History Of The Conquest Of Peru

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During the long period of the conflagration, the Spaniards made no
attempt to extinguish the flames. Such an attempt would have availed
nothing. Yet they did not tamely submit to the assaults of the enemy,
and they sallied forth from time to time to repel them. But the fallen
timbers and scattered rubbish of the houses presented serious
impediments to the movements of horse; and, when these were partially
cleared away by the efforts of the infantry and the Indian allies, the
Peruvians planted stakes and threw barricades across the path, which
proved equally embarrassing.13 To remove them was a work of time
and no little danger, as the pioneers were exposed to the whole brunt of
the enemy's archery, and the aim of the Peruvian was sure. When at
length the obstacles were cleared away, and a free course was opened to
the cavalry, they rushed with irresistible impetuosity on their foes, who,
falling back in confusion, were cut to pieces by the riders, or pierced
through with their lances. The slaughter on these occasions was great;
but the Indians, nothing disheartened, usually returned with renewed
courage to the attack, and, while fresh reinforcements met the Spaniards
in front, others, lying in ambush among the ruins, threw the troops into
disorder by assailing them on the flanks. The Peruvians were expert
both with bow and sling; and these encounters, notwithstanding the
superiority of their arms, cost the Spaniards more lives than in their
crippled condition they could afford to spare,--a loss poorly compensated
by that of tenfold the number of the enemy. One weapon, peculiar to
South American warfare, was used with some effect by the Peruvians.
This was the lasso, a long rope with a noose at the end, which they
adroitly threw over the rider, or entangled with it the legs of his horse, so
as to bring them both to the ground. More than one Spaniard fell into the
hands of the enemy by this expedient.14

Thus harassed, sleeping on their arms, with their horses picketed by their
side, ready for action at any and every hour, the Spaniards had no rest by
night or by day. To add to their troubles, the fortress which overlooked
the city, and completely commanded the great square in which they were
quartered, had been so feebly garrisoned in their false sense of security,
that, on the approach of the Peruvians, it had been abandoned without a
blow in its defence. It was now occupied by a strong body of the enemy,
who, from his elevated position, sent down showers of missiles, from
time to time, which added greatly to the annoyance of the besieged.
Bitterly did their captain now repent the improvident security which had
led him to neglect a post so important.

Their distresses were still further aggravated by the rumors, which
continually reached their ears, of the state of the country. The rising, it
was said, was general throughout the land; the Spaniards living on their
insulated plantations had all been massacred; Lima and Truxillo and the
principal cities were besieged, and must soon fall into the enemy's hands;
the Peruvians were in possession of the passes, and all communications
were cut off, so that no relief was to be expected from their countrymen
on the coast. Such were the dismal stories, (which, however
exaggerated, had too much foundation in fact,) that now found their way
into the city from the camp of the besiegers. And to give greater credit
to the rumors, eight or ten human heads were rolled into the plaza, in
whose blood-stained visages the Spaniards recognized with horror the
lineaments of their companions, who they knew had been dwelling in
solitude on their estates! 15

Overcome by these horrors, many were for abandoning the place at once,
as no longer tenable, and for opening a passage for themselves to the
coast with their own good swords. There was a daring in the enterprise
which had a charm for the adventurous spirit of the Castilian. Better,
they said, to perish in a manly struggle for life, than to die thus
ignominiously, pent up like foxes in their holes, to be suffocated by the
hunter!

But the Pizarros, De Rojas, and some other of the principal cavaliers,
refused to acquiesce in a measure which, they said, must cover them with
dishonor.16 Cuzco had been the great prize for which they had
contended; it was the ancient seat of empire, and, though now in ashes,
would again rise from its ruins as glorious as before. All eyes would be
turned on them, as its defenders, and their failure, by giving confidence
to the enemy, might decide the fate of their countrymen throughout the
land. They were placed in that post as the post of honor, and better
would it be to die there than to desert it.

