Leoncio Prado

Leoncio Prado Gutiérrez (Huánuco, August 24, 1853-Huamachuco, July 15, 1883) was a Peruvian soldier who participated in various wars against Spain, Cuba and the Philippines. At the end of the War of the Pacific, he died in July 1883 after the battle of Huamachuco. Various Peruvian institutions have been created in his memory, such as the Leoncio Prado Military College. His father was President Mariano Ignacio Prado, who ran businesses in Chile before the war, his brother Manuel Prado Ugarteche was twice elected constitutional president of the Republic of Peru. He was shot after the Battle.

Biography

Leoncio Prado was born in Huánuco on August 26, 1853 and entered the Guadalupe School in Lima at the age of 9. He was the natural son of General Mariano Ignacio Prado (president of Peru in the periods 1865-1868 and 1876-1879) and María Avelina Gutiérrez.

At the age of twelve, Leoncio Prado was already a corporal in the Union Lancers Regiment. At the age of thirteen he left the Guadalupe College to fight against the Spanish in the squadron that sailed to the south of Chile and participated in the Abtao combat, he was promoted to Midshipman.

Then he participated in the combat of May 2, 1866 in Callao and was promoted to the rank of Ensign.

Childhood

When he was six years old, his father lived in Lima and he lived with his mother in Huánuco; the father, who was already a colonel in the Peruvian army, called them to Lima and thus mother and son arrived in June 1859. Leoncio entered a school to begin his studies and his mother entered the Copacabana Convent. Colonel EP Mariano Ignacio Prado, according to testimonies of the time, always had a predilection for this child; In a letter that Mariano Ignacio sends to Leoncio's mother, he tells her:

Always force this child to write to me so that he will not become accustomed to falling in love.
At Bezada's house there were his little houses and there was also his little nut for the days he wants to ride on his horseback riding in Bezada's hacienda. In this same house, where you will always go, you will find affections and attentions.

Letter from Mariano Ignacio Prado to the mother of her son Leoncio Prado Gutiérrez

At the same time, at the age of six, he was photographed for the first time; the position in which the child Leoncio is, is exactly the same as the last photograph that was taken years later, as an adult. His hairstyle is the same as he always wore. After the photograph was taken, the child Leoncio "messed up" it: he had drawn a Peruvian national coat of arms on his head with a pin.

Since he was a child, he was fascinated by the arms race: he was fascinated by military exercises, parades and the life of the Union Regiment, of which his father Mariano Ignacio was chief. He always accompanied said regiment in the evolutions and often accompanied them in their military exercises. He ended up begging his father to allow him to enter military life. In those days it was common for the different Army corps to have children incorporated, regardless of their extraction: whether it was an orphan child who found a "home" in the barracks or pampered children or children of soldiers who were proud that the son will carry on the family tradition.

On April 1, 1861, he saw his dreams come true before he was 8 years old. He dressed in the dreamed military uniform, passing review in the regiment as distinguished soldier .

At the age of 9 he entered the Guadalupe School, at the age of twelve he was already a corporal in the Union Lancers Regiment.

In 1865, his father, Colonel Mariano Ignacio Prado, was prefect of Arequipa, after having held the same position in Tacna. At that time, the country was immersed in a diplomatic conflict with Spain that had led to the occupation by a Spanish squadron of the Chincha Islands. Peru did not have a naval force powerful enough to face the Spanish ships and the new ships ordered would still take a long time to arrive. The government was forced to sign the Vivanco-Pareja Treaty on February 2, whereby Spain would vacate the islands and, in exchange, would receive three million pesos as compensation for the expenses generated. The discomfort generated by the duration of the conflict and the attitude of the government, which public opinion considered weak, intensified. The treaty was considered a humiliation. On the 28th, Colonel Prado revolted and began a military campaign, in which Leoncio would participate, which culminated in the capture of Lima on November 6 of the same year. He was a Posthumous brother from the father of Manuel Prado Ugarteche, born in 1889 and who was twice president of Peru. Other brothers of his were: Mariano, lawyer and businessman; Javier, intellectual and politician; and Jorge, also a politician.

Incorporation into the Navy

After the revolt ended and the new government was established, at the age of thirteen, Leoncio interrupted his studies at the First National College of Peru of Our Lady of Guadalupe to be incorporated as a midshipman on the frigate Apurímac, a unit that was part of the squadron of the ship captain Manuel Villar.

The new government ordered the departure of the squadron under the command of the ship captain AP Manuel Villar towards the south to meet with the Chilean fleet, a country that was also at war with Spain. The Peruvian forces were made up of the frigates Apurímac and Amazonas and the corvettes Unión and América. In Chiloé they met with the Chilean ships Covadonga and Esmeralda, although the Amazonas could not reach its destination when it was shipwrecked in the Chiloé channels. The allied fleet is anchored at the Abtao Island station under the command of Chilean Rear Admiral Juan Williams Rebolledo. Days after assuming command, Williams left for Ancud with the Esmeralda and left command of the allied squadron to the Peruvian captain Manuel Villar.

On February 7, 1866, the Spanish frigates Villa de Madrid and Blanca reached the allied post, engaging in a battle that would be known as the Abtao battle. The action was reduced to a heavy long-range bombardment which did not inflict significant damage on either side. The next day the Spanish ships would leave the area to report on the situation of the allies. For this action, Leoncio would receive his first war medal.

The harsh living conditions of the high seas reduced the state of health of the young Leoncio and he had to be disembarked in Lima for treatment. Now restored, he entered the Military School of Espíritu Santo as a military cadet. While in it, the Qualifying Board of those attending the Restoration Campaign, granted him the rank of second lieutenant, whose offices were signed on April 1, 1866, by the Minister of War, Colonel José Gálvez, and endorsed by Colonel Mariano Ignacio Prado., Supreme Dictator and father of Leoncio.

Naval combat of May 2

Given the imminence of the combat in Callao, defenses are improvised, the beaches are filled with parapets and trenches to repel the attack, at dawn on May 2, Leoncio in his house tells his cousin Nazario Rubio & #34;Come with me as I'm going to Callao, in any case, my position is not in the School, it's in combat, as in Abtao".

