On receiving the afflicting news of this defeat, the judges ordered the army which they had drawn together at Lima to march by way of Guamanga against the rebels. In the mean time Giron remained for forty days in his camp at Chuquinca, where the battle was fought, taking care of his wounded men and of the wounded royalists, many of whom now joined his party. He sent off however his lieutenant-general towards Cuzco in pursuit of the royalists who had fled in that direction, and ordered his sergeant-major to go to La Plaz, Chucuito, Potosi, and La Plata, to collect men arms and horses for the farther prosecution of the war. At length Giron marched into the province of Andahuaylas, which he laid waste without mercy, whence he went towards Cuzco on receiving intelligence that the army of the judges had passed the rivers Abancay and Apurimac on their way to attack him. He immediately marched by the valley of Yucay to within a league of Cuzco, not being sufficiently strong to resist the royalists; but turned off from that city at the persuasion of certain astrologers and prognosticators, who declared that his entrance there would prove his ruin, as had already happened to many other captains, both Spaniards and Indians.
The army of the judges marched on from Guamanga to Cuzco unopposed by the rebels, their chief difficulty being in the passages of the great rivers, and the transport of eleven pieces of artillery, which were carried on the shoulders of Indians, of whom ten thousand were required for that service only. Each piece of ordinance was fastened on a beam of wood forty feet long, under which twenty cross bars were fixed, each about three feet long, and to every bar were two Indians, one on each side, who carried this load on their shoulders, on pads or cushions, and were relieved by a fresh set every two hundred paces. After halting five days in the neighbourhood of Cuzco, to refresh the army from the fatigues of the march, and to procure provisions and other necessaries, the royal army set out in pursuit of the rebels to Pucara[48], where the rebels had intrenched themselves in a very strong situation, environed on every side with such steep and rugged mountains as could not be passed without extreme difficulty, more like a wall than natural rocks. The only entrance was exceedingly narrow and intricate, so that it could easily be defended by a handful of men against an army; but the interior of this post was wide and convenient, and sufficient for accommodating the rebel army with all the cattle provisions and attendants with the utmost ease. The rebels had abundance of provisions and ammunition, having the whole country at their command since the victory of Chuquinca; besides which their negro soldiers brought in provisions daily from the surrounding country. The royal army encamped at no great distance in an open plain, fortifying the camp with an intrenchment breast-high all round, which was soon executed by means of the great numbers of Indians who attended to carry the baggage and artillery. Giron established a battery of cannon on the top of a rising ground so near the royal camp that the balls were able to reach considerably beyond the intrenchment: "Yet by the mysterious direction of Providence, the rebel cannon, having been cast from the consecrated metal of bells dedicated to the service of God, did no harm to man or beast."
[Footnote 48: Pucara is in the province of Lampa, near the north-western extremity of the great lake Titicaca.--E.]
After a considerable delay, during which daily skirmishes passed between the adverse parties, Giron resolved to make a night attack upon the camp of the royalists, confiding in the prediction of some wise old woman, that he was to gain the victory at that place. For this purpose he marched out from his natural fortress at the head of eight hundred foot, six hundred of whom were musqueteers, and the rest pikemen, with only about thirty horse. His negro soldiers, who were about two hundred and fifty in number, joined with about seventy Spaniards, were ordered to assail the front of the royal camp, while Giron with the main body was to attack the rear. Fortunately the judges had got notice of this intended assault from two rebel deserters, so that the whole royal army was drawn out in order of battle on the plain before the rebels got up to the attack. The negro detachment arrived at the royal camp sometime before Giron, and, finding no resistance, they broke in and killed a great number of the Indian followers, and many horses and mules, together with five or six Spanish soldiers who had deserted the ranks and hidden themselves in the camp. On arriving at the camp, Giron fired a whole volley into the fortifications without receiving any return; but was astonished when the royal army began to play upon the flank of his army from an unexpected quarter, with all their musquets and artillery. Giron, being thus disappointed in his expectations of taking the enemy by surprise, and finding their whole army drawn up to receive him, lost heart and retreated back to his strong camp in the best order he could. But on this occasion, two hundred of his men, who had formerly served under Alvarado, and had been constrained to enter into his service after the battle of Chuquinca, threw down their arms and revolted to the royalists.
Giron made good his retreat, as the general of the royalists would not permit any pursuit during the darkness of the night. In this affair, five or six were killed on the side of the judges, and about thirty wounded; while the rebels, besides the two hundred who revolted, had ten men killed and about the same number wounded. On the third day after the battle, Giron sent several detachments to skirmish with the enemy, in hopes of provoking them to assail his strong camp; but the only consequence of this was giving an opportunity to Thomas Vasquez and ten or twelve more to go over to the royalists. Heart-broken and confounded by these untoward events, and even dreading that his own officers had conspired against his life, Giron fled away alone from the camp on horseback during the night after the desertion of Vasquez. On the appearance of day he found himself still near his own camp, whence he desperately adventured to make his escape over a mountain covered with snow, where he was nearly swallowed up, but at last got through by the goodness of his horse. Next morning, the lieutenant-general of the rebels, with about an hundred of the most guilty, went off in search of their late general; but several others of the leading rebels went over to the judges and claimed their pardons, which were granted under the great seal.
Next day, Paulo de Meneses, with a select detachment, went in pursuit of Diego de Alvarado, the rebel lieutenant-general, who was accompanied by about an hundred Spaniards and twenty negroes; and came up with them in eight or nine days, when they all surrendered without resistance. The general immediately ordered Juan Henriquez de Orellana, one of the prisoners, who had been executioner in the service of the rebels, to hang and behead Diego de Alvarado and ten or twelve of the principal chiefs, after which he ordered Orellana to be strangled by two negroes.
"I cannot omit one story to shew the impudence of the rebel soldiers, which occurred at this time. The very next day after the flight of Francisco Hernandez Giron, as my father Garcilasso de la Vega was at dinner with eighteen or twenty soldiers, it being the custom in time of war for all men of estates to be hospitable in this manner according to their abilities; he observed among his guests a soldier who had been with Giron from the beginning of this rebellion. This man was by trade a blacksmith, yet crowded to the table with as much freedom and boldness as if he had been a loyal gentleman, and was as richly clothed as the most gallant soldier of either army. Seeing him sit down with much confidence, my father told him to eat his dinner and welcome, but to come no more to his table; as a person who would have cut off his head yesterday for a reward from the general of the rebels, was not fit company for himself or those gentlemen, his friends and wellwishers, and loyal subjects of his majesty. Abashed by this address, the poor blacksmith rose and departed without his dinner, leaving subject of discourse to the guests, who admired at his impudence."
After his flight, Hernandez Giron was rejoined by a considerable number of his dispersed soldiers, and took the road towards Lima, in hopes of gaining possession of that place in the absence of the judges. He was pursued by various detachments, one of which came up with him in a strong position on a mountain; where all his followers, though more numerous than their pursuers, surrendered at discretion, and the arch rebel was made prisoner and carried to Lima, where he was capitally punished, and his head affixed to the gallows beside those of Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisco de Carvajal. This rebellion subsisted from the 13th of November 1553, reckoning the day on which Giron was executed, thirteen months and some days; so that he received his well-merited punishment towards the end of December 1554.
SECTION V.
History of Peru during the Viceroyalty of the Marquis del Cannete.