Don Joaquim Antonio de Orellana,[240] Governor of Puno, made a most gallant defence of that town, with a force consisting of 180 musketeers, 647 pikemen, 44 artillerymen with 4 guns, and 254 cavalry. He retreated behind his entrenchments when the Inca advanced as far as Lampa, in December 1780; but in February 1781, in spite of the heavy rains, he marched to Lampa, where he flogged an Indian until he confessed that his rebel countrymen were on an adjacent mountain called Catacora. Orellana found the rebel army drawn up in an almost inaccessible position, with colours flying; and, while seeking for a place where his troops might ascend, they suffered from a storm of hail and snow. The Spaniards were divided into two assaulting parties, but the showers of stones which the Indians hurled from their slings obliged them to retreat, and Orellana himself was wounded in the jaw.
He found it prudent to fall back towards Puno, and, on the 16th, encamped on the banks of the river of Juliaca, near a place called Mananchili. The Indian army followed the Spaniards and offered them battle—the chiefs sending a message to Orellana to tell him that they acknowledged no king but their Inca Tupac Amaru. They formed their forces in a semicircle—the right being led by the Cacique Andres Ingaricona, the left by Mamani, and the centre by a chief of Caravaya named Alejandro Calisaya. The battle began at four P.M., and, after a sharp fight, Mamani's division fled to the adjacent heights, and Ingaricona was also routed. The Indians left 370 killed on the field; among whom there were many women who came to fight by the sides of their husbands and brothers, armed with bones sharpened at one end. Notwithstanding this success, Orellana made a rapid retreat to his entrenched position at Puno, collected provisions, and sent messengers to Arequipa for reinforcements.[241]
On the 18th of March the Indian army came in sight, extending for three miles along the heights round Puno, with colours flying and a great noise of drums and clarions, entirely surrounding the town, except on the side of the lake. It was commanded by the Caciques Andres Ingaricona and Pedro Vargas. The dismal news of the capture of Tupac Amaru reached the besieging Indians on April 12th, when they retreated, followed by a Spanish force under Nicolas de Mendiosala of Chucuito. He overtook them posted on a hill called Condorcuyo, to the left of the road to Cuzco, when a furious struggle commenced; but the Indians fought most gallantly, and defeated Mendiosala, who retreated in disorder. This success encouraged the rebels as much as it disheartened the Spaniards, and Chucuito and the other towns on the western banks of the lake of Titicaca fell into their hands. They committed indiscriminate slaughter in revenge for the cruel death of the Inca, and only a few Spaniards escaped to Puno. The governor Orellana sent balsas to rescue some fugitives who were concealed in the rushes on the shores of the lake, he himself being confined to his house[242] by a wound in his foot. Meanwhile the Indians of Azangaro, by capturing the town and peninsula of Capachica, completed the conquest of the province of Chucuito, and the rebel chiefs prepared for a second siege of Puno.
Diego Cristoval Tupac Amaru the Inca's cousin, with his nephew Andres Mendagure, Mariano the young son of the Inca, and Miguel Bastidas a nephew of the Inca's wife, escaped when the rest of their family were betrayed and captured at Lanqui. They now joined the rebel army in the Collao, Diego took the command, and on the 9th of May he invested Puno on all sides, and commenced the second siege.
The Indians were formed in a semicircle on the sides of the surrounding hills; while Orellana had deepened his entrenchments, and occupied a very strong position on the Huassa-pata hill, above Puno: he also built two forts, one called Santa Barbara, where the triumphal arch now is, and the other called Horca-pata, on the descent from the heights of Cacharani. The corners of the plaza and of the streets were barricaded. On the 10th there were skirmishes all day, and on the 11th the Indians carried the forts of Santa Barbara and Horca-pata by assault, and penetrated into the streets, but failed in their attack on the rocky height of the Huassa-pata.[243] On the 12th the besiegers suddenly retreated, at the approach of the army advancing from Cuzco.
General del Valle, after defeating the Indians at Combapata, continued his march up the valley of the Vilcamayu, crossed the pass of Ayaviri, and, entering the Collao, advanced towards Puno, where he arrived in the middle of May. But the Indians of his army were disgusted at the excessive rigour with which the rebels were treated; they deserted in great numbers,[244] and assisted the troops of Diego Tupac Amaru in harassing the Spaniards, and cutting of all supplies. The army of del Valle had been shamefully neglected by the visitador Areche, who was too busy in torturing his prisoners to attend to the commissariat. The troops were wretchedly clad, unpaid, without medical stores, or biscuit, or fresh meat. Under these circumstances the General reluctantly determined to retreat to Cuzco, taking with him the garrison and inhabitants of Puno, which place was evacuated by Orellana on the 26th of May. The army which had left Cuzco in March 15,000 strong was now reduced, by desertions and sickness, to 1443 men, with which force General del Valle commenced the retreat, closely followed and constantly harassed by the Indians. He reached Cuzco on the 4th of July, when a paper war ensued between him and Areche, the latter blaming him for evacuating Puno, while the General retorted that Areche had shamefully neglected the wants of his army, and failed to make any attempt to subdue the country round Cuzco.[245]
The Viceroy seems to have taken the part of the General in this controversy; and the foul vulture Areche, with his companion Matta Linares, was recalled. He reached Lima on August 23rd, 1781, and embarked for Spain with the poor little Fernando, son of Tupac Amaru, who was sentenced to imprisonment for life.
The Indians still remained in arms round Cuzco, especially in the heights above Urubamba and Calca, and at Lauramarca and Ocungate. Those near Calca fortified themselves in a place called Chayña-ccasa, against whom the General sent a force of 400 men under Don José de Barela, and the Indians were defeated with great slaughter; while Don Joaquim Balcarcel kept the insurgents in check, who continued to threaten Paucartambo.
After the retreat of General del Valle from Puno, Diego Tupac Amaru established his head-quarters at the town of Azangaro, while Andres Mendagure and Miguel Bastidas overran the provinces on the eastern shore of lake Titicaca, captured the town of Sorata, and placed themselves in communication with the insurgent forces in Upper Peru. It is said that fifteen mule-loads of treasure, consisting of spoils from the provinces of Omasuyos and Larecaja, were brought into Azangaro at this time and buried. Diego Tupac Amaru occupied a house near the plaza, where he gave audience in a long sala; and he went from this house to the church every night, wrapped in a large cloak. This story made people believe that he was concealing treasure, and many a fruitless search has since been made for it.[246]