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Battle of Marihuenu
Battle of Marihuenu was one of the early decisive battles of the Arauco War between the Mapuche leader Lautaro and the Spanish general Francisco de Villagra.
After the defeat at the Battle of Tucapel, the Spanish had hurriedly reorganized their forces, reinforcing fort La Imperial for its defence and abandoning Confines and Arauco in order to strengthen Concepcion. Araucanian tradition had dictated a lengthy celebration after their victory, which kept Lautaro from exploiting the weakness of the Spanish position as he desired. It was only in February of 1554 that he succeeded in putting together an army of 8,000 men, just in time to confront a punitive expedition under the command of Francisco de Villagra at the Battle of Marihuenu.
Lautaro chose the hill of Marihueno to fight the Spanish, and subsequently organized his forces in four divisions: two had the mission of containing and wearing down the enemy, another would be held in reserve to launch a fresh attack as the Spanish were about to crumble, and the last would work to cut off their retreat. Additionally, a small group was sent to destroy the reed bridge the Spanish had erected across the Bio-Bio River, which would disrupt even more the attempted retreat of Villagra.
The Spanish attack broke the first Mapuche lines, but the quick action of the third group maintained the Mapuche position. Later, the wings of this division began to attack the Spanish flanks, and the fourth division attacked from behind. After hours of battle, only a small group of Spanish were able to retreat.
Sources
Geronimo de Vivar, Cronica y relacion copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile (Chronicle and abundant and true relation of the kingdoms of Chile)ARTEHISTORIA REVISTA DIGITAL; Cronicas de America (on line in Spanish)
de Gongora Marmolejo, Alonso, Historia de Todas las Cosas que han Acaecido en el Reino de Chile y de los que lo han gobernado (1536-1575) (History of All the Things that Have happened in the Kingdom of Chile and of they that have governed it (1536-1575)), University of Chile: Document Collections in complete texts: Cronicles (on line in Spanish)
Marino de Lobera, Pedro, Cronica del Reino de Chile , escrita por el capitan Pedro Marino de Lobera....reducido a nuevo metodo y estilo por el Padre Bartolome de Escobar. Edicion digital a partir de Cronicas del Reino de Chile Madrid, Atlas, 1960, pp. 227-562, . Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes (on line in Spanish)
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Battle of Marihuenu