Arriving in Callao, he embarks on a boat that takes him to one of the ships of the Peruvian squadron under the command of AP Lizardo Montero Flores. The combat is locked, the Spanish squadron bombards Callao, the land batteries respond. A Spanish grenade blows up the Torre de La Merced, where the Minister of War, Colonel José Gálvez, was, killing him. After six hours of combat, Casto Méndez Núñez, Chief of the Spanish Squad, ordered the action to be over.

The bombardment of Callao would be the last action of the Spanish ships in Pacific waters. After repairing the damage on San Lorenzo Island, they headed for Spain.

Benemeritus to the Homeland

After the fight and the ordinance review, Leoncio returns to his home in Lima. Meanwhile, the Army Qualifying Board, for his performance in combat, grants him the class of Frigate Ensign and the use of the decorations awarded by the Nation to the "Defenders of the Honor and Integrity of the Republic and Respectability of the Continent I Heroic”.

The hero restarts his military activities, as a naval officer with the dream sword, which was given to him by the general commander of the Peruvian squadron, Rear Admiral AP Lizardo Montero, who gave it to him "as a reward and honor for his serene behavior".

Student protest at the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe National College

In 1867, at the age of 14 and after the war, Leoncio Prado re-entered the Military School, but his stay was short, since his father decided that he should complete his education and return to the First National College of Peru of Nuestra Señora from Guadalupe. On December 3 of that year, while Leoncio was on leave at his house, a student protest took place at Colegio Guadalupe. The students, alleging the incompetence of some teachers, and excessive disciplinary rigors, revolted and took over the campus facilities.

Leoncio Prado, aware of the fact, goes to the school and, finding him isolated, climbs the walls and ceilings and reaches his classmates. On December 4, the police superintendent entered the campus with the police forces, reopened the school and ordered the strikers to leave. At their head appeared Leoncio Prado, taking responsibility for the events.

When the government found out, it ordered the expulsion of the majority of the students. President Mariano Ignacio Prado arranged for his son, Leoncio, to leave immediately on an expedition that went on a journey of exploration to the Peruvian Amazon jungle. Thus, Leoncio Prado, joined the expedition.

Lost in the Peruvian Amazon Jungle

On December 16, 1867, he left Lima to join Admiral Tucker's expedition, with the Hydrographic Commission that was to study and explore the rivers of the Amazon. The expedition headed for Huánuco and replenished, continued through Pozuzo, a colony established on the river of the same name. In Pozuzo, Leoncio Prado receives the order to leave with the expedition members Charum and Butt, towards the Pachitea River in a canoe that was waiting for them on the Mayro River. The expedition members had to take the topographic map of the Mayro and Pachitea rivers. On the way they met the expedition of the wise Antonio Raimondi, who was also exploring the region.

Doing his job, Leoncio Prado got lost in the tangled jungle, wandering through it for several days, trying to find his way. Antonio Raimondi learned of the fact, he prepared an expedition to search for him; After several days he received news that Leoncio Prado was in a camp of Campas Indians; he went to said town, where he found and rescued him. The Campas Indians had found him wandering through the jungle and took him to his town, where they treated his wounds, caused by vermin and mosquitoes, and saved him from certain death. After the Leoncio Prado incident, the expedition left for Iquitos through the Pozuzo and the Pachitea river, amid endless hardships due to the unhealthy climate, vermin, and mosquitoes.

The hard contingencies that he had gone through made the young Leoncio, only 15 years old, a real man. Very hard were the tests that he had to pass from the Combate de Abtao to Iquitos. In this city he was incorporated into the personnel of the Amazon Fluvial Flotilla of the Peruvian Navy, remaining there until 1868, when he retired from service as a result of political events that culminated in the revolutionary movement that forced President Prado to resign.

Back in Lima, Leoncio Prado enters a school again to complete his instruction. Manuel Pardo governed the country, who pensioned him along with other students, on behalf of the State, in a school in the United States, in the city of Richmond.

His spirit was shaken by the long and bloody struggle waged by the Cuban people, inflamed by the news that reached him realizing the heroism wasted in the combats by the republican armies, he decided to march to the island of Cuba and cooperate in their struggles for independence.

In the war for Cuban independence

In 1874, he left for Cuba, accompanied by his brother Justo and his paternal half-brother Grocio who also enlisted in the liberating army. He takes part in Leoncio Prado in the main war actions, but he is not satisfied. He believes that his personal contribution is not entirely effective. He dreams of bigger actions and without subjection to disciplines, where he can develop initiatives that give great results. That character leads him to design a bold project that amazes by its magnitude. Leoncio Prado used to say: “The ships with which we must fight are under the Spanish flag”. And he explains his audacious project that consists of capturing said ships and turning them against the Spanish, after taking their crew prisoner.

After struggling a lot, he manages to convince the high-ranking Cuban republicans, who give him a go at his audacious project. In this regard, the President of Cuba, Tomás Estrada Palma, writes:

“Camagüey, August 6, 1876

Mr. Leoncio Prado
Peruvian Navy Officer
Very dear Mr. Prado:
Your attentive letter. That I was delivered by Colonel Fernando López de Queralta, it would suffice in the absence of other reasons, to demonstrate the burning desires that you encourage in favor of the cause of Cuba.
Having before now news of the generous efforts made by you, for the purpose of taking an active part in the contention that our camps are witnesses 8 years ago and that they are solely intended to constitute an independent and free homeland.
I am pleased to express to you, our just thanks; but at the same time I feel sorry that I cannot, of course, match the important project conceived by you, and of which I have been given details by Colonel Queralta.
In the present case, as in others of equal nature, I have to abide by the rules and practices established in our young Republic.
That is why I thought it appropriate to refer to Mr. Agent General's report, your project, in order that we proceed to the necessary study have a greater likelihood of success if your execution could be considered possible.
I am pleased to say to you that your young brother Grocio is perfectly well. I have determined that you remain with me, in order to have close the opportunity to express my estimate. Please accept the testimony of my high appreciation and the assurances of my friendship.

