General Juan Ramirez was no longer in Quito (having been transferred to the army in Upper Peru) instead there was General Melchor Aymerich, Governor of Cuenca and interim president of the district court. Aymerich brought his forces Pasto, under the command of Colonel Francisco Gonzalez. Lt. Colonel Forminaya was dispatched with 500 men to defeat the troops from Quayaquil, who were under the command of Urdaneta had assembled in Babahoyo. In the meantime, the Spanish Colonel Gonzalez in the command of 1,000 men had departed from Quito.
The Patriot detachment from Guayaquil had to organize itself rapidly to meet this threat. The "Granaderos" (Grenadiers) were divided into two units, the "Primero y Segundo de Libertadore (First and Second Liberators). "El Daule" (no translation) kept its indigenous name, while a body of volunteers were called "Vengadores" (the Avengers), other units raised were the "Voluntarios de la Patria" (Volunteers of the Fatherland) an~ the "Defensores" (Defenders). These units made up what was to be called the division "Protectora de Quito" (Protector of Quito) with its commander Luis Urdaneta (a cousin of the General of the same name) and his second in command Leon de Fedres Cordero.
With the Spanish advancing to Babahoyo, Urdeneta ordered that his Vanguard commanded by Febres Cordero engage the enemy. This action was to take place on November 9, 1820, on the Camino Real (The King's Highway) with a victory to the Patriots and new name for the road El Camino Libre (The Free Highway).
This victory enabled Urdaneta to push forward and occupy Guaranda, soon Alausi, Riobamba, Latacunga and Ambato had proclaimed for independence. Colonel Urdaneta while occupying the town of Ambato had considered advancing to Quito but was informed that another Royalist force under the command of Gonzalez was heading towards him. With this in mind Urdaneta prepared his troops for the coming battle on the Plain of Huachi, and here on November 22 Urdaneta's force was defeated, the Patriots leaving more than 500 dead and wounded on the field and retreating towards Quayaquil. The news of this defeat caused the War Council to initiate a hearing to investigate the causes for such a serious setback.
The court-martial rendered its judgement against all the leaders and officers, Colonel Urdaneta having been arrested, although according to the War Council he had not been responsible for the defeat and later released. Because of the aftermath of Huachi and the perfidy of the charges, Urdaneta Febres Cordero and Major Miguel de Letamendi left the country to join the army of San Martin in Peru, later Urdaneta and Cordero would return to Guayaquil.
Colonel Toribio de Luzuriaga from the army of San Martin in Peru had been dispatched to help the people of Guayaquil and new campaign was organized under the command of the Argentinean officer, Colonel Jose Garcia. It was this force which on January 3, 1821 at Tanizahua was defeated, while Colonel Garcia was surrendering he was shot and his head cut off and hung in an iron cage from the Machangara bridge. The victorious Royalists as before in Ambato plundered near-by Riobamba.
Luzuriaga now returned to Peru, accompanied by the military diplomat, Tomas Guido, they had formulated a way in which annexation of Guayaquil to Peru could, with the support of the armed forces in Guayquil be obtained, they were helped in this scheme by Jose Joaquin Olmedo, head of the Government Council.
On April 2, 1821 General Jose Sucre sailed from Buenaventura on the corvette "Alejandro" with five hundred and fifty men and another one hundred in a sloop, landing with his men (originally on paper by Bolivar as 1,000 men) at Guayaquil on May 7, 1821 and by the 15th he had signed with the Junta of Guayaquil an Agreement which granted a de facto recognition of the authority and protection of the Republic of Gran Colombia over Guayaquil and what was more to the point, it gave Bolivar powers to defend the city against aggression and authorized him to include it in all treaties which he might conclude. Asking for reinforcements to Bolivar, Sucre wrote "If the enemy do not take Guayaquil, we have under our eyes an army [San Martin'sl which desires the possession of this province and which, under the pretext of sending six hundred to a thousand men to defend it, would make us lose it for Colombia."
A mutiny lead by Lt. Colonel Nicolas Lopez de Aparicio (a Venezuelan who had previously fought for the Spanish and then had gone over to Urdaneta's forces), on July 17, 1821, incited a rebellion for the Royalist cause in the brigantine "Ana Bolivar", the corvette "Emperador Alejandro" and ten launches equipped with cannon. In order to combat these ships the constable Francisco Reina assembled men and positioned artillery units in La Tahona and Malecon (where the Calle Sucre is today), firing at the ships. After a few hours the ships were forced to flee, the schooners "Alcance" and "Olmedo" were manned and armed (Sucre promptly manned two ships with members of the Albion Battalion and pursued and captured the lighters before they could get out of the river, (source "Foreign Legionaries in South America", by Alfred Hasbrouck.) and gave chase capturing the ten launches. Lopez de Aparicio ended up in Babahoyo, where, convinced that his revolt had succeeded, roused his force to unite with the Royalists at Riobamba.
