Campaigns of the South (1820—1826; Spanish: Campañas del Sur) is the name given to a series of military campaigns that Greater Colombia launched between 1820 and 1826 in South America with the purpose of expanding over the territories of the current republics of Colombia and Ecuador, as well as consolidating the independence of the republics of Peru and Bolivia. This was an extension of the multifaceted civil war launched against the Royalist Army in the Americas, which sustained the integrity of the Spanish Empire in such territories. Beyond the surrender of the regular armies, the royalist guerrillas in each country fought for several more years.
Determining which battles are included in the campaigns of the South varies so widely that some historians refer by this name to the liberation campaigns of Quito and Pasto between 1820 and 1822, while others refer to military operations between 1821 and 1826, when the fortress of El Callao surrendered. However, it can be said for certain that the goal of the campaigns of the South was to end the Spanish American wars of independence in South America and, as an additional result, the boom of the influence and power of Greater Colombia. The latter, under the presidency of Simón Bolívar, sought to bring together the new states under its hegemony. However, this project failed and Greater Colombia itself disappeared in 1831, balkanized for the secession of the states that conformed it.
Quito Campaign
Sucre's Operations in Ecuador After the revolution on 9 October 1820, the city of Guayaquil had been constituted as an independent state, the Free Province of Guayaquil. However, it soon found itself in a delicate military situation after the people of Guayaquil were defeated at the First Battle of Huachi and the Battle of Tanizagua. José Joaquín de Olmedo requested military aid from Greater Colombia to defend the city and to liberate the Royal Audience of Quito. Early in 1821, Bolívar sent his best general, Antonio José de Sucre, to Guayaquil to replace General José Mires. Sucre arrived on 6 May 1821 with around 650 Colombian soldiers, who were joined by around 1,400 Ecuadorians. Sucre's instructions consisted of taking command of the troops that were in Guayaquil, securing the incorporation of the province into Colombia, and working with the Liberator to prepare the operations to liberate Quito. Quito was strongly guarded despite the fact that the Royalist troops had decreased by half in recent years, from 4,000 to 2,000.
The forces that garrisoned Guayaquil in 1820 included 1,500 defenders: by order of José Fernando de Abascal, 250–300 sailors operating seven gunboats (the port was the main arsenal and shipyard in the Spanish Pacific), 600 infantry soldiers of the Granaderos de Reserva battalion originally from Cuzco, 200 volunteers of half the Milicias Battalion from Guayaquil, 150 cavalry soldiers of the Caballería de Daule squadron, and 200 gunners of the Artillery brigade. The city had a population of 14,000 people and controlled a province of 71,000 souls, of whom 12,000 were Europeans. In total, the Royal Audience of Quito had 3,500 soldiers under the command of Marshal Melchor Aymerich.
Upon Sucre's arrival in Guayaquil, he started to organize and train the troops. On March 15, he signed an agreement with the city's Government Junta, which stipulated that the Province of Guayaquil would remain under the protection and custody of Colombia, thus annulling the treaty signed with the Peruvian agents. Sucre placed his troops in Samborondón and Babahoyo to block the entrance of the royalists to the province. On 17 July of that year, an anti-Colombian and pro-royalist rebellion took place, which was successfully squashed.
Upon learning of the rebellion, the royalists prepared to support it. Meanwhile, Governor Aymerich marched south with 2,000 men, while Colonel González marched from Cuenca to Guayaquil threatening the communications sent by Sucre, who was on his way to fight Aymerich. When Sucre learned of the movement, he retreated to confront González, defeating him on 12 August in the Battle of Yaguachi. Afterwards, Sucre returned to the north to confront Aymerich, but the latter retreated to the north. The army pursued the royalists for a long stretch but the political situation in Guayaquil forced Sucre to return.
After the political situation in the city had calmed down, Sucre headed back to the mountains with 900 infantry soldiers and 70 cavalry soldiers, in search of Aymerich. For several days, he maneuvered against him, crossed the Chimborazo, and arrived on 11 September at the Upper Valley of the Ambato River. Sucre was reluctant to descend from the mountain range due to the numerical advantage of the Spanish cavalry but, harassed by his companions, he descended on the 12th to Santa Rosa, occupying defensive positions while Aymerich advanced towards Ambato. Both armies faced each other in the Second Battle of Huachi. Sucre set up a solid defensive formation but when the royalists attacked, General Mires got ahead of the counter-offensive and, after his attack was resisted, the patriot army was surrounded, defeated, and almost destroyed.
Back in Guayaquil, Sucre urgently needed reinforcements to recover from the defeat of Huachi, for which he asked Francisco de Paula Santander to send troops, but the latter chose instead to reinforce the division of Pedro León Torres, who had to go overland via Popayán-Pasto-Quito. In such circumstances, Sucre wrote a letter to the Protector of Peru, José de San Martín, to ask for the Numancia Battalion, a unit formed in Venezuela in 1813 and sent by Pablo Morillo to Peru three years later. In 1820, it had gone over to the Protector's forces and wished to return home. San Martín did not want to give up the Numancia, which was the best battalion at his disposal. Therefore, he sent some forces in its place under the command of Colonel Andrés de Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz's division was reorganized into battalions No. 2 and 4 or Piura, the Cazadores del Perú and Granaderos de los Andes squadrons, and an artillery picket, accounting for 1,622Paz Soldán, 1868: 250. Letter from Sucre to brigadier and war minister Tomás Guido, Cuenca, 25 February 1822; letter from Juan Antonio Álvarez de Arenales to Sucre, Lambayeque, 3 January 1822. to 1,693Seminario Ojeda, Miguel Arturo (1994). Piura y la independencia. Instituto de Cambio y Desarrollo. Prologue by Miguel Maticorena Estrada, pp. 156. According to a report from Santa Cruz, 31 May 1822, Quito. troops.