T. Estrada”

Letter from the President of Cuba Tomás Estrada Palma to Leoncio Prado Gutiérrez#GGC11C

Two months after this letter, Lieutenant Colonel Pío Rosado received the following official communication in New York:

General Agency of the Republic

New York, October 6, 1876
Lieutenant Colonel
Pio Rosado
Citizen:
The C. Secretary of Foreign Affairs, I communicate in note No. 36 dated 6 August, which I write below:
“The President of the Republic has served to provide you, Lieutenant Colonel Pio Rosado and Lieutenant Colonel A.M. Aguilera, the resolution relapsed to the project presented by the same in union with Colonel Queralta and Mr. Leoncio Prado, from Kingston, July 8, 1876, deferring to the matter on a favourable occasion, understood that the postponement will not affect the obligation in which the chiefs are to comply with the provisions of the Law of 16 March of the current year on the return of the military to the territory of the Republic.”
What I communicate to you, begging you to acknowledge receipt of the present.
P. and L. Miguel Aldana

A.G.”

"For the emancipation of Colonial America to be complete, the Atlantic Sea demands a May 2nd as American and conclusive as the Pacific Sea had in the waters of Callao”. With this thought, written in one of his letters, Leoncio Prado could not be intimidated by the Cuban government's refusal to put his plan into practice. He applies for and obtains a letter of marque in order to proceed at his own expense and risk. He had assembled an elite group of brave young Cubans. He also had the full support of his father, the President of Peru, who at all times privately and officially favored the noble cause of Cuban independence.

Leoncio Prado selected a group of brave Cubans determined to go to death if necessary for the ideal of freedom. The conspirators were 10 young people, perfectly disciplined for the company whose projections and execution they ignored and trusting only in the courage, audacity and intelligence of their boss. These courageous Cubans were: Captain Manuel Morey, Domingo Vélez, Pedro Castero, Miguel Gutiérrez Pití, Eduardo Deetgan, Manuel Blanco, Leonardo Álvarez, Eugenio Carloto, Casimiro Brea and Ignacio Zaldívar.

They all met in Kingston, Jamaica and from there they headed to the various ports, where they had to await final instructions. The last to leave were Leoncio Prado, Manuel Morey and Domingo Vélez, to meet again in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. They all met on November 3 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

On November 7, the Spanish steamer “Moctezuma” arrived in Puerto Plata, coming from Saint Thomas and bound for the ports of Cuba. The “Moctezuma” was armed with two cannons and crewed by 60 men and at the service of the Spanish government of Cuba. Prado, upon learning of the importance of the ship and that it was leaving the same day, decided to embark on it, without waiting for the arrival of the conspirators from Saint Thomas. He hastily had twelve machetes stored in the luggage and ordered his few companions to arm themselves with revolvers, taking passages in stages so as not to arouse suspicion.

Moctezuma

To board the ship, they passed by street vendors of different nationalities, staying on the deck of the ship, except for Leoncio Prado, Manuel Morey and Domingo Vélez, who accommodated in first class.

The Moctezuma set sail at 2:00 p.m. from Puerto Plata, setting sail. It was at this moment that Leoncio Prado, made known to his companions the plan that consisted of seizing the ship, surrendering the crew when they were on the high seas. He ordered the location of his men, who were armed with revolvers, since the machetes could not remove them from the luggage because they were on deck in full view of the Spanish sailors. Four conspirators positioned themselves at the bow of the ship, to overwhelm them by pushing them towards the stern, another four took up positions on the ladders that led to the lower compartments, to prevent those found in them from climbing up; Prado, Morey and Vélez would be in charge of surrendering to the Commander of the ship and his officers at lunchtime, when they were gathered in the dining room that was located on the stern poop.

It was 6:00 p.m. when the alarm went off calling for lunch; each one went to their position indicated in advance, while the passengers, the captain and the officers headed to the dining room. Morey took a seat at the officers' table. Prado and Vélez had been expressly delayed, waiting for everyone to be seated at their tables. At the opportune moment, Leoncio Prado, followed by Vélez, appeared at the door of the dining room and in a loud voice said: Captain Cacho Leonardo José Cacho Ceballos, Suances 1828-1876), on behalf of the Republic of Cuba that is In war with Spain I make you my prisoner and I demand that you surrender the steamer to me.

The entire audience listened with astonishment, what Leoncio Prado pronounced. The captain reacting, replied: I think you're joking, to which Prado replied: I'm talking really, don't resist and I'll land you all in a safe place.

Pronounced these words, there was a moment of confusion among the officers of the ship; but calmer they faced the conspirators. The crockery served as weapons. Prado receives a blow to the head that makes him lose consciousness. Vélez fires his weapon at the Commander of the ship, killing him. Meanwhile Prado reacts and fights against the officers with a dagger. Finally, after the moments of confusion and fighting, the officers are reduced as well as the crew. Leoncio Prado himself hoists the Cuban flag on the mast of the Moctezuma.

The first order of Leoncio Prado as Commander of the ship, was to give care to the wounded and to bury the dead in the fray at sea. It was 7:00 p.m. and everything was over. The ship's crew was locked in the holds and the officers in the aft chamber and ordered the ship's name change from Moctezuma to Céspedes, in homage to the champion of Cuban freedom.

The next day, the Céspedes was four miles from Puerto Paix, north of Fortuna Island. He ordered Leoncio Prado to disembark the passengers, the officers and the crew, except for 6 sailors and the engineers necessary for the ship's maneuvers. They were allowed to take their personal belongings and those who did not have resources were given the necessary money, after signing receipts; 500 pesos of the 2000 that were found on board were invested in these aids.

The news of the capture of the Moctezuma caused an enormous sensation throughout the continent and in Spain. The Spanish Senate met and asked the nations of America to treat the conspirators as pirates. Brazil and all the nations of the Americas rejected such a request.

The odyssey of Céspedes-Cuba

Leoncio Prado had to look for resources to be able to operate the ship and commissioned Domingo Vélez to do so, who disembarked from the Céspedes to fulfill his new mission. Immediately, Leoncio Prado and his ship headed for Laguna Catarazca, escaping from the Spanish, where he decided to wait for events. The shallow depth of the bay prevented the ship from anchoring and it headed for Cape Gracias a Dios, which it reached on November 27, 1876. It went ashore and presented itself to the authorities with the documentation of Commander Cacho, without arousing any suspicion..

