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$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Chapter VI: Part III}
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$Author{Prescott, William H.}
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$Date{1864}
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Title:       History Of The Conquest Of Peru
Book:        Book IV: Civil Wars Of The Conquerors
Author:      Prescott, William H.
Date:        1864

Chapter VI: Part III

     The shades of night had now, for some time, been coming thicker and
thicker over the field.  But still the deadly struggle went on in the
darkness, as the red and white badges intimated the respective parties,
and their war-cries rose above the din, - "Vaca de Castro y el Rey," -
"Almagro y el Rey," - while both invoked the aid of their military apostle
St. James.  Holguin, who commanded the royalists on the left, pierced
through by two musket-balls, had been slain early in the action.  He had
made himself conspicuous by a rich sobrevest of white velvet over his
armour.  Still a gallant band of cavaliers maintained the fight so
valiantly on that quarter, that the Almagrians found it difficult to keep
their ground. ^26

[Footnote 26: The battle was so equally contested, says Beltran, one of
Vaca de Castro's captains, that it was long doubtful on which side victory
was to incline.  "I la batalla estuvo mui gran rato en peso sin conoscerse
vitoria de la una parte a la otra." Carta de Ventura Beltran, Ms.]

     It fared differently on the right, where Alonso de Alvarado
commanded.  He was there encountered by Almagro in person, who fought
worthy of his name.  By repeated charges on his opponent, he endeavoured
to bear down his squadrons, so much worse mounted and worse armed than his
own.  Alvarado resisted with undiminished courage; but his numbers had
been thinned, as we have seen, before the battle, to supply the governor's
reserve, and, fairly overpowered by the superior strength of his
adversary, who had already won two of the royal banners, he was slowly
giving ground.  "Take, but kill not!" shouted the generous young chief,
who felt himself sure of victory. ^27

[Footnote 27: "Gritaba, Victoria; i decia, Prender i no matar." Herrera,
Hist. General, dec. 7, lib. 3, cap. 11.]

     But at this crisis, Vaca de Castro, who, with his reserve, had
occupied a rising ground that commanded the field of action, was fully
aware that the time had now come for him to take part in the struggle.  He
had long strained his eyes through the gloom to watch the movements of the
combatants, and received constant tidings how the fight was going.  He no
longer hesitated, but, calling on his men to follow, led off boldly into
the thickest of the melee to the support of his stouthearted officer.  The
arrival of a new corps on the field, all fresh for action, gave another
turn to the tide. ^28 Alvarado's men took heart and rallied.  Almagro's,
though driven back by the fury of the assault, quickly returned against
their assailants.  Thirteen of Vaca de Castro's cavaliers fell dead from
their saddles.  But it was the last effort of the Almagrians.  Their
strength, though not their spirit, failed them.  They gave way in all
directions, and, mingling together in the darkness, horse, foot, and
artillery, they trampled one another down, as they made the best of their
way from the press of their pursuers.  Almagro used every effort to stay
them.  He performed miracles of valor, says one who witnessed them; but he
was borne along by the tide, and, though he seemed to court death, by the
freedom with which he exposed his person to danger yet he escaped without
a wound.

[Footnote 28: The letter of the municipality of Arequipa gives the
governor credit for deciding the fate of the day by this movement, and the
writers express their "admiration of the gallantry and courage he
displayed, so little to have been expected from his age and profession."
See the original in Appendix, No. 13.]

     Others there were of his company, and among them a young cavalier
named Geronimo de Alvarado, who obstinately refused to quit the field; and
shouting out, - "We slew Pizarro!  we killed the tyrant!" they threw
themselves on the lances of their conquerors, preferring death on the
battle-field to the ignominious doom of the gibbet. ^29

[Footnote 29: "Se arrojaron en los Enemigos, como desesperados, hiriendo a
todas partes, diciendo cada vno por su nombre: Yo soi Fulano, que mate al
Marques; i asi anduvieron hasta, que los hicieron pedacos.' Zarate, Conq.
del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 19.]

