Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada: Difference between revisions

{{Campaignbox Venezuelan War of Independence}}'''Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada''' also known as the '''Liberation Campaign of 1819''' was part of the Colombian and [[Venezuelan War of Independence|Venezuelan wars of independence]] and was one of the many [[Military career of Simón Bolívar|military campaigns fought by Simón Bolívar]]. Bolívar's victory in New Granada (today: [[Colombia]], [[Venezuela]], [[Ecuador]] and [[Panama]]) secured the eventual independence of northern South America. It provided Bolívar with the economic and human resources to complete his victory over the Spanish in [[Venezuela]] and Colombia. Bolívar's attack on New Granada is considered one of the most daring in military history, compared by contemporaries and some historians to Hannibal’sHannibal's or Napoleon's [[Napoleon Crossing the Alps|crossing of the Alps]] in 1800 and José San Martín's [[Crossing of the Andes]] in 1817.<ref>Masur, Gerhard. ''Simon Bolivar'', 273.</ref><ref>Mijares, Augusto. ''The Liberator'', 354.</ref>

During the years 1815 and 1816, Spain had [[Spanish reconquest of New Granada|reconquered most of New Granada]] after having deployed the Expeditionary Army of Costa Firme under the command of General [[Pablo Morillo]] from Spain in early 1815, this effort was also aided by General [[Juan de Sámano|Juan de Samano]] and his royalist forces in the south of New Granada. After five years of de facto and official independence Morillo restablishedreestablished [[Viceroyalty of New Granada|Royalist government]] in [[Bogotá|Santa Fe]], leaving Juan de Samano as Viceroy and returned to Venezuela with the bulk of his army in late 1816.

By 1817, Bolívar had set up his headquarters in the [[Orinoco]] region in southern Venezuela. It was an area from which the Spaniards could not easily oust him. There he engaged the services of several thousand foreign soldiers and officers, mostly [[British Legions|British and Irish]], set up his capital at Angostura (now [[Ciudad Bolívar]]) and established liaisons with the revolutionary forces of the [[Llanos]], including one group of Venezuelan ''[[llanero]]s'' (cowboys) led by [[José Antonio Páez]] and another group of New Granadan exiles led by Colonel [[Francisco de Paula Santander]] who was the commander of the remnant forces that made up the army of the [[United Provinces of New Granada|United Provinces of New Granda]] and would join Bolivar's army. With these forces he began a campaign from [[Guyana]] pushing Morillo westwards where his forces would reach the gates of [[Caracas]] only to be turned back by Morillo at the 3rd Battle of La Puerta. With this defeat Boilvar retreated to the safety of ''Llanos'' of the [[Apure]] region. Morillo's forces in early 1819 penetrated the ''llanos'' of the Apure region with the goal of finishing off Bolivar. Bolivar would defeat him at the [[Battle of Las Queseras del Medio]] in April, forcing Morillo to retreat to [[Calabozo]] where he would stay to wait out the rain season.

Back in August 1818 Bolivar promoted Santander to Brigadier General and dispatched him to the ''Llanos'' of [[Casanare Department|Casanare]] along with 1,200 muskets, uniforms, and other supplies with the mission of creating and training New Granadan army for a future campaign to liberate New Granada. This area of New Granada was one of the few places where there was no Spanish presence thus it harbored many of the New Granadans who had fled Morillo's reconquest. Santander was able to effectively organize this army which eventually reached around 1,200 men

By 1819, the young [[artillery]] Colonel José María Barreiro, was the military commander of all royalist troops in New Granada, and counted with at least 4,500 trained soldiers of the III Division of the Expeditionary Army of Costa Firme scattered throughout the Kingdom. Since assuming command his mission was both to attack and defend the kingdom against any rebel threat. As both Viceroy Samano and Morillo heard reports of Santander's efforts to organize an army in Casanare at the same time that Morillo penetrated the Apure region in Venezuela, Barreiro was instructed to attack Santander in Casanare and deployed a force of 1,200 men 540 cavalry in March of 1819 crossing the Andes and arriving in the llanos and reaching Pore in early April, this campaign would be unsuccsessfulunsuccessful as the Royalist Army would become exhausted as it was badly prepared for the campaign and was also constantly harrasedharassed by Patriot forces forcing Barreiro to withdraw to Tunja as the rainy season set in.