The first concern of Leoncio Prado in Cabo Gracias a Dios -on the shores of the Caribbean Sea, between Honduras and Nicaragua- was to find a safe anchorage for the Céspedes and for this he commissioned Morey to a boat went along the coast of the cape. Morey set out with two of the three Spanish sailors who remained on the ship. Morey's vessel capsized and the Spanish sailors escaped. Leoncio Prado understood the danger they were running and determined to leave immediately. He tried to get coal, finding only 18 tons, which was insufficient. All these contingencies detained Céspedes for 21 days in Cabo Gracia de Dios, after which he left for an unknown destination. Upon the departure of the Céspedes, the Spanish sailors presented themselves to the Spanish consular authority who decided to charter the ship Maud Borbón, in which the aforementioned sailors were dispatched to Cuba, carrying the reserved sheets with the narration of the events, from the capture of Moctezuma to the departure of Céspedes from Cape Gracia de Dios.

Aware of the events, the Spanish government of Cuba ordered the frigate Jorge Juan and the transports Bazán and Fernando el Católico in command of Commander J. Rada to go in pursuit of the Céspedes, at the same time that he ordered the arrest of all the crew of the Moctezuma in Santiago de Cuba, on board the cruise ship Churruca, whose officers bited their lips... without understanding how 60 men had surrendered the ship, taking 10 Cubans as prisoners. Even the passage of the ship was persecuted by the Spanish authorities, in one case having to intervene the French consul in Santiago de Cuba, to free Mrs. Hurtado and her daughters from being imprisoned in the Churruca, when they found themselves as passengers on the French steamer Columbia, from where they had been disembarked.

The Jorge Juan made his appearance in Cabo Gracias a Dios. Due to a lack of coal, the Céspedes was forced to stop at Troappe, where on January 3, 1877, he was sighted by the “ Jorge Juan ”. Earlier that day, the “ Jorge Juan ” was sighted by a Spanish sailor, who kept quiet about the discovery and only at 10:00 a.m. did Leoncio Prado and his crew realize that they were blocked..

Without fuel, more than 500 m from the beach, escape was impossible; Leoncio Prado calmly ordered the boats to be thrown into the water, and ordered the crew to embark on them. He stayed on the “Céspedes” with Captain Morey. Meanwhile, the “Jorge Juan” cautiously closed the gap to avoid any unpleasant surprises. When the “ Jorge Juan ” got within cannon shot, he unloaded his ship's artillery. Prado and Morey make the “Céspedes” fly, setting fire to the ship's magazine, which produces a terrible explosion. The “ Jorge Juan ” who cautiously approaches the burned ship, sees the “ complete destruction of the corsair and his people ”.

Both Prado and Morey had abandoned the ship before the explosion and waited for night to swim to the beach, guided by the glow of the fire; the “Jorge Juan”, after verifying the destruction of the “Céspedes” and picking up the sailors from the beach, withdrew. Leoncio Prado and Morey were joined by some sailors on the beach. They spent several days suffering from hunger, cold, heat and the most diverse hardships. The Cuban historian Eladio Aguilera recounts, in one of his works the odyssey:

“Aflictive was the situation of Prado and his companions so they left the steam.

They found themselves on the vast coast of the mosquitoes between thick mangroves, without roads, walking to the point between the mud, finally decided to go west, in this deplorable situation, they walked a lot, until the territory became futile, then they suffered new hardships, because as they were barefoot for having lost their shoes, the march was painful. “Gradually the country became mountainous and with this they increased their sufferings.”

With so-called feet, full of fatigue, without food or water sometimes, without paths, lost in those loneliness, without any further protection than Divine Providence, it was forced to move forward.

Finally they found an Indian's hut, he dispensed them with the help that his miserable state allowed him and there they stood up a little bit, then continuing his pathetic march.

The conditions were improving as they progressed through civilized territory, until they finally reached the Port of Corinth in the Pacific.”

Historian Eladio Aguilera#GGC11C

Meanwhile, on January 19, 1877, without knowing what had happened to the “Céspedes”, the Cuban general Rafael Quezada left the port of Colón for Nicaragua aboard the schooner Luisa, carrying coal and war supplies for the Céspedes. The ship arrived in San Juan del Norte and from there, in a boat, they arrived at Troappe, where he learned of the Céspedes tragedy. On the 25th, he returned to the anchorage of the “ Luisa ” and undertook a trip to Cabo Gracia de Dios. Quezada at Cabo Gracia de Dios, ordered the search for the shipwrecked, providing the necessary funds for the expedition, which immediately set out up the Wankez River, also called Segobia, with the purpose of crossing the region to Honduras. General Quezada returned to Colón on February 13, full of uncertainty about the fate of the shipwrecked Céspedes.

While this was happening on the Luisa, Leoncio Prado from the port of Corinto headed for the United States, where he met with the General Agent of Cuba, Mr. Aldana, to whom he gave details of all the vicissitudes of the capture and raids of Moctezuma. The Cuban government rewarded Leoncio Prado, hero of “Moctezuma” , giving him the high class of colonel of his Army. Today his portrait is among the patriots of the Gallery of the City Hall of Havana, being considered among the heroes of the Independence of the Republic of Cuba.

Independence of the Philippines

From the United States, Leoncio Prado embarks on a trip to Peru, to replenish his body spent by the libertarian campaign in Cuba. On April 11, 1877, he embarked for Callao and that same day an Albany newspaper wrote about him:

Mr. Leoncio Prado, whose name has been made famous for the military capture of Moctezuma steam, is addressed to Peru.
The cause of Cuba's freedom comes to emerge as it is to be expected, we do not doubt that the name of Mr. Prado will pass to the posterity full of inmarcessible glory that he deserves, listed next to the Céspedes, the Agramante, the Agüero and so many other heroes who support and have sustained a struggle as uneven as glorious against the power of Spain at the end of the century in which we live, that is of freedom and progress.

.