There seemed, indeed, no alternative; for every avenue to escape was cut
off by an enemy who had perfect knowledge of the country, and
possession of all its passes. But this state of things could not last long.
The Indian could not, in the long run, contend with the white man. The
spirit of insurrection would die out of itself. Their great army would
melt away, unaccustomed as the natives were to the privations incident to
a protracted campaign. Reinforcements would be daily coming in from
the colonies; and, if the Castilians would be but true to themselves for a
season, they would be relieved by their own countrymen, who would
never suffer them to die like outcasts among the mountains.

The cheering words and courageous bearing of the cavaliers went to the
hearts of their followers; for the soul of the Spaniard readily responded
to the call of honor, if not of humanity. All now agreed to stand by their
leader to the last. But, if they would remain longer in their present
position, it was absolutely necessary to dislodge the enemy from the
fortress; and, before venturing on this dangerous service, Hernando
Pizarro resolved to strike such a blow as should intimidate the besiegers
from further attempt to molest his present quarters.

He communicated his plan of attack to his officers; and, forming his little
troop into three divisions, he placed them under command of his brother
Gonzalo, of Gabriel de Rojas, an officer in whom he reposed great
confidence, and Hernan Ponce de Leon. The Indian pioneers were sent
forward to clear away the rubbish, and the several divisions moved
simultaneously up the principal avenues towards the camp of the
besiegers. Such stragglers as they met in their way were easily cut to
pieces, and the three bodies, bursting impetuously on the disordered lines
of the Peruvians, took them completely by surprise. For some moments
there was little resistance, and the slaughter was terrible. But the Indians
gradually rallied, and, coming into something like order, returned to the
fight with the courage of men who had long been familiar with danger.
They fought hand to hand with their copper-headed war-clubs and pole-
axes, while a storm of darts, stones, and arrows rained on the well-
defended bodies of the Christians.

The barbarians showed more discipline than was to have been expected;
for which, it is said, they were indebted to some Spanish prisoners, from
several of whom, the Inca, having generously spared their lives, took
occasional lessons in the art of war. The Peruvians had, also, learned to
manage with some degree of skill the weapons of their conquerors; and
they were seen armed with bucklers, helmets, and swords of European
workmanship, and even, in a few instances, mounted on the horses which
they had taken from the white men.17 The young Inca, in particular,
accoutred in the European fashion, rode a war-horse which he managed
with considerable address, and, with a long lance in his hand led on his
followers to the attack.--This readiness to adopt the superior arms and
tactics of the Conquerors intimates a higher civilization than that which
belonged to the Aztec, who, in his long collision with the Spaniards, was
never so far divested of his terrors for the horse as to venture to mount
him.

But a few days or weeks of training were not enough to give familiarity
with weapons, still less with tactics, so unlike those to which the
Peruvians had been hitherto accustomed. The fight, on the present
occasion, though hotly contested, was not of long duration. After a
gallant struggle in which the natives threw themselves fearlessly on the
horse men, endeavoring to tear them from their saddles, they were
obliged to give way before the repeated shock of their chargers. Many
were trampled under foot, others cut down by the Spanish broadswords,
while the arquebusiers, supporting the cavalry, kept up a running fire that
did terrible execution on the flanks and rear of the fugitives. At length,
sated with slaughter, and trusting that the chastisement he had inflicted
on the enemy would secure him from further annoyance for the present,
the Castilian general drew back his forces to their quarters in the
capital.18

His next step was the recovery of the citadel. It was an enterprise of
danger. The fortress, which overlooked the northern section of the city,
stood high on a rocky eminence, so steep as to be inaccessible on this
quarter, where it was defended only by a single wall. Towards the open
country, it was more easy of approach; but there it was protected by two
semicircular walls, each about twelve hundred feet in length, and of great
thickness. They were built of massive stones, or rather rocks, put
together without cement, so as to form a kind of rustic-work. The level
of the ground between these lines of defence was raised up so as to
enable the garrison to discharge its arrows at the assailants, while their
own persons were protected by the parapet. Within the interior wall was
the fortress, consisting of three strong towers, one of great height, which,
with a smaller one, was now held by the enemy, under the command of
an Inca noble, a warrior of well-tried valor, prepared to defend it to the
last extremity.

The perilous enterprise was intrusted by Hernando Pizarro to his brother
Juan, a cavalier in whose bosom burned the adventurous spirit of a
knight-errant of romance. As the fortress was to be approached through
the mountain passes, it became necessary to divert the enemy's attention
to another quarter. A little while before sunset Juan Pizarro left the city
with a picked corps of horsemen, and took a direction opposite to that of
the fortress, that the besieging army might suppose the object was a
foraging expedition. But secretly countermarching in the night, he
fortunately found the passes unprotected, and arrived before the outer
wall of the fortress, without giving the alarm to the garrison.19

The entrance was through a narrow opening in the centre of the rampart;
but this was now closed up with heavy stones, that seemed to form one
solid work with the rest of the masonry. It was an affair of time to
dislodge these huge masses, in such a manner as not to rouse the
garrison. The Indian nations, who rarely attacked in the night, were not
sufficiently acquainted with the art of war even to provide against
surprise by posting sentinels. When the task was accomplished, Juan
Pizarro and his gallant troop rode through the gateway, and advanced
towards the second parapet.

But their movements had not been conducted so secretly as to escape
notice, and they now found the interior court swarming with warriors,
who- as the Spaniards drew near, let off clouds of missiles that
compelled them to come to a halt. Juan Pizarro, aware that no time was
to be lost, ordered one half of his corps to dismount, and, putting himself
at their head, prepared to make a breach as before in the fortifications.
He had been wounded some days previously in the jaw, so that, finding
his helmet caused him pain, he rashly dispensed with it, and trusted for
protection to his buckler.20 Leading on his men, he encouraged them in
the work of demolition, in the face of such a storm of stones, javelins,
and arrows, as might have made the stoutest heart shrink from
encountering it. The good mail of the Spaniards did not always protect
them; but others took the place of such as fell, until a-breach was made,
and the cavalry, pouring in, rode down all who opposed them.

The parapet was now abandoned, and the enemy, hurrying with
disorderly flight across the inclosure, took refuge on a kind of platform
or terrace, commanded by the principal tower. Here rallying, they shot
off fresh volleys of missiles against the Spaniards, while the garrison in
the fortress hurled down fragments of rock and timber on their heads.
Juan Pizarro, still among the foremost, sprang forward on the terrace,
cheering on his men by his voice and example; but at this moment he
was struck by a large stone on the head, not then protected by his
buckler, and was stretched on the ground. The dauntless chief still
continued to animate his followers by his voice, till the terrace was
carried, and its miserable defenders were put to the sword. His
sufferings were then too much for him, and he was removed to the town
below, where, notwithstanding every exertion to save him, he survived
the injury but a fortnight, and died in great agony.21--To say that he was
a Pizarro is enough to attest his claim to valor. But it is his praise, that
his valor was tempered by courtesy. His own nature appeared mild by
contrast with the haughty temper of his brothers, and his manners made
him a favorite of the army. He had served in the conquest of Peru from
the first, and no name on the roll of its conquerors is less tarnished by the
reproach of cruelty, or stands higher in all the attributes of a true and
valiant knight.22

Though deeply sensible to his brother's disaster, Hernando Pizarro saw
that no time was to be lost in profiting by the advantages already gained.
Committing the charge of the town to Gonzalo, he put himself at the
head of the assailants, and laid vigorous siege to the fortresses.

One surrendered after a short resistance. The other and more formidable
of the two still held out under the brave Inca noble who commanded it.
He was a man of an athletic frame, and might be seen striding along the
battlements, armed with a Spanish buckler and cuirass, and in his hand
wielding a formidable mace, garnished with points or knobs of copper.
With this terrible weapon he struck down all who attempted to force a
passage into the fortress. Some of his own followers who proposed a
surrender he is said to have slain with his own hand. Hernando prepared
to carry the place by escalade. Ladders were planted against the walls,
but no sooner did a Spaniard gain the topmost round, than he was hurled
to the ground by the strong arm of the Indian warrior. His activity was
equal to his strength; and he seemed to be at every point the moment that
his presence was needed.

The Spanish commander was filled with admiration at this display of
valor; for he could admire valor even in an enemy. He gave orders that
the chief should not be injured, but be taken alive, if possible.23 This
was not easy. At length, numerous ladders having been planted against
the tower, the Spaniards scaled it on several quarters at the same time,
and, leaping into the place, overpowered the few combatants who still
made a show of resistance. But the Inca chieftain was not to be taken;
and, finding further resistance ineffectual, he sprang to the edge of the
battlements, and, casting away his war-club, wrapped his mantle around
him and threw himself headlong from the summit.24 He died like an
ancient Roman. He had struck his last stroke for the freedom of his
country, and he scorned to survive her dishonor.--The Castilian
commander left a small force in garrison to secure his conquest, and
returned in triumph to his quarters.

Week after week rolled away, and no relief came to the beleaguered
Spaniards. They had long since begun to feel the approaches of famine.
Fortunately, they were provided with water from the streams which
flowed through the city. But, though they had well husbanded their
resources, their provisions were exhausted, and they had for some time
depended on such scanty supplies of grain as they could gather from the
ruined magazines and dwellings, mostly consumed by the fire, or from
the produce of some successful foray.25 This latter resource was
attended with no little difficulty; for every expedition led to a fierce
encounter with the enemy, which usually cost the lives of several
Spaniards, and inflicted a much heavier injury on the Indian allies. Yet it
was at least one good result of such loss, that it left fewer to provide for.
But the whole number of the besieged was so small, that any loss greatly
increased the difficulties of defence by the remainder.

As months passed away without bringing any tidings of their
countrymen, their minds were haunted with still gloomier apprehensions
as to their fate. They well knew that the governor would make every
effort to rescue them from their desperate condition. That he had not
succeeded in this made it probable, that his own situation was no better
than theirs, or, perhaps, he and his followers had already fallen victims to
the fury of the insurgents. It was a dismal thought, that they alone were
left in the land, far from all human succour, to perish miserably by the
hands of the barbarians among the mountains.

Yet the actual state of things, though gloomy in the extreme, was not
quite so desperate as their imaginations had painted it. The insurrection,
it is true, had been general throughout the country, at least that portion of
it occupied by the Spaniards. It had been so well concerted, that it broke
out almost simultaneously, and the Conquerors, who were living in
careless security on their estates, had been massacred to the number of
several hundreds. An Indian force had sat down before Xauxa, and a
considerable army had occupied the valley of Rimac and laid siege to
Lima. But the country around that capital was of an open, level
character, very favorable to the action of cavalry. Pizarro no sooner saw
himself menaced by the hostile array, than he sent such a force against
the Peruvians as speedily put them to flight; and, following up his
advantage, he inflicted on them such a severe chastisement, that,
although they still continued to hover in the distance and cut off his
communications with the interior, they did not care to trust themselves
on the other side of the Rimac.

The accounts that the Spanish commander now received of the state of
the country filled him with the most serious alarm. He was particularly
solicitous for the fate of the garrison at Cuzco, and he made repeated
efforts to relieve that capital. Four several detachments, amounting to
more than four hundred men in all, half of them cavalry, were sent by
him at different times, under some of his bravest officers. But none of
them reached their place of destination. The wily natives permitted them
to march into the interior of the country, until they were fairly entangled
in the passes of the Cordilleras. They then enveloped them with greatly
superior numbers, and, occupying the heights, showered down their fatal
missiles on the heads of the Spaniards, or crushed them under the weight
of fragments of rock which they rolled on them from the mountains. In
some instances, the whole detachment was cut off to a man. In others, a
few stragglers only survived to return and tell the bloody tale to their
countrymen at Lima.26

