![]() ![]() Next came the decisive Battle of Boyocá, easily won by Bolívar and his reinvigorated fighting force. The rebels' secret weapon were the llaneros, roughneck South American herders akin to American cowboys, who fell on the Spanish with their machetes and spears. On July 25, Bolívar and his patriots charged uphill against the well-armed and brightly uniformed Spanish at the Battle of Pantano de Vargas. Within days, Bolívar had rallied reinforcements from the Colombian countryside and given his loyal troops time to rest and refuel for the coming fight. "That was as audacious a military maneuver as Hannibal crossing the Alps," says Richard Slatta, emeritus professor of history at North Carolina State University and co-author of " Simón Bolívar's Quest for Glory." When what remained of his men descended half-naked and starving on the Colombian side of the Andes, they met absolutely no Spanish resistance, because no sane Spanish general would ever have believed such a sneak attack was possible. But they stayed with him, buoyed by the warmth and charisma of Bolívar's outsized personality, even as malaria and yellow fever sickened hundreds in the sodden lowlands, and the icy Andean wind ripped through their threadbare clothing and killed nearly every horse and mule in the party.īolívar suffered right alongside his men but seemed much stronger than his spindly 130-pound (58-kilogram) frame.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |