To English officers it may appear inconceivable
that a body of cavalry, with no other arms than their lances, and
no other mode of conveyance across a rapid river than their horses,
should attack and take a fleet of gunboats amidst shoals of
alligators; but, strange as it may seem, it was actually
accomplished, and there are many officers now in England who can
testify to the truth of it."
It will be evident from exploits such as these that the Venezuelans were
fortunate in their leaders.
After a while Simon Bolivar, the Liberator, began to see that the
materialization of his lifelong ideal was now no longer a matter of the
dim distant future. The struggle had been severe, and the fortunes of
war had proved fickle at the beginning. At one period it had seemed that
even Nature had fought against the South American cause. At Barquisimeto
an earthquake had shattered the barracks of the soldiers of the
Independence, and many hundreds of troops were crushed beneath the
ruins.
The moral as well as the material effect of this disaster was serious in
the extreme. Miranda, moreover, although able, had proved himself an
unfortunate General. In the end he was captured by the Spaniards, and
died in captivity in Cadiz.
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