With Santa Cruz's forces and the imposed impressment, Sucre once again had about 1,200 troops though most did not have any military experience except for the Trujillo battalion, with some training, and the Mounted Grenadiers squadron of 90 veterans under the command of Lavalle.
Sucre decided to resume the campaign from the south of Guayaquil, for which he sent small detachments in various directions in order to mislead the royalists about the route their offensive would take while he embarked with the army in Guayaquil and headed by sea to Machala. After disembarking his troops, he headed to Saguro, where he met with the Peruvians of Santa Cruz. Afterwards, he headed to Cuenca, arriving there on 23 February 1822. He waited there for the date agreed by Bolívar to start the offensive. Meanwhile, he increased his forces with some reinforcements that had arrived from Guayaquil.
Once Bolívar's authorization had arrived, Sucre advanced towards Alausí at the beginning of April. He now had about 2,000 infantry troops and 400 cavalry troops at his disposal. The royalist forces were about 2,000 regular soldiers, plus hundreds of conscripts. By mid-month, the republicans numbered 3,000 men under Sucre's command in various garrisons, including Chileans and Argentinians in the mounted units. On the 20th of that same month, they were ambushed by the Spaniards but these were repulsed. The following day, they found that the royalists had fortified the road so Sucre flanked the position and offered battle, but the Spaniards preferred to retreat. Sucre ordered Colonel Diego Ibarra to attack with his cavalry the royalists who were retreating from the village of Riobamba. In turn, the Spaniards sent their cavalry to protect their retreat.
The army left Riobamba on 28 April headed to the city of Latacunga, where they arrived on 2 May and where 200 men of the Magdalena battalion of Colonel José María Córdova, who had come from the Cauca River, were incorporated. The rest of the Magdalena battalion (about 400 men) were in Guayaquil and in Cuenca, ill and exhausted. The royalists were in Machachi with about 2,200 infantry soldiers of Nicolás López and about 300 cavalry troops led by Colonel Tolrá covering the passes of Jalupana and La Viudita.
Sucre decided to evade the royalist position by the right. On the 13th, he headed along the Limpiopongo road and climbed the slopes of the Cotopaxi Volcano, where he made camp. On the 17th, he descended to the Chillo Valley. Upon learning of these movements, Colonel Nicolás López retreated to Quito on the 16th. On the 20th, he crossed the hill of Puengasí and the following day he descended to the plain of Turubamba, offering battle in a terrain that was favorable to the Spaniards, who refused to accept it. After several maneuvers to attract the royalists, Sucre flanked the Spaniards on the right and positioned himself in the town of Pasto. Sucre began the march on the night of the 23rd, and at 8 in the morning of the 24th he was on the heights of the Pichincha Volcano, from where he had command of the city of Quito. Upon seeing themselves surrounded, the Spaniards climbed the volcano as well. Due to the difficult terrain, both armies were forced to fight in waves. After the patriot victory in the Battle of Pichincha, Quito was occupied by the Liberator's Army and Ecuador was in the hands of the pro-independence troops. The following day, Aymerich surrendered by means of the Capitulation of Quito. On 29 May, the Municipality of Quito proclaimed the integration of the former Royal Audience of Quito into Colombia.
Between September 1821 and May 1822, the government of Greater Colombia had sent 137 officers and 7,314 soldiers to support the Liberator's operations, excluding the contingents sent to Guayaquil to help Sucre, but only 2,000 were active and as many were hospitalized.
Bolívar's Operations Against Pasto
After the Battle of Carabobo, the Constituent Congress of 1821 named Bolívar President of the Republic and Santander as Vice President.Encina, 1954: 63. After retaking Caracas, Bolívar turned his attention to Peru. On 16 August 1821, he wrote to Santander in Tocuyo, requesting 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers to advance on Peru and obtain victories such as Boyacá and Carabobo. Bolívar made arrangements that same year: he organized an army of 4,000 soldiers, entrusted Santander with the Presidency, and headed south. Initially, the Liberator wanted to transport the troops by sea in three brigantines. When he was embarking in the port of Buenaventura, a Spanish squadron appeared, sent by Juan de la Cruz Mourgeón y Achet from the current northern coast of Ecuador. It consisted of one corvette, four schooners, and three transports. The weakness of the Colombian Navy in the Pacific, when compared to the Spanish, forced him to take the land route, which was more arduous due to the difficult terrain of the Andes. That, coupled with illnesses, caused greater casualties in the army than what was expected, and thus he could not replace them with the contingents that he found on the way. Upon arriving in Popayán, he was reinforced with 1,200 men from the division of General Pedro León Torres. He waited in the province of Popayán for reinforcements that he had requested from the government, but when they were not granted, he continued on to Pasto.