VKNK/UILA. 



779 



stand, and when Gen. Polanoo attacked them at 

 noon ol tin- sth with only half his lure.- i>l' (In- piv- 

 viniisday, Manzano cut thri>ii-_ r h the (Jovenimciit 

 retook A ran re. was joined l.y moiv cavalry 

 coming from Miranda at 'I 'inaijiiillH, camped near 

 Valencia. W!I.TC he received arms and money 

 from s\ iiipathi/ers in the city, and then passed 

 eastward to join Cn-spo. 



On April 14 u large Government force at- 

 tcmplcd ID dislodge (Jen. Mora, who was in- 

 trenched beyond Polito for the purpose of cover- 

 ing the landing of arms on the coast. After 

 t\\o lurions but unsuccessful assaults, Palacio's 

 troops lied in disorder in every direction, and 

 were pin-sued by the insurgents. Many fell on 

 both sides, but the loss of the Government was 

 the heavier, the official report making it one- 

 third of the force. A considerable proportion of the 

 troops went over to the enemy. On April 18 one 

 of Palacio's most efficient commanders, Gen. Juan 

 Quevedo, was assassinated by the villagers of Los 

 Teques. who hated him for his cruelties. When 

 (Jen. Crespo effected a junction with Gen. Mora 

 on the shores of Lake Valencia, lie not only 

 threatened La Victoria, which was the key to Ca- 

 racas, but cut off Gen. Casafias and Gen. Alejan- 

 dro Ybarra, with 4,000 men, at Calabozo, Valen- 

 cia, and Puerto Cabello, from the main body of 

 Palacio's army. A son of Gen. Crespo was taken 

 prisoner, and it was reported that Palacio threat- 

 ened him with death if his father advanced to 

 within a league of Caracas. 



A battle was fought at Tompit de Colon. The 

 <Io\ eminent troops, though they repulsed the 

 Federalists, lost 350 killed to 110 on the other 

 side. Gen. Pedro A ranjo, an experienced cavalry 

 officer, who collected a large force from the 

 shores of Lake Maracaibo, attacked Gen. Ci- 

 priano Castro at that point on March 29. The 

 battle was suspended after 4 hours of severe 

 lighting, but Aranjo by a diversion held Castro's 

 at trillion while a detachment intercepted a large 

 quantity of ammunition intended for Castro, after 

 which he retired, joined forces with Gen. Baptista, 

 and defeated Gen. Diego B. Ferrer at Canitos. 

 A commission was sent into Los Andes by Pa- 

 lacio to treat for peace, without being able to 

 effect an arrangement. The President of the 

 State of Los Andes issued a stirring appeal call- 

 ing on the citizens to rise and expel the troops 

 of the usuper. The Government forces, amount- 

 ing to 1,500 men, were victorious at Mcrida and 

 in other engagements, but Gen. Castro was com- 

 pelled to divide his army to operate agaii^t 

 various points, and in the constant fighting his 

 excellent troops melted away. Aranjo cut them 

 off from receiving re-enforcements from I3ar- 

 quisimoto. On April 16 Gen. Castro gained a 

 technical victory at Cuchicuchi, where he at- 

 tempted to intercept a body of 500 men who were 

 marching to join the insurgent Gen. Cordona. 

 The latter occupied Cuchicuchi first, and repulsed 

 the veteran battalion, which made a stand on the 

 mountain slope until the rebels were out of am- 

 munition, when on the arrival of re-enforcements 

 they drove the insurgents back, and occupied the 

 town. There were % JOO killed of the insurgents 

 and 235 on the Government side. The Govern- 

 ment force was so reduced that it could do no 

 more than hold the city of Merida, and Gen. Leon 

 Farias was in the same condition at Maracaib". 



Dr. Casafias advanced imprudently toCulabozo 

 in the beginning of the campaign, leaving hit* 

 rearguard in an unprotected condition. His aim 

 w:is to get, ut Ci-e.-po and eni>h his foice before it 

 could be trained and armed. In this lie was pre- 

 vented by Gen. Guerra and Gen. K. Uodrigue/, 

 who harried his column while Cre>po was r. ecu- 

 ing arms and re-enforcements. He was at length 

 shut in at Calabozo, and in a number of encoun- 

 ters, in which his forces were '-ut down, he at- 

 tempted a desperate battle with Crespo's army on 

 the plains, in which his division was used up, 

 after which he escaped, badly wounded, to Cara- 

 cas, with only 874 men left. His defeat was 

 the turning-point in the war. Fresh dynamite 

 explosions in Caracas on April 30, one alongside 

 of the Federal Palace and one in the military 

 barracks, added .to the dictator's alarm, but he 

 was compelled to denude the capital of troops to 

 succor the forces that were in a precarious position 

 in the field. A new army was sent out under 

 Gen. Domingo Monagas and Gen. Francisco Kste- 

 ban Itangel. The forces of Marcos Rodriguez, 

 Francisco Batalla, Guillermo Esteves, and Elea- 

 zar LTrdaneta were mostly recruited in the coun- 

 try, and were often successful in coping in guer- 

 rilla fashion with the partisans of Crespo, who 

 was not provided with the means of keeping large 

 bodies ot men in the field, and after reverses or 

 inaction saw his forces dwindle as well as those 

 of the Government under like conditions. Want 

 of arms and ammunition prevented him from 

 striking a decisive blow, and after pushing for 

 ward his line to San Sebastian, where he expected 

 to be joined in the investment of La Victoria by 

 Guerra, who had been harassing Casafias at Cala- 

 bozo, he was compelled to retreat before the well- 

 equipped troops, greatly superior in numbers, 

 that were advancing. His force was well armed, 

 and consisted at that time of 3.000 infantry and 

 1,200 horse. The towns that were captured could 

 not be held. The Government were occupying 

 Maracaibo. Trujillo, Merida, Barquisimeto, and 

 Bolivar, as well as Valencia and the seaports of 

 La Guayra and Puerto Cabello in the beginning 

 of May, but the coast and rivers and the moun- 

 tains were in the hands of the revolutionists, 

 and arms were then coming in for them from 

 abroad. In Curacoa, with the financial support 

 of Kojas Paul, Gen. Leon Colina raised a force 

 of Venezuelan refugees and sailed for the Vene- 

 zuelan coast with arms and ammunition sufficient 

 to equip a considerable army that had been raised 

 and was ready to march under his command as 

 soon as he should appear in the Coro district. On 

 May 11 a bomb was exploded in Caracas in front 

 of the residence of Seflor Mattos. a relative of 

 Guzman Blanco and president of the Bank of 

 Venezuela, who had assumed the Ministry of Fi- 

 nance. In a fight near Los Teques a Government 

 battalion, commanded by an American, repulsed 

 350 of Crespo's lancers after a sharp fight, killing 

 one-third of them. Crespo retired to Calabozo, 

 where he concentrated several bodies of troops 

 under revolutionary leaders and m.ived arms 

 enough to supply an army of about 11. MM men. 

 Valencia was closely invested by <u>n. Mora, and 

 niter a series of skirmishes and sorties, Gen. 

 Ybarra's army was totally defeated. In I.os An- 

 des the Legalists were not so successful. At 

 Mocoti Gen. Ferrer was defeated and badly 



