A VISIT TO THE SOUTHWARD. 385 



windows are on the front Taring tin mail. There also, and not fifty yards distant from the 

 in open c..rridor. Three sides have dwellings and store-rooms; the fourth is an adobe 

 wall, sninr nine feet high. At the same di-tam \>< the west of the road as the houses are to 

 tin- east, tin- Around is rather higher than to the north or south ; in a line parallel with it, but 

 within short eanii"U range to the east, and in the direction of Hohadilla, there is a small 

 talde-ran.Lje on the same level. From this to the houses the road is hounded on h-,th -ides by 

 dose lines of young poplars; so that the occupants of the two ridges are not visible to each 

 other. A couple of miles N.W. of the houses two deep gullies, half a mile apart, cross the 

 triangle in a direction nearly perpendicular to the course of the Loncomilla; of which the 

 nearest bend is perhaps two miles off. All the river-bank traversed by the combatants is 

 vertical; and though there is but little current at the present time, few whom the fears of 

 battle drove to the risk passed safely across its torrent in December. 



Eastward and southward of the houses, there are enclosed gardens and vineyards, from ten 

 to one hundred acres in extent, separated from each other by adobe walls. In the same direc- 

 tion, and within cannon range, is the Cerro de Reyes, quite along and elevated hill; from 

 which, at a late hour of the conflict, both shot and shells were thrown with considerable effect. 

 If one may judge from the resultant mortality, the severest part of the combat took place between 

 the houses and the Cerro de Reyes. There it was that squads of men, separated from their 

 officers, resorted to Indian modes of warfare; and it is asserted that those of Bulnes, in many 

 cases, shot down their own companions. Charity urges one to believe that among the foliage 

 they were unable to distinguish friends from foes; yet those who were eye-witnesses of the 

 struggle discourage the idea. They say that a thirst for blood and pillage raged, and the 

 troops cared not whether it was antagonist or companion who presented himself to quench it.* 



At the commencement of the action, the army of Bulnes was posted as follows: on the emi- 

 nence north of the houses, and his extreme left, two pieces of artillery, supported by three 

 battalions of infantry and a squadron of mounted lancers ; to the right of the road eight 

 pieces of artillery, sustained by three battalions of infantry, drawn up in the same line as the 

 last ; and in their rear the main body of cavalry, with horses vastly superior to those of his 

 opponent. The reserve consisted of two battalions of infantry. Cruz had two cannon before 

 the north wall, three others in the road, and two on the little eminence to the westward. His 

 extreme right consisted of a battalion of infantry ; other two supported the parks last men- 

 tioned; a small body of cavalry occupied the Cerro de Reyes; and the main corps was thrown in 

 ad vance to the left between the gullies and the river. Parts of three infantry battalions occupied 

 positions on the walls and roofs of the houses, or were held in reserve. Such was the disposi- 

 tion of the two armies ; and it is quite probable that their numbers were not greatly dispro- 

 portioned say about 4,000 men each. 



Cruz remained on the roof of the houses until a part of the forces of his opponent, having 

 attained a position in the rear, exposed him to a cross-fire, when he was induced to descend 

 only by the earnest solicitations of his aids. The head-quarters of Bulnes were on the road near 

 the centre of his extended line. There was no eminence near from which to overlook the field 

 and learn how the fate .of the day was going an advantage, though a perilous one, enjoyed by 

 his rival; and it is admitted, that after the order to commence the attack, each body of the 

 government troops fought on its own account. 



At the first charge Cruz's cavalry broke in disorder, whether from terror, or because deserted 

 by their officers, cannot be said with certainty ; but they made no important subsequent rally ; 

 and whilst almost every individual officer has "lived to fight another day," the bodies of four 

 hundred privates were gathered from the sands and pebbles of the Loncomilla. The three 

 pieces of artillery in the road were commanded by a young North American, who had served 



The Administrator of the Casas de Reyes told me he had interred more than 1,200 bodies. If to these be added 400 of 

 Cruz's cavalry drowned, 100 buried by others on the field, and 80 who died in the hospital at Talca, we shall have pretty nearly 

 the loss of life by the battle 1,800 men! 

 49 