On May 25, Bolivar set out with his Venezuelan troops from the town of Mantecal in the [[Apure]] region of Venezuela westwards towards Tame in New Granada (modern day Colombia) where he would meet up with the army General Santander had formed to combine their forces and then set off for the Andes. During the march from Venezuela to New Granada a considerable number of horses and pack mules were lost to the flooded Llanos where they drowned, on June 4 they crossed the [[Arauca River]] and reached Tame on June 12. Once there Bolivar began the organization of the combined army of 2,500 men with him as commander-in-chief and General [[Carlos Soublette]] as his [[Chief of staff]]. The army was organized into 2 Divisions, a Vanguard Division in the front of the army under the command of Brigadier General Francisco de Paula Santander, and a Rearguard Division with the bulk of the army under the command of Brigadier General [[José Antonio Anzoátegui]], within this rearguard division was the British Legion under the command of Colonel [[James Rooke (British Legion officer)|James Rooke]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moreno de Angel |first=Pilar |title=Santander |orig-date=1989 |publisher=Crítica Colombia |year=2019 |isbn=9789584276926 |edition=1st |location=Bogotá |pages=400 |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gutiérrez Ardila |first=Daniel |title=1819: Campaña de la Nueva Granada |date=2019 |publisher=Universidad Externado de Colombia |year=2019 |isbn=978-958-790-122-1 |edition=1st |location=Bogotá |pages=61}}</ref> While at Tame, Bolivar and Santander conducted a war meeting in order to discuss which route the army would take to cross the Cordillera Oriental, while Bolivar had originally inteneded to take the route through La Salina pass, Santander disagreed with this and suggested taking the route through the Paramo de Pisba with Boilvar eventually agreeing with this recommendation.<ref>Riaño, Camilo. ''La Campaña Libertadora de 1819'', 116-119.</ref> The pass through the Paramo de Pisba was the shortest and the least defended route, however it was also the most difficult and treacherous but with the greatest chance of suprisingsurprising Spanish forces as it was deemed impassable by Barreiro especially during the rain season. With the forces that he and Santander had recruited in the [[Apure River|Apure]] and [[Meta River]] regions now combined, set off on June 17, 1819.<ref>Lynch, John. ''Bolívar, A Life'', 124–127.</ref><ref>Masur, Gerhard. ''Simon Bolivar'', 261–264.</ref><ref>Madariaga, Salvador de. ''Bolívar'', 339–343.</ref>

In order to reach the pass, the Patriot Army would have march towards Morcote where the foothills of the Andes began and then to Paya where they would climb to the last town that being Pisba before crossing the Paramo where they would reach the town of [[Socha]] on the other side of the Cordillera. The army's march usually began around 5 am as the early morning climate was much easier on the troops, the Vanguard division eventually reached Morcote on June 26 and on the 27 marched towards Paya, with rearguard being usually one days march behind the vanguard reaching Morcote on the morning of the 27.

On June 27 as the Patriot Vanguard approached the town of Paya they spotted the presence of a Spanish Garrison guarding the town. This Spanish garrison of around 300 men were under the command of Major Juan Figueroa y Ladron were guarding the town as it was along the road that led to the main mountain pass at [[Labranzagrande]]. Santander then ordered the troops of the ''Cazadores'' Battalion to attack the Spanish force in order to clear the way for the rest of the army. The battle was short, Figueroa upon realizing he was facing a larger force ordered his troops to withdraw towards Labranzagrande while also cutting the bridge towards that town thinking that was the intended route for the Patriot Army.

With the path clear the army continued its march, however that same day Bolivar and the rearguard reached Morcote doubts began to arise amongst the Venezuelans troops and officers (apart from Bolivar) about the feasibility of the campaign due to the lack of sufficient clothing and supplies for the difficult mountain crossing.<ref>Gutiérrez Ardila, Daniel. ''1819: campaña de la Nueva Granada'': 61-62</ref> Bolivar then convened a war council and sent a letter to Santander informing him of this recommending that the army trying crossing the Andes through Cucuta, Santander then gathered his officers (who were mostly New Granandan like him) to discuss what should be done and then sent a letter responding to Bolivar that even if the rest of the army did not wish to continue, that the Vanguard force would continue the campaign even if there was the slightest chance of succsesssuccess.<ref>Harvey, Robert. ''Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence'': 176.</ref> Santander also countered saying that crossing the Andes through Cucuta would be far longer and that they would lose their element of surprise allowing Barreiro to receive reinforcements from Venezuela. The conviction and determination of the New Granadan officers inspired confidence in Bolivar and the Venezuelan officer corps and as a result of this he decided to continue the campaign.<ref>Riaño, Camilo. ''La Campaña Libertadora de 1819'', 153.</ref>

