Mariño and Bolívar met in La Victoria. The former, with an army made up of his men and some given by Bolívar, proceeded to the west to fight against Ceballos, while Bolívar went to Puerto Cabello, intending to take the city by storm. By an imprudent move on his own part, Mariño was forced to meet an army superior to his own, and he was defeated. He then withdrew to Valencia, where Bolívar hastened to meet him, once more leaving the city of Puerto Cabello. There he learned that Ceballos had received reinforcements, and went to Caracas to recruit more men from a city which by now was bled white. Nevertheless, he did obtain a few more men, and these he sent to Valencia under Ribas, following shortly in order to take personal command of the army in the battle.
The contending armies met on a plain called Carabobo, the royalists with many more men than there were patriots. Desertions from the forces of the Repúblicans were frequent. This caused Bolívar much concern, as did the news that Boves was advancing from the south with a great body of cavalry. With Mariño and Ribas to help him, and with his most trusted officers at the head of the different sections, he advanced against the enemy, commanded at that time by the Spanish field-marshal, D. Juan Manuel Cagigal. This first battle of Carabobo, fought on the 28th of May, was one of the swiftest and most complete victories of the Liberator. Three hours were enough to destroy the royalist army and to force its commander to flee to the southwest with some of his men. Many offícers were killed, great masses of infantrymen surrendered, 4,000 horses were seized, as well as a great quantity of ammunition, provisions, documents and money.
But the battle of Carabobo was not decisive. Boves was coming to avenge Cagigal. The Liberator distributed his officers with such soldiers as he could gather at different points. Mariño advanced against Boves. Bolívar and Ribas returned to Caracas, still on the endless quest for more resources with which to fight. When complimented upon his victory at Carabobo, Bolívar remarked:
"Let us not be dazzled by the victories Fate gives us; let us prepare ourselves for greater struggles; let us employ all the resource our good or bad condition, based on the principle that nothing is accomplished when there is something more to do; and we have much still to do."
He was thinking of Boves, Boves who had a large army, all the resources of the plains, and the support of public opinion, while he had neither men nor resources, nor the invigorating approval of his fellow citizens.
Mariño established himself in La Puerta, a place of ill-omen for the patriots, and his position was disadvantageous. When Bolívar arrived to take charge of the army, it was too late to change the place, for Boves was to the front, with three times as many men as there were patriots. It was necessary to fight and it was impossible to conquer. All was lost. A patriot general (Antonio María Freites) killed himself in despair; some officers who had been with Bolívar since the beginning of his glorious career died on the field of battle.
Boves killed all the wounded men and prisoners who fell into his hands. He invited a prisoner colonel (Jalón) to dine with him, and at the end of the meal he ordered him to be hanged and his head sent as a present to his friends at Calabozo.
Mariño escaped in one direction, and Ribas and Bolívar went to Caracas, not without first taking all possible steps to hinder the advance of Boves towards the city. Bolívar was always full of enthusiasm. At that time his most frequent remark was:
"The art of conquering is learned through defeats."
This battle of La Puerta took place on June 15, 1814. Boves entered the city of La Victoria and then besieged Valencia, which resisted until every means of defense was gone and the defenders were dying of thirst and hunger. Boves proposed capitulation of the besieged and, it being accepted, entered the city on the 10th of July. The treaty provided for the inviolability of the life of all the inhabitants of the city, either military or civilian. Boves had sworn that he would fulfil this convention, but as soon as he had the city in his power he violated his own oath and, with his usual ferocity, put to the sword the governor, the officers, some hundreds of the army, and about ninety of the most prominent inhabitants. His officers forced the young ladies of the families of those who had died to attend a reception in honor of Boves.