the war first developed almost entirely on the sea. The land operations theatre was an arid desert along the coast and the adjacent saltpeter-mining areas inland. The mining region comprised the westernmost part of Bolivia, including that nation's entire seacoast, and a substantial part of southern Peru. Control of the sea and the coast would give a decisive logistic advantage in the forthcoming land battles. Hence, when Chile gained military control of the sea along the coast with the victory at Angamos (Battle of Angamos) on October 8, 1879, a landing operation became imminent as a beginning of the terrestrial campaign to secure the Tarapacá. At the time the Allies (Bolivia and Peru) had north of the Chilean city of Antofagasta, three strongholds in the province, Tacna (today the southernmost Peruvian coastal city, on the Chilean border), Arica (a coastal town on the then Bolivian coast, and today the northernmost Chilean city, on the Peruvian border), the town of Pisagua (then the Bolivian coast), and Iquique (south of Pisagua and originally on the Bolivian coast). The Chilean command deemed it obvious that the landing had to isolate and interrupt communications between these two important Allied emplacements. After a reconnaissance made by a commission formed by General Luis Arteaga, Baldomero Dublé Almeyda, José Velásquez and Emilio Gana, the port of Pisagua, located 500 km north of Antofagasta, and was selected as the site for an amphibious landing operation, because its bay was suitable for landing troops and supplies.

Chilean War Minister Rafael Sotomayor planned and organized the operation in secrecy to avoid further arguments with the military and to avoid possible indiscretions that might reach the enemy’s ears. Hence, on October 9, the day after the Angamos victory, Sotomayor ordered that the transports carrying the Atacama, Lautaro and Coquimbo civic battalions sail to Antofagasta. The next days were of feverish activities, transporting troops to Antofagasta, from where on October 19, the final preparations were made for the Chilean expeditionary forces' departure. The war vessels forming this convoy were the Magallanes, O’Higgins, Covadonga, Amazonas, Angamos, and Loa, and the steam transports Itata, Lamar, Limarí, Matías Cousiño, Santa Lucía, Copiapó, Toltén, Huanay, and Paquete del Maule. Under supervision of Sotomayor and General Escala 9,405 soldiers and 853 horses and mules were embarked. Aboard the flag ship Angamos were Sotomayor and Escala, plus Fleet Commander Manuel Thompson, the Chief of Staff, and the General Headquarters personnel. On November 1, the convoy was at the rendezvous point. Only Sotomayor and Captain Carlos Condell were aware of the convoy's destination.