Ignacio Carrera Pinto

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Ignacio José Carrera Pinto (Santiago, February 5, 1848 - Concepción, Peru, July 10, 1882) was a Chilean soldier, captain of the 4th Company of Battalion 6. º de Línea "Chacabuco", killed at the command of his men in the battle of La Concepción, within the framework of the Sierra Campaign of the Pacific War.

Early Years

He was born in Santiago on February 5, 1848. Coming from an aristocratic background, he was the son of José Miguel Carrera Fontecilla and Emilia Pinto Benavente, grandson of José Miguel Carrera on his father's side, and great-nephew of President Francisco Antonio Pinto and nephew of President Aníbal Pinto Garmendia through the maternal line.

At the age of twelve, when he lost his father, he began working in the cattle drive business between the central zone and Mendoza (Argentina), where he settled for ten years.

In 1871, back in Santiago, he worked in the mayor's office thanks to the help of Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, but after a while he went to live in Peñaflor, devoting himself to agricultural work.

Pacific War

A few months after the war was declared, at the age of 31, he voluntarily enlisted in the army and received the rank of sergeant of the 7th Mobilized Civic Regiment of Esmeralda Infantry, known as the 7th Regiment. de Línea. At the end of September 1879, he disembarked with his regiment in the occupied territory of Antofagasta, from where he went to Carmen Alto. After the capture of the Peruvian port of Pisagua, he moved to the Tarapacá theater of operations and joined the force that occupied the port of Iquique.

When the Tacna and Arica campaign began, his regiment became part of the first division of the expeditionary army. Second Lieutenant Carrera participated in the battle of Alto de la Alianza, where despite being wounded in combat, he continued to lead his men, a fact that earned him the promotion to second lieutenant, with a retroactive date of November 3, 1879.

After the Tacna and Arica campaign, the officer was assigned to the Chacabuco regiment, 6th Line, with which he fought in the battles of San Juan and Miraflores. In San Juan, he participated in the conquest of seven Peruvian trenches along with other officers who would later serve under his orders.

After the occupation of the Peruvian capital, Carrera Pinto was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. A little over a year later, he was promoted to the rank of captain and chief of the fourth company of the Chacabuco regiment, which at that time was part of the division that occupied the central highlands of Peru.

Combat of La Concepción

Main article: Combat of Conception

Ignacio Carrera Pinto (1869).

Ignacio Carrera Pinto with quepis del Regimiento Esmeralda.

During the La Breña campaign, Peruvian colonel Andrés Avelino Cáceres ordered an attack on the village of Concepción as he knew that a reduced advance party of the main body of the Chilean army had arrived. That outpost was the 4th Company of the Chacabuco Regiment under the command of Carrera, made up of 77 men with little ammunition, about one hundred cartridges per soldier, and two women who followed their husbands, one of whom was pregnant.

On Sunday, July 9, the Peruvian forces under the command of Colonel Juan Gastó, who had approximately 300 soldiers and between 800 and 1,300 peasants from neighboring towns armed with plowshares, machetes, and stones, led by Ambrosio Salazar, descended on the town.

Carrera Pinto closed the entrances to the square with parapets and defended himself there, although late in the afternoon he had to retreat to the barracks. Carrera's hope was that the bulk of the army would reach Concepción within 24 hours, however the march had been delayed because on the same July 9, 1882, Cáceres attacked the Chilean division Santiago in the cities of Marcavalle and Pucará. The combat continued at night until the following day.

Captain Ignacio Carrera Pinto died fighting at dawn on Monday, July 10. His position was occupied by second lieutenant Julio Montt Salamanca.

The Peruvian guerrillas managed to set fire to the thatched roof of the barracks at the same time that they managed to open its walls, through which they penetrated. Colonel Estanislao del Canto Arteaga, according to what was told by two foreign witnesses, describes the end of the battle thus:

As at nine o'clock in the morning of the 10th, there was only Lieutenant Cruz and four soldiers defending the entrance to the already burned barracks. He noticed that they had already exhausted all their munitions, because they did not shoot, and then some Peruvian voices shouted to him, "Assistant Cruz, go down, little boy, he does not have to die!" To whom he answered them: The Chileans never give up! and returning to his troop he asked them: Is it not true, boys? The soldiers responded affirmatively and then the commanding officer to calar bayoneta and were furious against the indigenous masses. Fatigueds, they had to give up their lives, remaining some nailed in the savages' spears. The subtenant cross is shot in the back. He remarked to me that when they could not surrender to the sub-tenant Cruz, they brought to the barracks a young lady, whom the officer always greeted with affection, so that he might beg him to surrender and the officer rejected her indignant. The last two soldiers who escaped after the death of Cruz took refuge in the court of a church and there it was noticed that they spoke. Then they hurled the uniform, put on the barboquejo and threw themselves sobe the mob to die rifle in hand.
Description of Colonel Estanislao del Canto Arteaga#GGC11C

Chilean sources indicate that Second Lieutenant Luis Cruz Martínez, by shouting "The Chileans do not surrender...!", together with his surviving soldiers, charged with the bayonet and were killed as they left by Salazar's forces.