     It was nine o'clock when the battle ceased, though the firing was
heard at intervals over the field at a much later hour, as some straggling
party of fugitives were overtaken by their pursuers.  Yet many succeeded
in escaping in the obscurity of night, while some, it is said, contrived
to elude pursuit in a more singular way; tearing off the badges from the
corpses of their enemies, they assumed them for themselves, and, mingling
in the ranks as followers of Vaca de Castro, joined in the pursuit.

     That commander, at length, fearing some untoward accident, and that
the fugitives, should they rally again under cover of the darkness, might
inflict some loss on their pursuers, caused his trumpets to sound, and
recalled his scattered forces under their banners.  All night they
remained under arms on the field, which, so lately the scene of noisy
strife, was now hushed in silence, broken only by the groans of the
wounded and the dying.  The natives, who had hung, during the fight, like
a dark cloud, round the skirts of the mountains, contemplating with gloomy
satisfaction the destruction of their enemies, now availed themselves of
the obscurity to descend, like a pack of famished wolves, upon the plains,
where they stripped the bodies of the slain, and even of the living, but
disabled wretches, who had in vain dragged themselves into the bushes for
concealment.  The following morning, Vaca de Castro gave orders that the
wounded - those who had not perished in the cold damps of the night -
should be committed to the care of the surgeons, while the priests were
occupied with administering confession and absolution to the dying.  Four
large graves or pits were dug, in which the bodies of the slain - the
conquerors and the conquered - were heaped indiscriminately together.  But
the remains of Alvarez de Holguin and several other cavaliers of
distinction were transported to Guamanga, where they were buried with the
solemnities suited to their rank; and the tattered banners won from their
vanquished countrymen waved over their monuments, the melancholy trophies
of their victory.

     The number of killed is variously reported, - from three hundred to five
hundred on both sides. ^30 The mortality was greatest among the conquerors,
who suffered more from the cannon of the enemy before the action, than the
latter suffered in the rout that followed it.  The number of wounded was still
greater; and full half of the survivors of Almagro's party were made
prisoners.  Many, indeed, escaped from the field to the neighbouring town of
Guamanga, where they took refuge in the churches and monasteries.  But their
asylum was not respected, and they were dragged forth and thrown into prison.
Their brave young commander fled with a few followers only to Cuzco, where he
was instantly arrested by the magistrates whom he had himself placed over the
city. ^31

[Footnote 30: Zarate estimates the number at three hundred.  Uscategui,
who belonged to the Almagrian party, and Garcilasso, both rate it as high
as five hundred.]

[Footnote 31: The particulars of the action are gathered from Pedro
Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Carta de Ventura Beltran, Ms. - Zarate,
Zarate Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 17-20.  - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria,
Ms. - Dicho del Capitan Francisco de Carbajal sobre la informacion hecha
en el Cuzco en 1543 a favor de Vaca de Castro, Ms. - Carta del Cabildo de
Arequipa al Emperador, Ms. - Carta de Barrio Nuevo, Ms. - Gomara, Hist. de
las Ind., cap. 149. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 15-18.
- Declaracion de Uscategui, Ms.

     Many of these authorities were personally present on the field; and
it is rare that the details of a battle are drawn from more authentic
testimony.  The student of history will not be surprised that in these
details there should be the greatest discrepancy.]

     At Guamanga, Vaca de Castro appointed a commission, with the
Licentiate de la Gama at its head, for the trial of the prisoners; and
justice was not satisfied, till forty had been condemned to death, and
thirty others - some of them with the loss of one or more of their members
- sent into banishment. ^32 Such severe reprisals have been too common with
the Spaniards in their civil feuds.  Strange that they should so blindly
plunge into these, with this dreadful doom for the vanquished!

[Footnote 32: Declaracion de Uscategui, Ms. - Carta de Ventura Beltran,
Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 4, cap. 21.