[[File:Bolivar's troops in the Cordillera Oriental.jpg|thumb|Bolívar's troops ascend the Cordillera Oriental|154x154px]][[File:AgenciaDeNoticias-20190219-01 04.jpg|left|thumb|342x342px|Bolivar crossing the Paramo de Pisba by Francisco Antonio Cano]]As the army ascended from the hot and humid, flood-swept plains of Venezuela of New Granada they were greeted by the freezing cold of the icy mountain pass of the [[Páramo]] de [[Pisba, Boyacá|Pisba]], which reached an elevation of 3,960 meters (13,000 feet), through the [[Cordillera Oriental (Colombia)|Cordillera Oriental]]. After the hardships of wading through a virtual sea, the mostly ''llanero'' army was not prepared and poorly clothed for the cold and altitude of the mountains as well as the heavy rainfall they experieneced.<ref>Lynch, John. ''Bolívar, A Life'', 127–129.</ref><ref>Masur, Gerhard. ''Simon Bolivar'', 264–266.</ref><ref>Madariaga, Salvador de. ''Bolívar'', 343–348.</ref> Santander and the Vanguard divisondivision were able to weather the climate better as they were mostly from the andes, this force arrived in Socha on July 4, and sent back men to assist the struggling Rearguard in their crossing.<ref>Riaño, Camilo. ''La Campaña Libertadora de 1819'': 160.</ref><ref>Harvey, Robert. ''Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence'': 177.</ref> Anzoategui and the rearguard division began to cross the Paramo on July 5 and would have to spend the night on the plateau. Bolivar among them described the crossing "That same day we entered the Paramo, while the weather was good, the troops suffered a lot from the cold and we lost all beasts of saddle and burden; It has been rare that one would make it."<ref>Riaño, Camilo. ''La Campaña Libertadora de 1819'': 162.</ref> The rearguard suffered heavily during the crossing as their troops were mostly men of the ''Llanos,'' during the night many froze to the death as there is little to no vegetation in the area preventing the building of fires for warmth. The rearguard eventually descended on July 6, General Soublette who was still in Paya informed Bolivar that the British Legion would cross on the 13th. During the crossing 100 men had perished as well as another amount had deserted, during the crossing the army all most all of its horses as well as a large amount of supplies. In Socha some 500 men were hospitalized and had to be cared for by the townsfolk, Santander commented on the sorry state of the army stating that "the army was a dying body." <ref>Gutiérrez Ardila, Daniel. ''1819: campaña de la Nueva Granada'': 62.</ref><ref>Moreno de Angel, Pilar. ''Santander'': 417. </ref>

Since June of 1819 the Spanish had received intelligence that Bolívar was possibly on the move, however the Spanish doubted Bolívar's army could make the trip during the rainy season. Barreiro who had been garrisoned in Tunja since May, had dispersed troops throughout the various mountain passes while also leaving a garrison in Paya. and therefore, they were taken by surprise when Bolívar's small army emerged from the mountains on 6 July. Bolívar rebuilt his forces by placing a [[Conscription|levy]] on the local population. In a series of battles the republican army cleared its way to [[Bogotá]]. First at the [[Battle of Vargas Swamp]] on 25 July, Bolívar intercepted a royalist force attempting to reach the poorly defended capital. After the Battle of Vargas Swamp, Bolivar reorganized his men, resting them until 4 August, when he ordered a return to Venezuela. However, in the night, he redirected his forces towards Tunja, and took the city by mid-day of 5 August 1819. Due to Bolivar's flash conquest, Barreiro was obliged to mobilize his troops to defend the capital, Santafé, from Bolivar. The Royalist men took the fastest route to Bogota (which led through the Boyacá Bridge) but were unable to pass, as Bolivar intercepted them, early morning of 7 August. Bolivar's republican troops were composed of approximately 2,850 men, which successfully divided and defeated the 2,670 royalist soldiers in a battle that lasted two hours. The battle resulted in the death of 66 republicans, 250 royalists, as well as the capture of approximately 1,600 of the remaining royal troops. At the [[Battle of Boyacá]] on 7 August 1819, the bulk of the royalist army surrendered to Bolívar.