On May 1, 1877, he arrived in Lima, haloed by his exploits in Cuba. He rested in Lima for a short time and began his return to the United States, and that is where he conceived the idea of intervening in the independence of the Philippines. Since according to his criteria, the independence of the Philippines would make it easier for the triumph of the emancipatory revolution in Cuba. With the support of Cuban patriots, the expedition was ready. The company failed, since the boat that carried the expedition members capsized in a terrible storm off the coast of China. Saved from shipwreck, he toured Europe, hiding his name, because at that time he was mercilessly persecuted, especially Spain, for his libertarian ideas.

From Europe he moved to the United States in January 1878. Once again he prepared another expedition for the independence of the Philippines, when he found out about the possible conflict between Peru and Chile. In 1879, faced with the grave situation raised by Chile, Leoncio Prado decided to return to Peru.

Pacific War

Upon his arrival, the government commissioned him to the United States to purchase weapons. On August 9 he returned to Peru and on the 15th of the same month he embarked for Arica, where his father, President Mariano Ignacio Prado, was located, whom he requested a position in the war. Leoncio Prado returns to Callao to receive his brothers Justo and Grocio, who were returning from the Cuban battlefields.

In this regard, Leoncio Prado wrote: "My siblings should arrive here on the 12th of this year (September) and of course I have to define their respective situations by placing them in the best possible way... They have arrived safely, Antonio (Manuel Antonio Prado) has taken out the captains' offices for them and they are marching to the front". Justo and Grocio Prado obtain ranks similar to those they had in the Cuban Army. Leoncio Prado leaves again for Arica, where he awaits his orders. "Tired of waiting for any resolution regarding myself, I decided to come to this port, in order to define my situation definitively, which when uncertain is desperate".

The government assigned him the organization of a body of torpedo boats that was to operate on the Isla del Alacrán in the port of Arica. He settled on an islet and from there provided important services to Peru, already watching over the Peruvian coasts, already pushing back the enemy when they attempted their surprise attacks, already fighting in cooperation with Manco Cápac, as recorded in the war parts of the naval combat that took place on February 24, 1880.

Guerilla Leader

As civilian Nicolás de Piérola Villena rose to power, the army was reorganized and Leoncio Prado received the order to form and command a guerrilla corps to act independently but in connection with the Supreme leadership, which was exercised by Rear Admiral Lizardo Montero, Commander in Chief of the Army of the South.

In that condition, he attended the Battle of Alto de la Alianza, “where they fought with singular courage” and later, covering the retreat when disaster struck the allied army. Colonel Leoncio Prado's “Vanguard Guerrillas” gave the Chilean army a lot to do in the southern campaign, attacking their outposts or filtering through their lines to fall from the rear, attacking them only to disappear immediately, leaving the Chileans disoriented. Leoncio Prado's action was so effective that the command of the Chilean army assigned Colonel Orozimbo Barbosa Puga to persecute the "Vanguard Guerrillas" with much superior forces.

Prisoner in Chile

The situation of Leoncio Prado and his guerrillas became more dangerous every day. The pursuit of Colonel Orozimbo Barbosa ended on July 21, 1880, in Tarata, where a singular combat was established with Prado's small force. After the fierce fight that became general, the guerrillas were falling one by one, resisting the attacks of the enemy on a firm foot. The combat could not last long and did not last. The superior Chilean forces caused the guerrillas to fall, most of whom were killed. At the end of the fight, Leoncio Prado was among an overcrowding of corpses and wounded. A Chilean officer, seeing him fight bravely with his torn clothes, prevents his soldiers from firing at him. He takes him prisoner before Colonel Orozimbo Barbosa who, after hearing the story of the combat. He tells her: “ I want my officers to be honored with your company ”.

He was transferred to Chile, with great considerations, being interned in the San Bernardo prison, refusing several times the offer of freedom that had the condition of "pledging not to take up arms again". But, finally, considering that prisoner his contribution to the cause of the resistance was null, he pretended to accept the proposal, leaving himself free. Shortly after, showing that he would not abide by the condition imposed, he wrote: & # 34; When the country is subjugated, there is no word that is worth about the duty to liberate it & # 34;.

Return to arms

He arrived in Callao in February 1882, immediately finding out about the struggle that the Army of La Breña was waging in Rural Peru under the command of General Andrés Avelino Cáceres. He sought to motivate the ideal of resistance in the circle of the capital that he frequented, but his exhortations were not listened to, writing with disappointment: "What saddens me is to see that at this moment the last hope of the homeland, there are still selfish men who are reluctant to contribute in one way or another, to the defense of the homeland".

Leoncio Prado and his spirit is seized with bitterness and pain when contemplating the distressing situation of the capital under Chilean domination. His haughty soul cannot suffer humiliation and resolves to campaign against the invading army.

Eluding the surveillance that the enemy exercised over him, Leoncio Prado went to Huánuco with the intention of joining the guerrilla resistance led there by his brother, Captain Justo Prado. But shortly after his arrival, she saw him die of pneumonia, a misfortune that only tempered his spirit. He took command of the small band of guerrillas from Huánuco.

He manages to gather eighty young people led by Major Heraclio Fernández and Dr. Enrique Rubín and with them he marches to Cerro de Pasco, and from this province, one hundred and fifty in number, they head to the heights of Canta and Chancay. At the beginning this force was only armed with daggers and spears and some firearms. They go down to Palpa and from there through the heights they reach Sayán from where Huacho besieges, which was occupied by an enemy detachment. He finally establishes his headquarters in Vista Alegre, which was a magnificent strategic position.

Leoncio Prado's guerrillas did not wear military attire but civilian clothes, and most of them had horses, which facilitated their raids even near the coast. Supported by the Indian town of Ihuarí, 20 leagues distant from Chancay, the patriots had their outposts located at the point called Piedra Parada, on the road that led to Sayán. Several landowners in the region supported Prado's efforts, providing him with all kinds of supplies. And all the peasants supported him decisively, making up the cadres of combatants and serving in surveillance and espionage tasks. Investing in the rank of colonel, Prado personally directed the military training of those contingents, infecting them with his patriotic fervor with harangues like the one he addressed to his countrymen: "Brothers of my soul, sons of my people: Know that the bullets they do not kill the enemy and that to die for the country is to live in the immortality of glory".