     The loyal burghers of Arequipa seem to have been well contented with
these executions.  "If night had not overtaken us," they say, alluding to
the action, in their letter to the emperor, "your Majesty would have had
no reason to complain; but what was omitted then is made up now, since the
governor goes on quartering every day some one or other of the traitors
who escaped from the field." See the original in Appendix, No. 13.]

     From the scene of this bloody tragedy, the governor proceeded to
Cuzco, which he entered at the head of his victorious battalions, with all
the pomp and military display of a conqueror.  He maintained a
corresponding state in his way of living, at the expense of a sneer from
some, who sarcastically contrasted this ostentatious profusion with the
economical reforms he subsequently introduced into the finances. ^33 But
Vaca de Castro was sensible of the effect of this outward show on the
people generally, and disdained no means of giving authority to his
office.  His first act was to determine the fate of his prisoner, Almagro.
A council of war was held.  Some were for sparing the unfortunate chief,
in consideration of his youth, and the strong cause of provocation he had
received.  But the majority were of opinion that such mercy could not be
extended to the leader of the rebels, and that his death was indispensable
to the permanent tranquillity of the country.

[Footnote 33: Herrera, Hist. General, dec 7, lib. 4, cap. 1.]

     When led to execution in the great square of Cuzco, - the same spot
where his father had suffered but a few years before, - Almagro exhibited
the most perfect composure, though, as the herald proclaimed aloud the
doom of the traitor, he indignantly denied that he was one.  He made no
appeal for mercy to his judges, but simply requested that his bones might
be laid by the side of his father's.  He objected to having his eyes
bandaged, as was customary on such occasions, and, after confession, he
devoutly embraced the cross, and submitted his neck to the stroke of the
executioner.  His remains, agreeably to his request, were transported to
the monastery of La Merced, where they were deposited side by side with
those of his unfortunate parent. ^34

[Footnote 34: Pedro Pizarro, Descub.  y Conq., Ms. - Zarate, Conq. del
Peru, lib. 4, cap. 21. - Naharro, Relacion Sumaria, Ms.  - Herrera, Hist.
General, dec. 7, lib. 6, cap. 1.]

     There have been few names, indeed, in the page of history, more
unfortunate than that of Almagro.  Yet the fate of the son excites a
deeper sympathy than that of the father; and this, not merely on account
of his youth, and the peculiar circumstances of his situation.  He
possessed many of the good qualities of the elder Almagro, with a frank
and manly nature, in which the bearing of the soldier was somewhat
softened by the refinement of a better education than is to be found in
the license of a camp.  His career, though short, gave promise of
considerable talent, which required only a fair field for its development.
But he was the child of misfortune, and his morning of life was overcast
by clouds and tempests.  If his character, naturally benignant, sometimes
showed the fiery sparkles of the vindictive Indian temper, some apology
may be found, not merely in his blood, but in the circumstances of his
situation.  He was more sinned against than sinning; and, if conspiracy
could ever find a justification, it must be in a case like his, where,
borne down by injuries heaped on his parent and himself, he could obtain
no redress from the only quarter whence he had a right to look for it.
With him, the name of Almagro became extinct, and the faction of Chili, so
long the terror of the land, passed away for ever.

     While these events were occurring in Cuzco, the governor learned that
Gonzalo Pizarro had arrived at Lima, where he showed himself greatly
discontented with the state of things in Peru.  He loudly complained that
the government of the country, after his brother's death, had not been
placed in his hands; and, as reported by some, he was now meditating
schemes for getting possession of it.  Vaca de Castro well knew that there
would be no lack of evil counsellors to urge Gonzalo to this desperate
step; and, anxious to extinguish the spark of insurrection before it had
been fanned by these turbulent spirits into a flame, he detached a strong
body to Lima to secure that capital.  At the same time he commanded the
presence of Gonzalo Pizarro in Cuzco.

     That chief did not think it prudent to disregard the summons; and
shortly after entered the Inca capital, at the head of a well-armed body
of cavaliers.  He was at once admitted into the governor's presence, when
the latter dismissed his guard, remarking that he had nothing to fear from
a brave and loyal knight like Pizarro.  He then questioned him as to his
late adventures in Canelas, and showed great sympathy for his
extraordinary sufferings.  He took care not to alarm his jealousy by any
allusion to his ambitious schemes, and concluded by recommending him, now
that the tranquillity of the country was reestablished, to retire and seek
the repose he so much needed, on his valuable estates at Charcas.  Gonzalo
Pizarro, finding no ground opened for a quarrel with the cool and politic
governor, and probably feeling that he was, at least not now, in
sufficient strength to warrant it, thought it prudent to take the advice,
and withdrew to La Plata, where he busied himself in working those rich
mines of silver that soon put him in condition for a more momentous
enterprise than any he had yet attempted. ^35

[Footnote 35: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Herrera, Hist.
General, dec. 7, lib. 4, cap. 1; lib. 6, cap 3. - Zarate, Conq. del Peru
lib. 1, cap. 22.]

     Thus rid of his formidable competitor, Vaca de Castro occupied
himself with measures for the settlement of the country.  He began with
his army, a part of which he had disbanded.  But many cavaliers still
remained, pressing their demands for a suitable recompense for their
services.  These they were not disposed to undervalue, and the governor
was happy to rid himself of their importunities by employing them on
distant expeditions, among which was the exploration of the country
watered by the great Rio de la Plata.  The boiling spirits of the
high-mettled cavaliers, without some such vent, would soon have thrown the
whole country again into a state of fermentation.

     His next concern was to provide laws for the better government of the
colony.  He gave especial care to the state of the Indian population; and
established schools for teaching them Christianity.  By various
provisions, he endeavoured to secure them from the exactions of their
conquerors, and he encouraged the poor natives to transfer their own
residence to the communities of the white men.  He commanded the caciques
to provide supplies for the tambos, or houses for the accommodation of
travellers, which lay in their neighbourhood, by which regulation he took
away from the Spaniards a plausible apology for rapine, and greatly
promoted facility of intercourse.  He was watchful over the finances, much
dilapidated in the late troubles, and in several instances retrenched what
he deemed excessive repartimientos among the Conquerors.  This last act
exposed him to much odium from the objects of it.  But his measures were
so just and impartial, that he was supported by public opinion. ^36

[Footnote 36: Ibid., ubi supra. - Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 7, lib. 6, cap.
2.]

     Indeed, Vaca de Castro's conduct, from the hour of his arrival in the
country, had been such as to command respect, and prove him competent to
the difficult post for which he had been selected.  Without funds, without
troops, he had found the country, on his landing, in a state of anarchy;
yet, by courage and address, he had gradually acquired sufficient strength
to quell the insurrection.  Though no soldier, he had shown undaunted
spirit and presence of mind in the hour of action, and made his military
preparations with a forecast and discretion that excited the admiration of
the most experienced veterans.

     If he may be thought to have abused the advantages of victory by
cruelty towards the conquered, it must be allowed that he was not
influenced by any motives of a personal nature.  He was a lawyer, bred in
high notions of royal prerogative.  Rebellion he looked upon as an
unpardonable crime; and, if his austere nature was unrelenting in the
exaction of justice, he lived in an iron age, when justice was rarely
tempered by mercy.

     In his subsequent regulations for the settlement of the country, he
showed equal impartiality and wisdom.  The colonists were deeply sensible
of the benefits of his administration, and afforded the best commentary on
his services by petitioning the Court of Castile to continue him in the
government of Peru. ^37 Unfortunately, such was not the policy of the
Crown.

[Footnote 37: "I asi lo escrivieron al Rei la Ciudad del Cuzco, la Villa de la
Plata, i otras Comunidades, suplicandole, que los dexase por Governador a Vaca
de Castro, como Persona, que procedia con rectitud, i que ia entendia el
Govierno de aquellos Reinos." Herrera, Ibid., loc. cit.]