At this time Marshal Montalvo, a Cuban by birth, arrived as Viceroy in place of Perez. Patriotism, enervated by civil strife, revived. On the 16th July, 1813, Cundinamarca declared itself an independent State, and the Province of Antioquia followed the example. Nariño came to an arrangement with Congress, and offered troops to reinforce the army which was sent against the Royalists now advancing from the south.
General Sámano had occupied the city of Popayán with 2,000 men, and now menaced the Province of Antioquia. Congress placed the Federal army under the command of Nariño, giving him the rank of lieutenant-general. Nariño then abdicated the dictatorship and marched against the enemy. His first operations were successful; he defeated the main body under Sámano, occupied Popayán on the 31st December, and on the 13th January, 1813, again defeated the Royalist army, which fled to Pasto, but he made no attempt to follow up his victories. General Aymerich, who then replaced Sámano in command, was allowed two months in which to reorganize his scattered forces. Then Nariño again advanced with 1,400 men, and made his way through the guerillas, who swarmed in the valley of Patia, to the Juanambu river, where he found that the fords were defended by batteries. He forced a passage by one ford, but was driven back by Aymerich, who afterwards retreated.
This river Juanambu is an impetuous torrent, rushing westward between precipitous cliffs from the slopes of the eastern Cordillera. The few fords are only occasionally passable, and the river is generally crossed by means of baskets or troughs of raw hide slung upon cables stretched from bank to bank, which are called “taravitas.” The Patriot army was delayed twenty days in crossing by means of taravitas established by themselves, and then advancing again encountered the enemy strongly posted on the hills of Chacabamba.
The position was carried, with heavy loss, after four hours of desperate fighting. Again the Royalist army retreated, but the country people rose en masse in defence of their homes and drove back the Patriot vanguard, which was led by Nariño in person. Fugitives from this skirmish reported that he was taken prisoner; the main body was seized with panic, spiked their guns, and fled precipitately; only 900 reached Popayán. Nariño, returning with thirteen men to his encampment, found himself without an army. Deserted by his men he wandered alone for some days on the mountains, living on such wild fruits as he could find, then giving himself up he was sent in irons to Spain.
Bolívar, after leaving Caracas, resided for some time at Curaçoa, and then offered his services to the independent Government of Cartagena. He was appointed military commandant of the district of Barrancas, on the Upper Magdalena, and resolved to make a campaign of his own against the Royalists of Santa Marta, who obstructed the navigation of the river. Here the future Liberator first showed his genius for enterprise.
At the head of a small party of militia, he attacked the fortified town of Teneriffe, drove out the garrison, capturing their guns and boats, and then took the town of Mompox. Labatut, who commanded the Patriot flotilla acting against Santa Marta, complained of this to the Dictator as an intrusion upon his sphere of operations; but Torices reinforced Bolívar with some regular troops and fifteen armed boats, with which he ascended the river, and after sundry successful skirmishes entered the city of Ocaña in triumph in January, 1813.
In March, Labatut was driven from Santa Marta, and the coast line was occupied by the Royalists. Torices himself then led an expedition against them by sea, but was defeated with the loss of his artillery on the 13th May, Colonel Chatillon, who commanded the infantry, being killed.
The Royalists, being reinforced from Venezuela, then collected an army of 2,600 men in the Province of Barinas, under command of a naval officer named Tiscar, sent Colonel Correa with 1,000 men against Pamplona, and 700 men by another route to co-operate with him.
Colonel Castillo Rada, an officer of New Granada, who was raising troops in the Province of Pamplona, applied to Bolívar for help. Bolívar then conceived the daring plan of attempting the reconquest of Venezuela, and wrote to Torices and to Dr. Torres, showing them the advisability of carrying the war into the enemy’s territory. Without waiting for an answer from either of them, he marched with 400 men by a stony pass across the mountain range in front of Ocaña, drove in the outposts of the enemy, and, spreading the report that he was followed by a large army, crossed the river Zulia in one canoe, and on the 28th February fell upon Correa. After four hours’ sharp firing, the fight was decided by a furious charge with the bayonet; the Royalists were totally defeated, with the loss of all their artillery, and Bolívar was soon after joined by Castillo Rada with the troops he had raised in Pamplona.
Bolívar’s idea of reconquering Venezuela was looked upon as folly, just as San Martin’s idea of reconquering Chile was when he first broached it. Happily, Bolívar also found a Pueyrredon to believe in him. He had published a memorial which produced a profound sensation in New Granada. In it he disclosed for the first time his peculiar ideas on the organization of a Republican Government, and on the proper mode of conducting the war. Explaining the causes of the fall of the Republic of Venezuela, he said:—