418 SPANISH AMERICA. 



upon which the congress appointed to that 

 situation General O'Higgins ; but San Martin 

 was nominated commander-in-chief of the 

 united armies of Chili and Buenos- Ayres. 



The remnant of the royalist forces, after 

 the battle of Chacabuco, took refuge in Tal- 

 cahuana, from whence the patriots were un- 

 able to dislodge them. In the beginning 

 of 1818, Osorio was again sent to Chili, by 

 the Viceroy of Lima, or of Peru, as he is 

 sometimes styled, with five thousand of the 

 best troops in that Viceroyalty, who suc- 

 ceeded in making good their landing at Tal- 

 cahuana. The royalist army, now amount- 

 ing to eight thousand men, commenced 

 offensive operations, and drove back the 

 patriots, who in an action at Talca, on the 

 19th of March 1818, sustained a signal de- 

 feat. 



San Martin, however, in conjunction with 

 O'Higgins and Las Heras, succeeded in 

 rallying the patriot troops and recruiting 



