San Martin was empowered by the Government to raise a force of
horse-grenadiers, which subsequently became famous. In this regiment was
Alvear in the capacity of Sargento Mayor, and Zapiola as Captain. There
was plenty of work for the newly-constituted forces. San Martin's
regiment was employed, in the first place, in the endeavour to restrain
the river-raiding expeditions which the Royalist fleet was undertaking
from its base at Montevideo. The mischief effected by these incursions
to the patriot forces was very great. On February 3, 1813, however, San
Martin dealt the Spaniards a severe blow in the neighbourhood of
Rosario. Here he surprised a landing-party and defeated it utterly. This
was San Martin's first victory, and it very nearly proved his last, for
he had his horse shot under him and all but lost his life.
While this was going on in Argentina, the fortunes of war in Peru had
again veered from a favourable to a perilous condition. On October 1,
1813, the Argentine army was badly defeated at Vilcapuyo, and in the
same year it was again defeated at Ayouma. On this the Spaniards, seeing
that their star was again in the ascendant, resumed possession of
Chuquisaca and Potosi.
Pages:
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246