As soon as the Chilean command learned of the formation of the guerrilla corps under the orders of Leoncio Prado and of their proximity to the coast, they ordered large forces to persecute and exterminate them. Thus the persecution began, but Leoncio Prado, applying a “strategy of attrition and attraction to propitious terrain to strike accurately”, undertook the withdrawal to the high mountains of the province of Chancay. Before leaving Vista Alegre, he left a group of guerrillas conveniently sheltered, “ with the order to cover their withdrawal ”. The Chilean head of the outpost, upon discovering said position, ordered the attack.

After a short skirmish, which the defenders resist, they proceed to the assault, and near the summit one, two, three soldiers can be seen rolling. There is no doubt that they resist. The fire continued and the Chilean troops took up the position where a platoon of dolls pierced by Chilean bullets awaited them, unperturbed... The echo that responded to the rattle of the Chilean riflemen, the clouds of dust and the rolling of stones, had given the perfect illusion of combat.

Cover the withdrawal. Leoncio Prado's guerrilla established itself definitively in the steep Chancay mountains. The headquarters is established in Jucul, a position that was conveniently protected, taking advantage of its advantageous location. From there he held the Chilean forces commanded by the Chilean chiefs Castillo and Marchand in check for five months, until April 1883, who not only could not hunt him down but were always prevented from approaching the Jucul headquarters. The Indians from the highlands of Santa Cruz, Paccho, and other towns traveled great distances to bring Leoncio Prado's headquarters, either a rifle, cartridges, or food for the combatants. Prado had substantially increased his guerrilla force. In this regard, he wrote: “ Despite many setbacks, I am getting better every day; Well, I already have three hundred well-armed men. At this rate I think I will soon have a thousand and then the Chileans will have a lot to do with me. The column that Fernández commands is beautiful, as is Dr. Rubín's squad. Colonel Alcázar is by my side as head of Detail”.

Thus the situation and feeling strong with his troops equipped with weapons capable of counteracting those of the Chileans, he went down to Sayán, where he met Colonel Isaac Recavarren who was commissioned by General Andrés Avelino Cáceres to form the Army of the North. In that condition, he asks Prado for the forces that he commanded, citing reasons of a disciplinary nature. Annoyed, Prado handed over his troops and his place to Colonel Recavarren and stayed with his escort made up exclusively of young Huanuqueños. With this escort he went to Aguamiro where he met with General Cáceres who appointed him the position of Chief of Staff of the First Division of the Army of the North under the immediate command of Colonel Isaac Recavarren. Leoncio Prado's guerrillas felt the change of leadership, and perhaps this was the cause of the numerous desertions of Colonel Isaac Recavarren's troops before reaching Huamachuco.

Huamachuco

General Andrés Avelino Cáceres had retreated to northern Peru, where he hoped the campaign would be more propitious. The Chilean command, which was waiting in the Department of La Libertad, detached the division of Colonel Alejandro Gorostiaga Orrego to block the way and prevent Colonel Isaac Recavarren, who was operating in the Department of Áncash, from joining it. Colonel Arriagada's division followed the rear of the Cáceres army.

Cáceres, through a skilful maneuver, makes Colonel Arriagada countermarch, thus getting rid of this enemy, at the same time that he joins the troops of Colonel Isaac Recavarren. Upon learning of this, Colonel Gorostiaga retreated to Huamachuco urgently requesting reinforcements.

Given the continuous marches from Tarma, through the steep Andean mountain ranges, Cáceres' troops found themselves sick, half-naked and hungry; They were so exhausted that when they found themselves at the Tres Ríos pass, with the reinforcement requested by Gorostiaga, they could not catch up. Cáceres then, appealing to the patriotism of his troops and through a great effort, managed to lead them through lost and infernal paths to the heights of Huamachuco, and at 3:00 p.m. on July 8, 1883, he fired the first cannon shots on the square occupied by the invader. Chilean. The surprised Chileans barely had time to withdraw from Cerro Sazón, an impregnable position that they had prepared beforehand. The Plaza de Huamachuco is taken by the Peruvian army, the next day some skirmishes take place until the 10th.

The Battle of Huamachuco

At the end of the second day of the occupation of the Huamachuco square (July 9, 1883) by the Peruvian forces, the battle plan was concluded. Everything was ready, but fate meant that at night Colonel Recavarren's division could not occupy the location that had been indicated, which spoiled the entire plan drawn up by General Andrés A. Cáceres Dorregaray. In view of this setback, the Peruvian high command decided to postpone the meeting. But already at dawn on the 10th, a sector, up to which the postponement order had not reached, opened fire, compromising all the lines. Thus, the battle suddenly acquired all its heat.

The courage of the Peruvian forces succeeded the Chilean counterattack; the fierce struggle was taking place in the pampa. Suddenly the Chilean troops retreat to their first parapets; the Peruvian thrust is desperate; the effort is redoubled; the combatants ascend the Sazón hill, the impregnable Chilean position; the bands of the Peruvian army play triumphant targets and victory is glimpsed at the top of the hill. More at this precise moment, one of the Peruvian corps runs out of ammunition; a fateful, chilling cry runs through the Peruvian ranks: "Ammunition!... munitions!..." The Chilean troops, aware of such an unexpected contingency, jumped over the Peruvian trenches and advanced, producing the defeat of the Cáceres forces.

In the heat of battle, Leoncio Prado falls to the ground dismounted, as a result of the explosion of a grenade and tries to get up. His orderlies lift his body, while the wounded man only manages to say: " My horse..., my horse...! ". Despite his best efforts, he is unable to continue in combat due to the severity of his injury. Shards from the Chilean grenade have splintered his leg…. His assistants reassemble him and slowly carry him off the battlefield. After him, only the discouragement precursor of defeat remains on the war scene.

And the catastrophe of the Peruvian Army of La Breña ensues.

Late afternoon, as they withdrew from the battlefield, Prado and his assistants are overtaken by General Andrés A. Cáceres, with his assistants and some officers. Asking who the wounded man was, Leoncio Prado rejoins him and tells him: “My general, I am Colonel Leoncio Prado. I have done my duty”, then falling silent.

The procession continued. “It moved like the clapper of a bell to the sway of the beast,” Colonel Samuel del Alcázar, an eyewitness to the event, said in testimony.

At nightfall, it was no longer possible to continue with the wounded man, so his soldiers deposited him in a cave near the Cushuro lagoon. The next morning a priest sent by General Cáceres appeared at the shelter, who gave him a blessing and the holy oils, then left. Nearby lived the Indian Julián Carrión, who was commissioned to go to the town in search of help. Carrión not only volunteered for such a commission, but also sheltered the wounded man in his house.

Death

Capture of Colonel Leoncio Prado

According to this version, Carrión arrived in town and delivered the message to people who did not keep the case confidential, revealing the name of the injured officer. The news spread that it reached the Chilean headquarters, they took Carrión prisoner who was forced to confess the whereabouts of the officer. A group of twenty-five soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Aníbal Fuenzalida headed for Cushuro, led by the Indian Carrión.

Regarding that moment, the Chilean historian Nicanor Molinare, in his book on the “Battle of Huamachuco”, says:

One of the most attractive enemy military figures of the Pacific war, perhaps the one that most, for his love of Peru, was the nude with which he always defended his colors and for his indomitable value, was undoubtedly that of Colonel Leoncio Prado.

The death of this extraordinary man, has such great tonalities, was so admirably stoic to die, that as a homage to the memory of so brave Peruvian boss, we published this exciting episode of his life, which undoubtedly is the most beautiful page of the history of Peru in the last campaign, taking it from our History of the Battle of Huamachuco, which will see the public light in brief days.

If I had imagined, comrade, that they would shoot him, have the assurance that I do not take him prisoner, said last year my dear friend, the retired eldest, Don Aníbal Fuenzalida, referring to Colonel Leoncio Prado. Note that Pradito was seriously injured, he had a horrible bullet in his left leg: look, he had a splint made, mate, if I knew it, if I picked him up from a ravine on July 13, two days later, early 15, shortly after 8:00 a.m., it was Sunday, he was shot, and on his own stretcher.

That Chilean soldier, who had commanded the squad that captured Leoncio Prado, added, telling Molinare about the Huamachuco tragedy:

I will tell you point by point, all I know, about Colonel Leoncio Prado, whom I took prisoner, of whom I was a friend about two days and whom I did not see to die because when they shot him, I left Huamachuco.

At the top of my boss, the smartest Major Fuentecilla, I left early on the 13th of July in commission to collect weapons and especially to look for two cannons that lacked the twelve that had had the enemy artillery.
Uphill we are thrown by the Morro de Flores, which is above, as the one who says for the south of Huamachuco; we arrive at the summit and once in it I went down with my troops on the other side, as for Entre Ríos or Silacochas, and with patience we begin to record all the cracks, small valleys and fundonadas that form those serranian agrestes.
These hills that are peeled, without a squirrel to the north side for which the people look, once they descend to Silacochas, they begin to cover themselves with vegetation; in their ravines there is water and also trees and woods.
My troop was scattered, in order not to separate much and to register with great care as much of the rinconcito there was; I had 30 men and my horn Vílchez.Fifteen of the “children” went on horseback, the others on foot. As I told you, in partisans, the soldiers would pick up the hills.
Suddenly, an artillery, whose name I have forgotten, felt that someone complained, rather said, he seemed to hear the murmur of a conversation; the man prepared his snail for what could happen and, with caution, begging, he went near to the place where he believed the voices came.
A few moments later they talk to him like this with a full voice: “Avance You carelessly, I am wounded; I am Colonel Leoncio Prado.
And, indeed, my gunner had at his forehead, under a rim, what the soldiers call a torito, lying on the ground, on a sheep leather and a blanket, a dark man, a profiled nose; black hair and very crespo and wearing a mustache and an insignificant military pear.
The wounded, without being another, was Colonel Leoncio Prado, the natural son of the President of Peru, Don Mariano Ignacio Prado, and Chief of Staff of the Central Army, that is, the first army of Cáceres.
When my artillery saw Prado, or Pradito, wounded, as everyone named him in Peru, he remained staring at him when he heard the tranquillity he addressed.
Pradito said, “Do me a favor, give me a shot here, on the forehead.
Ask my Lieutenant Fuenzalida for that service,” the soldier replied, and he rushed to join me.
It wasn't long, and I and other soldiers were next to the one that was my poor friend Colonel Prado. What a nice man, so enlightened and attractive, mate!; look, I loved talking to him, of all I knew, I possessed English and French the same as Spanish; and with him you could talk about artillery and deal with war issues in depth, because he was a good educated man, study and very well known.
As soon as I was by his side, and after giving us an affectionate handshake, he begged me to dissuade him from the other world, because he suffered atrocious pains from the wound, and because, I suppose, he would have to be shot. “Naturally, I made him throw away such a black idea, because I imagined that being so badly wounded, my Colonel Gorostiaga would not execute him.” “Compañero”, I recall that he told me about his wound: “This poor Chinese is so good, that as much as I have done, he did not want to, cut off my injured leg,” and showed the left thigh horribly fractured over the knee.
And our conversation lasted the time needed to arm a stretcher and soon we all returned to Huamachuco.

You will imagine how careful we lower those steep hills. What a encouraged man. You will suppose that the road was evil and that that man did not complain once; he made the journey as in a bed of roses.

Execution of Prado

Merger of Colonel Leoncio Prado

He was jailed and suspected of his death sentence when the military surgeon refused to amputate his injured leg. He garnered sympathy among the components of the enemy army and commented on the good marksmanship of the Chilean cannons while praising the courage of his soldiers.

According to the Chilean version, Colonel Leoncio Prado, known as "Pradito," was sentenced to death for having broken his official word. As a prisoner of war, he was released on his word of honor not to continue waging war on Chile. This was the only possible penalty, for whom despite having given his word, he was captured as a result of a bloody battle, in which he had promised not to participate. However, it is necessary to point out that officers of the Peruvian army who were not in Prado's condition, as was the case of Colonel Miguel Emilio Luna, Captain Florencio Portugal, among others, were also shot.

In 1912 the Chilean major Aníbal Fuenzalida narrated to the historian Nicanor Molinare the way in which, according to his version, Leoncio Prado died, pointing out that when he was questioned about why he had broken his promise to fight again, Prado stated &# 34;that in a war of invasion and conquest like the one Chile was waging and in the case of defending the Homeland, one could and should pledge one's word and fail to do so".