Pizarro was now filled with consternation. He had the most dismal
forebodings of the fate of the Spaniards dispersed throughout the
country, and even doubted the possibility of maintaining his own
foothold in it without assistance from abroad. He despatched a vessel to
the neighboring colony at Truxillo, urging them to abandon the place,
with all their effects, and to repair to him at Lima. The measure was,
fortunately, not adopted. Many of his men were for availing themselves
of the vessels which rode at anchor in the port to make their escape from
the country at once, and take refuge in Panama. Pizarro would not
hearken to so dastardly a counsel, which involved the desertion of the
brave men in the interior who still looked to him for protection. He cut
off the hopes of these timid spirits by despatching all the vessels then in
port on a very different mission. He sent letters by them to the governors
of Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico, representing the gloomy
state of his affairs, and invoking their aid. His epistle to Alvarado, then
established at Guatemala, is preserved. He conjures him by every
sentiment of honor and patriotism to come to his assistance, and this
before it was too late. Without assistance, the Spaniards could no longer
maintain their footing in Peru, and that great empire would be lost to the
Castilian Crown. He finally engages to share with him such conquests as
they may make with their united arms.27--Such concessions, to the very
man whose absence from the country, but a few months before, Pizarro
would have been willing to secure at almost any price, are sufficient
evidence of the extremity of his distress. The succours thus earnestly
solicited arrived in time, not to quell the Indian insurrection, but to aid
him in a struggle quite as formidable with his own countrymen.

It was now August. More than five months had elapsed since the
commencement of the siege of Cuzco, yet the Peruvian legions still lay
encamped around the city. The siege had been protracted much beyond
what was usual in Indian warfare, and showed the resolution of the
natives to exterminate the white men. But the Peruvians themselves had
for some time been straitened by the want of provisions. It was no easy
matter to feed so numerous a host; and the obvious resource of the
magazines of grain, so providently prepared by the Incas, did them but
little service, since their contents had been most prodigally used, and
even dissipated, by the Spaniards, on their first occupation of the
country.28 The season for planting had now arrived, and the Inca well
knew, that, if his followers were to neglect it, they would be visited by a
scourge even more formidable than their invaders. Disbanding the
greater part of his forces, therefore, he ordered them to withdraw to their
homes, and, after the labors of the field were over, to return and resume
the blockade of the capital. The Inca reserved a considerable force to
attend on his own person, with which he retired to Tambo, a strongly
fortified place south of the valley of Yucay, the favorite residence of his
ancestors. He also posted a large body as a corps of observation in the
environs of Cuzco, to watch the movements of the enemy, and to
intercept supplies.

The Spaniards beheld with joy the mighty host, which had so long
encompassed the city, now melting away. They were not slow in
profiling by the circumstance, and Hernando Pizarro took advantage of
the temporary absence to send out foraging parties to scour the country,
and bring back supplies to his famishing soldiers. In this he was so
successful that on one occasion no less than two thousand head of cattle-
-the Peruvian sheep--were swept away from the Indian plantations and
brought safely to Cuzco.29 This placed the army above all apprehensions
on the score of want for the present.

Yet these forays were made at the point of the lance, and many a
desperate contest ensued, in which the best blood of the Spanish chivalry
was shed. The contests, indeed, were not confined to large bodies of
troops, but skirmishes took place between smaller parties, which
sometimes took the form of personal combats. Nor were the parties so
unequally matched as might have been supposed in these single
rencontres; and the Peruvian warrior, with his sling, his bow, and his
lasso, proved no contemptible antagonist for the mailed horseman, whom
he sometimes even ventured to encounter, hand to hand, with his
formidable battle-axe. The ground around Cuzco became a battle-field,
like the vega of Granada, in which Christian and Pagan displayed the
characteristics of their peculiar warfare; and many a deed of heroism was
performed, which wanted only the song of the minstrel to shed around it
a glory like that which rested on the last days of the Moslem of Spain.30

But Hernando Pizarro was not content to act wholly on the defensive;
and he meditated a bold stroke, by which at once to put an end to the
war. This was the capture of the Inca Manco, whom he hoped to surprise
in his quarters at Tambo.

For this service he selected about eighty of his best-mounted cavalry,
with a small body of foot; and, making a large detour through the less
frequented mountain defiles, he arrived before Tambo without alarm to
the enemy. He found the place more strongly fortified than he had
imagined. The palace, or rather fortress, of the Incas stood on a lofty
eminence, the steep sides of which, on the quarter where the Spaniards
approached, were cut into terraces, defended by strong walls of stone and
sunburnt brick.31 The place was impregnable on this side. On the
opposite, it looked towards the Yucay, and the ground descended by a
gradual declivity towards the plain through which rolled its deep but
narrow current.32 This was the quarter on which to make the assault.