Meanwhile the Spanish Colonel Francisco Gonzalez was occupying Cuenca with 2,200 men, the Patriot General Jose Sucre marched against Gonzalez who was marching to Babahoyo via Yaguachi to join forces with General Melchor de Aymerich who had left Quito heading for Babahoyo. On August 19 Gonzalez was defeated at Cone, near Yaguachi, with 600 men taken prisoner and a loss of 700 musket and all of the Spanish ammunition. The Patriots had lost 20 killed and 21 wounded. In this engagement the "Albion Battalion" under Lt. Colonel Johnston took an active part, but the brunt of the battle was borne by the division of General Jose Mirez in which the "Santander Battalion" under Colonel Mackintosh was part. Captain Charles Smith with twenty five men of the "Albion Battalion" destroyed the Royalist rearguard, while the Battalions "Santander" and "Libertadores de Guayaquil" pursued the enemy for more than three leagues as far as the Rio Nuevo. Sucre then marched toward Babahoyo, where Aymerich had arrived, though Aymerich refused to fight, he was so hotly pursued by the Patriot cavalry that he lost 400 men and his withdrawal became a rout. Allowing Sucre to occupy Guaranda on September 2, while sending Colonel John Illingworth on a flanking march with 300 recruits towards Latacunga by way of the western foothills of the cordillera, on a route parallel to that of Aymerich to cut off the retreat of the Royalists to Quito and even take the city if possible. (Lieutenant J. Illingworth R.N. was recruited into the Chilean Navy and commanded the ship which brought Admiral Cochrane to Valparaiso, Cochrane gave him command of the corvette "Rosa de los Andes" [36 guns] cruising along the Pacific coast as far north as the Bay of Panama, he tried to negotiate with the Royalist General Hore for the release of McGregor's men who were then held as prisoners of war, but failed to accomplish this. He also defeated the Spanish ship of war "Prueba" armed with 52 guns and manned by a crew of 550 men on May 12, 1820, his ship was later wrecked near Guayaquil, he then joined the army of Colombia being appointed a Colonel by Bolivar, being promoted to Vice Admiral in the Gran Colombian Navy 1825.)
Aymerich was informed of this flanking movement and hastily abandoned Riobamba and headed towards the sandy expanses of Huachi, between Ambato and Guachi. The Royalists had time to prepare their positions, while the impatience of Sucre's troops forced him to risk a battle before he was fully prepared. On September 12, 1821, two separate charges were hurled against the Royalist infantry who were driven from behind their breastworks, but the royalist cavalry counter attacked and the Patriot force was completely routed with heavy loss. Most of the Patriot officers were captured or killed, both Lt. Colonel Johnston of the "Albions" and Lt. Colonel Mackintosh of the "Santanders" were wounded and captured, Captain Charles Smith of the "Albion Battalion" was also captured, while Sucre was himself wounded. Although forced to retreat the Royalists had suffered heavy losses of 1,000 killed or wounded so that they were unable to pursue. Colonel Illingworth was now left without support as Sucre was retreating towards Guayaquil, he was obliged to abandon his advance and retire back to Guayaquil without suffering the usual desertions or any serious sickness, except among the officers.
On December 13, 1821 the Peruvian General Salazar, in the company of General La Mar (a native of Cuenca who had been in the service of Spain until September 2, 1821, he had the command of the important Port and City of Callao in Peru when on that date he delivered it into the hands of San Martin, retaining his rank and property), arrived in Guayaquil to urge the annexation of the southern part of modern Ecuador to Peru which at that time remained under the rule of Guayaquil. La Mar was named commander-in-chief of the troops of the city, replacing Colonel Morales, who had left with Sucre on January 20, 1822 with a thousand men, to meet the Peruvian expedition under the command of Colonel Andres de Santa Cruz. San Martin had asked that La Mar be given the command of this Joint Divisio, instead of Sucre, but the Junta lead by Olmedo did not agree with this decision of the Protector of Peru, and a very skillful explanation was wrote in order to avoid any resentment which could prove to be harmful to the future of this military operation. This letter and the actions of the Junta helped Bolivar to remain in some control of the region, rather than allow San Martin to be able to dictate to this independent state, that was until Bolivar arrived in Guayaquil himself on July 11,1822.
Surce meet the Vanguard of the Peruvian force at Sarguro on February 2, 1822, it was under the command of Luis Urdaneta, this was the first meeting of southern and northern republican soldiers. Santa Cruz arrived with the rest of his troops, jus over 900 men, on the 14th.
[I have put my name to this article with Charles' as his initial article has been added to, quite a bit, by myself, hope you don't mind, sorry but couldn't help myself. ...TDH]
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