According to officer Fuenzalida, Leoncio Prado said that he really had given his word when he was taken prisoner in June 1880 in Tarata, however "I have fought many times since; defending Peru and simply bear the consequences. You in my place, with the enemy in the house, would do the same. If I heal and they set me free and we have to fight again, I will do it because that is my duty as a soldier and as a Peruvian".

Captain Rafael Benavente gave an account of the moments that preceded the execution and also of this scene. When he was notified of his fate, Leoncio Prado stated that he had the right to die in the square and with the honors due to his rank because he was a Colonel and belonged to the regular Army of Peru, but his request was not met and he was indicated that he would be shot in his own room.

Then he asked for a pencil and wrote the following letter:

"Huamachuco, July 15, 1883. Mr. Mariano Ignacio Prado. Colombia. Dear Father: I am wounded and a prisoner; today at.... (what time is it? he asked. 8.25 am answered Fuenzalida) at 8:30 am I must be shot for the crime of having defended my country. He is greeted by his son who does not forget Leoncio Prado & # 34;.

Before his execution, Leoncio Prado asked to have a cup of coffee.

Immediately, when two soldiers entered, he asked that their number be increased so that two would shoot him in the head and two in the heart. When this request was fulfilled, he gave brief instructions to the troops on the trajectory of their shots and added that they could fire when he made a signal with the spoon and hit three times on the little tin hat from which he had been eating.

He immediately said goodbye to the Chilean officers, hugged them, and said: "Goodbye, comrades." The room was small. In front of and at the foot of the bed the four shooters were positioned and behind them the three officers present there. Colonel Leoncio Prado complied with giving the orders for the unloading. "We all cried (said Benavente) all except Pradito".

The soldier who had won the hearts of his enemies was ordered to be shot, they say that the members of the execution squad fired their weapons with their eyes cloudy with tears. The death of Leoncio Prado was valued as that of a hero. It is related like this:

We stood behind the four soldiers; tears clouded my sight. We all cry, everyone, except Pradito!

He took the spoon, beat him to clean it, straightened a little more the body, went away; he greeted the spoon Masonically, paused the three promised blows, sounded a discharge and, sweetly, expiated for the sake of his patriotism, for his nation, for Peru, the most encouraged man I have ever known, the heroic Colonel Leoncio Prado.

The corporal advanced by giving him a bullet in the chest, in order to comply with the law, he ended up turning off the beats of the great heart that did not palpitate but to serve his homeland.

The Chilean version, with the living testimony of those who were at the sacrifice, is the only primary source of his death, since the Chilean officials were the only ones who witnessed the last moments of Leoncio Prado.

The Asian assistant compale José referred to in the testimony of Captain Rafael Benavente B., was a cook from the family that owned the property that served as the Chilean headquarters in Huamachuco, he was left During said occupation in the care of the property, according to Fuenzalida he was found in the company of Prado when he was captured, nothing is mentioned about the guide Julián Carrión or about the execution of Colonel Prado's orderlies: Patricio Lanza and Felipe Trujillo.

Regarding the date of the execution, most historians have confused it, the story of the Chilean historian Molinare, fixes it on July 15.

In the early years of the XX century, in 1933, two residents of Huamachuco were interviewed, who because of their age They must have been present in the city that day. They were Fabio Samuel Rubio and Enrique Moreno Pacheco. His testimony says:

On July 10, 1883, we met in Huamachuco under the painful impression of the battle. We were kids. Our families knowing the victory of the Chileans fled with us to Culicanda, where we had a farm. On Saturday 14 we returned to the city knowing that the Chileans were withdrawing. On Sunday 15, very tomorrow, we witnessed the departure of the last troops from a balcony of the Pacheco house, located in the main square. In this we felt a discharge of rifles and with natural curiosity we went to the place indicated, which was the Chilean artillery barracks, the house of Mr. Marino Acosta, and found it deserted. By entering the courtyard of that house, in a right-hand room, we saw a corpse: it was Colonel Leoncio Prado. On a stretcher, the body on the header appeared the hero. He had his face bathed in blood making a piercing visible near the left eye, and his leg on the same side was covered with bandages; on the side was a plate and a spoon and on the floor a cup.
As someone told us that in the second courtyard there were other dead, we went to the spotted site, finding two Peruvian soldiers almost together on a puddle of blood, in the last scavengers of death, and near them a blanket on which a naipe was scattered, dismayed we retire, recording in us the scene that still seems to see it."

The corpses in the second patio corresponded to those of the orderlies of Colonel Leoncio Prado Gutiérrez, Patricio Lanza and Felipe Trujillo, who are omitted in the account of the Chilean officer Fuenzalida and who, according to the aforementioned testimony, were still dying in the same place in that he had fallen, which would indicate that the military ordinance in case of firing squad, which states that one of the soldiers must carry out a coup de grace to ensure the result of death, was not complied with.

His body was buried in the local cemetery of Huamachuco where it remained until 1889 when it was transferred to Lima, being deposited in the Presbítero Matías Maestro Cemetery, since 1908 it rests in the Crypt of Heroes within said cemetery, along with the other great Peruvian heroes.

Tribute from the Army of Peru

The Army of Peru, for his values and heroism, named him patron of the Army War Material Service.

Offspring

As a result of his relations with Paula Pacheco, a posthumous son was born, Leoncio Abel Prado Pacheco, born in the town of Paccho, then part of the now-defunct Province of Chancay, on November 19, 1883, four months after his death. At the age of six, he passed into the possession of his paternal grandmother, María Avelina Gutiérrez, who since then has been in charge of his education with the small montepío received from the Peruvian State. He became Sub-prefect of Trujillo, Inspector- Regional Work Visitor of Huamachuco and Pataz and Sub-prefect of Huamachuco, where he would come to exercise the Provincial Mayor's Office in three periods. Father of 7 children (Avelina, Francisca, Pedro, Humberto, Eugenia, Naya and Isabel), in which the descendants of Leoncio Prado continue today, he passed away on October 11, 1973, at 89 years of age.