Battle of Ayacucho (1824): End of Spanish Rule in South America

The Battle of Ayacucho was fought on 9 December 1824 on the Pampa de Quinua, a high plain near the city of Ayacucho in the Peruvian Andes. A patriot army led by Antonio José de Sucre defeated the larger royalist army of Viceroy José de la Serna and captured the viceroy himself. The capitulation signed that evening ended Spanish rule in Peru and, in effect, on the whole South American mainland.

Background: the last royalist stronghold

Peru had been the centre of Spanish power in South America since the conquest of the Inca Empire. Its wealthy creole elite was cautious about independence, and the viceroyalty became the main base for royalist armies throughout the wars.

José de San Martín landed in Peru in 1820 after his crossing of the Andes and liberation of Chile. He entered Lima and proclaimed Peruvian independence on 28 July 1821, but the royalists withdrew to the highlands with their army intact. After meeting Simón Bolívar at Guayaquil in 1822, San Martín resigned and left Peru.

Bolívar arrived in Lima in September 1823, invited by the Peruvian congress. The patriot side was divided and short of money. In February 1824 unpaid soldiers of the garrison at Callao, Lima’s port fortress, mutinied and handed it to the royalists, who soon reoccupied Lima itself. The Peruvian congress responded by granting Bolívar dictatorial powers, and he withdrew to the northern city of Trujillo to rebuild the army, raising money, horses and recruits from a war-weary population. Bolívar was helped by a split in the enemy camp: in Upper Peru (present-day Bolivia) the royalist general Pedro Antonio Olañeta rebelled against the viceroy, who he believed was too liberal, tying down part of the royalist army.

Junín and the march to Ayacucho

Bolívar gathered a United Liberation Army of Colombians, Peruvians and soldiers from across the continent, together with some British and other foreign officers. In mid-1824 the army crossed the high Andes and descended on the royalist forces of General José de Canterac in the central highlands. On 6 August 1824 the two cavalries met on the plain near Lake Junín, more than 4,000 metres above sea level. The clash lasted about an hour and was fought almost entirely with lances and sabres, without a shot fired. A timely charge by a Peruvian cavalry regiment turned an apparent defeat into a patriot victory, and the regiment was later renamed the Hussars of Junín in its honour.

Canterac retreated south towards Cuzco, where La Serna had his headquarters. Bolívar then returned to the coast to deal with Lima and to press the siege of Callao. In the autumn the Colombian congress, wary of his growing power, withdrew his authority to command Colombian troops in Peru, and Sucre was left in sole command of the army in the highlands. For weeks the two armies marched and counter-marched through the mountains. Viceroy La Serna, hoping to cut Sucre off, inflicted losses on his rearguard at Corpahuaico on 3 December. Sucre then took up position on the Pampa de Quinua, a plain bordered by ravines, with the royalists on the heights of Condorcunca above him.

The battle

The patriots numbered roughly 5,800 men, the royalists around 9,300, though they had fewer cavalry to spare after Junín. On the morning of 9 December the royalists came down from the heights to attack in several columns.

Their plan unravelled quickly. A royalist division under Jerónimo Valdés attacked the patriot left, held by the Peruvian division of José de La Mar. Meanwhile General José María Córdova, a 25-year-old Colombian commanding the patriot right, launched a counter-attack against the royalist centre as it deployed from the slopes. His infantry and the cavalry under the British-born William Miller broke the royalist formations.

Within a few hours the royalist army had collapsed. La Serna was wounded and taken prisoner. Commonly cited figures give patriot losses of around 300 to 370 killed and about 600 wounded, and royalist losses of about 1,800 killed and 700 wounded, with most of the remaining soldiers captured or dispersed. As with most battles of the period, the numbers are estimates.

By the numbers

The capitulation

That evening General José de Canterac, the royalist chief of staff, signed the Capitulation of Ayacucho with Sucre. The royalist army surrendered, and Spanish officers and soldiers who wished to leave would be transported home at Peru’s expense. Those who stayed were free to remain. The viceroy and more than a dozen generals were among the prisoners.

The terms were generous by the standards of the time and allowed the war in Peru to end quickly. Sucre was named Grand Marshal of Ayacucho by the Peruvian congress.

Key people

• Antonio José de Sucre (1795-1830): Venezuelan general, victor of Pichincha and Ayacucho, later first constitutional president of Bolivia.
• José de la Serna (1770-1832): the last Spanish viceroy of Peru, wounded and captured in the battle.
• José de Canterac (1787-1835): French-born royalist general who signed the capitulation.
• José María Córdova (1799-1829): Colombian commander whose division decided the battle.
• Simón Bolívar (1783-1830): commander-in-chief of the patriot forces in Peru, absent from the battle itself.

Consequences

Royalist resistance quickly fell apart. Sucre advanced into Upper Peru, where Olañeta was mortally wounded fighting former royalist troops who had changed sides, at Tumusla in April 1825. On 6 August 1825 an assembly declared the region independent, naming it the Republic of Bolívar, soon Bolivia. The last royalist garrison, in the fortress of Real Felipe at Callao, surrendered under José Ramón Rodil in January 1826 after a long siege. The island of Chiloé in southern Chile fell to Chilean forces the same month.

For the victors, peace brought new problems. Bolívar’s attempts to bind Gran Colombia, Peru and Bolivia together under constitutions of his own design met growing resistance, and the alliance of armies that had won at Ayacucho broke apart within a few years. Sucre served as president of Bolivia until 1828, when he resigned after a mutiny, and he was assassinated in southern Colombia in June 1830.

Spain refused to accept the outcome for years and did not recognise Peru’s independence until 1879. Its remaining American colonies were Cuba and Puerto Rico, which it held until the Spanish-American War of 1898.

Timeline

• 1821, 28 July: San Martín proclaims Peruvian independence in Lima.
• 1823, 1 September: Bolívar arrives in Lima.
• 1824, 6 August: Patriot cavalry wins the Battle of Junín.
• 1824, 3 December: Royalists strike Sucre’s rearguard at Corpahuaico.
• 1824, 9 December: Battle of Ayacucho and the royalist capitulation.
• 1825, 6 August: Upper Peru declares independence as Bolivia.
• 1826, January: The royalist garrison at Callao surrenders.
• 1879: Spain recognises the independence of Peru.

Why it matters

Ayacucho closed the long cycle of wars that had begun with the crises of 1808-1810 and ended three centuries of Spanish rule in mainland South America. It confirmed the independence of Peru, created the conditions for Bolivia’s birth and made Sucre one of the most respected leaders of the era. The battlefield, now a historic sanctuary marked by a tall obelisk, remains a national symbol in Peru.