Battle of Tucapel
The Battle of Tucapel (also known as the Tucapel Disaster) was a decisive fight carried out within the context of the Arauco War between the Mapuches led by Lautaro and the hosts of Pedro de Valdivia on the hill of Tucapel, Chile on December 25, 1553 or January 1, 1554. It resulted in a defeat for the Spanish and the capture and death of Valdivia. The myth of Spanish invincibility ended in pitched battles between the Mapuches.
Genesis of Battle
Lautaro, former page of Pedro de Valdivia, had escaped from the Spanish camp and had established himself as military leader of the Mapuche hosts. He was aware that Valdivia was marching south. It is the opportunity that he was looking for, he deceives Gómez de Almagro in the Puren fort and ensures that his troops do not join with those of Valdivia in the Tucapel fort where this conqueror is heading on a march at a forced pace of exploration.. Lautaro, through his spies, had learned that Valdivia was marching south, towards Tucapel and he necessarily had to pass through the fort and decided to ambush him there.
In effect, Valdivia left Concepción in mid-December 1553 and headed to Quilacoya, where he took some soldiers on his march to Arauco; The Mapuche spies follow the column from the heights of the hills and do not fight, letting it continue on its way. Valdivia shows surprise at not receiving any news from the Tucapel fort and also at not being harassed along the way. On the 24th of the same month, he decided to head towards the fort, hoping to find Gómez de Almagro there. The tranquility and the sporadic sightings of Mapuches in the distance arouse suspicion and he sends an advance party under the command of Luis de Bobadilla with 5 men to explore the road and provide information about the presence of the enemy.
Ambush
Valdivia is surprised not to have more news about Bobadilla, who spends the night at the Tucapel fort half a day. On December 25, 1553, he set out early and when he arrived nearby he was surprised by the absolute silence that prevailed; When he reaches the hill where the fort is, he finds it completely destroyed. The fort had been assaulted during that month by Lautaro at the head of 6,000 warriors and his garrison had retreated to the Puren fort where they had been isolated.
Neither Gómez de Almagro nor Bobadilla appeared anywhere. He decided to make camp in the smoking ruins of the fort and when preparations were already underway, suddenly the forest was filled with screams and without further warning, a mass rushed towards the Spanish enclave. Valdivia, a military expert, was barely able to set up his defensive lines, dividing his forces into 3 groups of 20 soldiers each, and withstood the first clash, while the cavalry charged the enemy's rear. The Mapuches, already anticipating this maneuver, had lancers and They contained the load.
The Spanish managed to break down the first charges. The Mapuches, returning to the forests, retreated from the hill along a steep slope that prevented pursuit on horseback.
The Spanish tasted victory. Then they received another surprise, when a new Mapuche squadron appeared presenting battle and again they had to set up lines and charge the cavalry again.
The Mapuches, in addition to being lancers, had men carrying maces, boleadoras and lassos, with which they managed to dismount the Spaniards and deliver a definitive blow to their heads once they were on the ground. The same scene was repeated, at the sound of a distant horn the squadron withdrew, but not without leaving some casualties, and a third squadron presented battle, this time Lautaro relieved him.
Valdivia, as an experienced soldier, saw the desperation of his situation, given the fatigue and casualties, he gathered those available and launched himself into the fight that took on very fierce edges; Already half of the Spaniards were lying in the field and the indigenous auxiliary troops were diminishing.
Valdivia, seeing the battle lost, ordered a retreat, but Lautaro himself fell on the flank, causing the disbandment. It was just what Valdivia did not want and the Mapuches fell on each of the delayed Spaniards. Only Valdivia and the clergyman Bartolomé del Pozo, who rode very good horses, managed to escape the carnage. Eventually they reached some swamps at the confluence between the Pilmaiquén and Pichidenquehue rivers, where the horses got bogged down, and were captured by the Mapuches.
The death of Valdivia
There are several versions and myths about the death that Valdivia suffered. According to Jerónimo de Vivar, the toqui Caupolicán personally requested the execution of Valdivia, who was killed with a spear and his head placed on it, exhibiting it to the other Spaniards. Alonso de Góngora Marmolejo writes that Valdivia, offering as a ransom for his life, promised that he would evacuate the Spanish establishments on their lands and give them large herds of animals; but according to Góngora Marmolejo's version, 'this was rejected and the Mapuches cut off his forearms, roasted them and ate them in front of him before murdering him and the priest.' Pedro Mariño de Lobera also wrote that Valdivia He offered to evacuate the Mapuche lands but shortly after he was killed by a warrior named Leucotón. He knew that Valdivia would not keep his word once free, and for this reason he executed him with a great blow to the head.
Leucotón was nominated to carry out this death sentence, not very bloodthirsty, since he was an expert macero and killed cleanly with a single blow. Lobera also says, a story circulated in those days in Chile in which Valdivia was killed by giving to drink the molten gold that the Spanish desired so much, justified by the greed and violence of the Spanish invader; burning his insides.
A later legend says: Lautaro took Valdivia to the Mapuche countryside and killed him after three days of atrocious torture, extracting his heart raw and eating it along with the toquis. The most likely reality is that he was sought a quick death worthy of a good warrior, since they only ate the hearts of extraordinary warriors, and their objective was to consume the strength of their former owner, and not a mere cannibalistic act.
His skull was extracted and served as a trophy when it was used as a container for chicha, among the main toquis; It was returned half a century later along with that of Martín Óñez de Loyola to the Spanish as proof of pacification by the chief Pelantarú.
Consequences
Lautaro systematically devastated the Spanish cities (Concepción, Angol). He caused the abandonment of the forts and the depopulation of the Concepción area. He twice looted and burned Concepción, the center of Spanish settlements in southern Chile.
Tucapel was the end of the myth of Spanish invincibility in America. The Mapuches experimented and learned tactics that will allow them to maintain the war for another century: use of guerrillas and ambushes, concentrating taking advantage of interior lines and winning thanks to the combination of weapons. They realized the weakness of the Spanish cavalry in swampy areas and dense forests. They discovered the fatigue that affected the Spanish when the battle lasted for too long since the use of armor made their movements difficult and physically exhausted them. Lautaro's solutions to the type of war proposed by the Spanish have been studied by military academies.[citation required]