172 



INSURKECTION OF PUMACAGUA. 



Chap. X. 



Amaru had failed, were flocking in thousands to the standard 

 of the old cacique. Pezuela organized a division of his 

 army, 1200 strong, commanded by General Don Juan Ea- 

 mu'ez, who marched from Oruro in October, and fell ujoon 

 the rebels, numbering 4000 men, 500 armed with muskets, 

 and the rest A^dth slings, who were encamped on the heights 

 aboA'e La Paz. The rebels retired in good order to Puno, 

 and Eamirez entered La Paz, and, having extorted 63,000 

 dollars fi'om the citizens, continued his march to Puno, which 

 he occuj^ied on November 23rd, and pressed on towards 

 Arequipa on the 26th.^ 



In the mean while Pumacagua and Angulo had been joined 

 by many caciques with their ayllus or tribes, and he organized 

 his army at Cavanilla, giving the rank of generals and 

 colonels to the Indian chiefs,^ From Cavanilla the rebel 

 forces marched along the road from Pnno to Arequipa, 

 descended the " alto de los huesos," and encountered the 

 Spanish troops under Brigadier Picoaga in the plain of 

 Cangallo. Picoaga was defeated and taken prisoner, and the 

 Indians entered Arequipa in triumph, where the greatest 

 enthusiasm prevailed for the cause of independence. Picoaga 

 and Moscoso, the Intendente of Arequipa, were shot by order 

 of the Angulos, who, early in December, issued a proclama- 

 tion, declaring that Peru was free ; that there had been 

 a revolution in Lima ; and that the viceroy Don Jose de 

 Abascal was in prison. These falsehoods Avere intended to 

 excite the Spanish Americans to revolt ; but, indeed, they 

 required no such stimulus, for the people of all races and 

 classes were burning to throw off the yoke of Spain. 



It was at this time that Melgar, the enthusiastic young 



' Diario de la expedicion del Mariscal 

 de Campo Don Juan Eamirez, sohre las 

 provincias interiores de la Paz, Puno, 

 Arequipa, y Cuzco, por Dai JoseAlcon, 

 Teniente Coronet ayregado a la viisma 



expedicion. Lima, 1815. (1 torn. 4", 

 112 paginas). 



'^ Information from Geu. Sau Eomaii, 

 whose father, a native of Puno, joined 

 Pumacatrua at Cavanilla. 