Drawing that shows from left to right Arturo Pérez Canto, Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Julio Montt Salamanca and Luis Cruz Martínez, Chilean officers killed in the fight.

Captain Carrera Pinto ordered the officers, classes and soldiers; we must never surrender, burn until the last cartridge and attack bayoneta calada, Captain Carrera ordered the horn to play fire, we must never go back, not to leave the square and to die fighting, five Chileans stood in the barracks fighting like lions without leaving the barracks, a soldier of the five-colored Chileans got up from the ceiling and clawd.
Chilean soldier Marcos Ibarra Díaz. Conception, July 11, 1882.

Peruvian sources indicate that they laid down their arms to save the lives of the bartenders and the child; but they were killed by the forces of Ambrosio Salazar.

After the operation of the forged by several parts and the enemies saw that the danger was imminent, they set up a white handkerchief, symbol of peace; believing ours that would already be watered, advanced without making fire, to half a yard, where they were received with a rain of bullets, not without causing numerous casualties... In the act, 50 men broke into the encampment of the enemies, as a chariot of tigers, and finished them after a truly horrible resistance. Captain Carrera Pinto, subtenant Cruz and 9 soldiers taken out of trench, were shot in the square; the subtenants Pérez Canto and Montt succumbed to the fragor of the struggle within that [...] [F]there were also two women of the soldiers, of so much courage, that in the hardest part of the battle, they encouraged theirs in a loud voice to continue fighting. A newly born creature has been found dead among the piles of corpses, and another was saved alive by Don Dámaso Peña; one of the women had given birth days before the battle two twin creatures
Official Party of the Combat of Conception of Ambrosio Salazar and Marquez. Concepción, July 10, 1882.

At 6:00 p.m. on the 10th, pursued by Cáceres, Del Canto's forces appeared, who, seeing his dead companions, began the execution against the population of Concepción, ordering firing squads and arson. In view of the proximity of the Peruvians and the impossibility of carrying the dead, Del Canto ordered that only the hearts of four officers be removed: Captain Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Lieutenant Julio Montt, Second Lieutenants Arturo Pérez Canto and Luis Cruz Martínez., with the aim of sending them to Chile.

My Colonel Canto ordered the Surgeon Doctors to draw hearts from the brave officers of the 4th Company of the Battle Chacabuco 6.o of Linea these hearts were placed in a bottle of alcohol to bring them to chile And the other victims who perished in the battle were buried the next day, Colonel Canto Ordained that we would throw out the village of De La Concepcion and be reduced to ashes at 11 a.m. was all finished on the same day. We keep going, we arrived at the village of Talma at 6 a.m. in the evening.
Chilean soldier Marcos Ibarra Díaz. Conception 1882.

These organs were taken to Lima, where they remained until March 1883. After the end of the Pacific War, they were transferred to Santiago, where they were deposited in the Military Museum. On July 9, 1911, the urn that contained them was taken to the Cathedral of Santiago.

Tributes

Since the turn of the peso as a Chilean national currency in September 1975, it has been portrayed as the main face of the thousand Chilean pesos ticket.

Throughout Chile, there are several monuments to the figure of Ignacio Carrera Pinto:

On the Héroes de La Concepción square in the city of Arica, on the side of Francisco Bilbao Street, between Azolas and Machalí. It consists of a black painted cement bust on a white concrete base. At the bottom of the bust is engraved on over-relieve the national shield.
The monument to Ignacio Carrera Pinto is located on the north side of the deadline, opposite the Municipal Cemetery of La Serena, in Calle General Novoa. It consists of a bronze bust with concrete base.
In the Plaza de Armas of Linares, on the side of Kurt Moller Street, there is another monument.
In March 2021, a bust was erected to his memory at the Alpatacal Court of the Military School of Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, Santiago.
Bust of Captain Ignacio Carrera Pinto in the Alameda, of the commune of Santiago, Santiago Centro.
Ignatius Carrera Pinto in the Plaza Ossandón, of the commune of La Reina, Santiago.
I'm looking for Captain Ignacio Carrera Pinto at the Plaza de la Concepción in Rancagua.
I'm looking for Captain Ignacio Carrera Pinto at the Alameda Bernardo O'Higgins in Talca.
Bronze bust, located in the Plaza "Captain Ignacio Carrera Pinto" intersection between Ave Street. Ramon Picarte with Ave. Carlos Condell, in the city of Valdivia.