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Death of General José de San Martín
Each year on 17th August the people of Argentina remember San Martin as a seminal figure in their history. If the 17th August falls on a Tuesday or Wednesday, the holiday is held on the preceding Monday. If it falls on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday then the holiday is held on the following Monday.
Family life
José Francisco de San Martín Matorras, commonly known as José de San Martín was the son of the Spanish don Juan de San Martín and dona Gregoria Matorras, their fifth and last child. He was born on 25th February 1778 in Yapeyú, a small village in Corrientes, Argentina which lies beside the mighty Uruguay River.
His father, a Colonel, was the Lieutenant Governor of the department, having been appointed to that position in 1774; his mother was the niece of a conqueror of the Chaco's wild forests.
In 1781, the family moved to Buenos Aires, and in 1784, his father was transferred again, this time to Spain. So, in 1786, the family moved to Spain, and San Martín enrolled in Madrid's Real Seminario de Nobles where he studied from 1785. While at the Seminario he met and became friends with the Chilean, Bernardo O'Higgins, who many years later would also gain the same fame and acclaim which was to befall San Martín, and for very similar reasons as well.
Starting out
In 1789, at the age of 11, San Martín began his military career in the Regiment of Murcia. He took part in several campaigns in Africa, fighting in Melilla and Oran, among other places. By the end of the First Coalition of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1797, he had been promoted to Sub-Lieutenant for his actions against the French in the Pyrenees.
In August 1797, after several engagements, his regiment surrendered to British naval forces, but soon afterwards he was fighting in southern Spain, mainly in Cádiz and Gibraltar, with the rank of Second Captain of Light Infantry. He got to know other South American officers in the city of Cadiz, and got on well with the criollos (creoles), taking a keen interest in their arguments and cause.
Rising through the ranks
When the Peninsular War started in 1808, San Martín had been assigned ayudante (helper) of the First Regiment Voluntarios de Campo Mayor. After his actions against the French, he became a Captain in the Regiment of Borbon.
On 19th July 1808, Spanish and French forces engaged in the Battle of Bailén, in which Spanish forces prevailed, allowing the Army of Andalucia to attack and seize Madrid. For his actions during this battle, San Martín was decorated with a gold medal, and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
On 16th May 1811, he participated on the Battle of Albuera under the command of General William Carr Beresford. During the battle he met the Scottish Lord MacDuff (James Duff, the Fourth Earl of Fife) who introduced him to the lodges that were plotting the South American independence efforts. San Martín requested permission to resign from the Spanish army, which was granted.
Years later, in a letter to Ramón Castilla dated 11th September 1848, he would write that in 1811: "In a meeting of Americans in Cadiz, knowing of the first movements of Caracas, Buenos Aires and elsewhere we resolved to return each to our country of birth, in order to offer our services to the struggle we considered was bound to intensify".
In the service of the Triumvirate
Having resigned his military career in Spain, San Martín embarked on the sailing ship George Canning from England to Buenos Aires, where he arrived on 9th March 1812 accompanied by other friends.
On arrival, San Martín offered his services to the United Provinces of the South - Provincias Unidas del Rio de la Plata (roughly, the present Argentina). The independent government of Buenos Aires - the Triumvirate - accepted the services of San Martín, recognising his rank of Lieutenant Colonel and ordered him to create a cavalry corps that soon would be the glorious regiment of Mounted Grenadiers. It was to become the best trained regiment in the revolution and one of the best in the whole of the independence wars in South America.
In that same year, 1812, he married Maria Remedies de Escalada, who belonged to a distinguished Argentinian family. With their support, San Martin created the Lautaro Lodge, whose objective was to liberate South America from the Spanish yoke.
In October of 1812, the members of the lodge led a movement that intended to remove some members of the First Triumvirate (the government). In response the authorities named the Second Triumvirate, which soon after called an Assembly of Delegates from the United Provinces with the purpose of agreeing a Constitution.
The Second Triumvirate's members were Juan José Paso, Nicolás Rodríguez Peña, and Antonio Álvarez Jonte, with Rodríguez Peña and Álvarez Jonte, both members of the Lautaro Lodge. This new government strengthened the position held by the Army, and decided to lay siege to Montevideo, which was controlled by loyalists to the Spanish Crown. On 7th December 1812, San Martín was promoted to Colonel.
On 3rd February 1813, the Mounted Grenadiers fought and won their first combat near the ravines of San Lorenzo, against the Spanish army disembarking from several ships which had arrived from the port of Montevideo.
The sequence of events was that, on 28th January 1813, San Martín with his Mounted Grenadiers (comprising around 150 soldiers) was sent to protect the Paraná River banks and shoreline from a Spanish Fleet of 11 ships under command of General José Zavala. On the morning of 3rd February, the Spanish forces (around 250 men) disembarked and fought against San Martín in the Battle of San Lorenzo.
During the fight, San Martín's horse was shot dead and fell, trapping one of his legs underneath the dead mount. This made him an easy target, but Sergeant Juan Bautista Cabral helped him extricate himself. While he was helping the Colonel, Cabral was himself attacked, and died from his wounds after the battle was over. After this engagement, which was San Martín's first military action in South America, he was promoted to General.
Following on from the victories by the Army of the North in the battles of Tucuman and Salta, the Army commanded by General Manuel Belgrano lost ground having been defeated in the Battles of Vilcapugio on 1st October 1813 and Ayuhuma on 14th November 1813. As a result the Triumvirate decided to send San Martín to the North with a small infantry army and his cavalry regiment.
General San Martin takes control of the North Army
In January 1814, San Martin took control of the North Army, in Tucuman, from General Belgrano, who had returned with his men from the two defeats in Alto (Upper) Peru - today the republic of Bolivia. San Martin and Belgrano established a long-standing friendship.
Soon after San Martin moved to Tucuman, he started to plan how to attack and take Lima so as to gain control of Peru. San Martin realised that it was impossible to conquer the capital of Peru, Lima city (the centre of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru) by the direct terrestrial route over the heights of the Andes.
He conceived the idea of crossing the mountain range to Chile and attacking the city of Lima from the sea. This, however, involved creating an army in Cuyo, first liberating Chile, then attacking Lima by ship.
After joining the defeated Army of the North in Yatasto, near Tucuman (Belgrano becoming second in command) he started instructing the troops, created a new military school, and sent Colonel Martín Guemes to fight against loyalists coming from Peru – so as to gain time for his own plans to come to fruition. However, after minor struggles in Salta and Jujuy, news of the victory of Commander Guillermo Brown against the loyalist's navy, and the resulting blockade of Montevideo forced the loyalist forces from Peru to retreat, to concentrate their forces.
At this point illness intervened, and in April 1814 San Martín was granted leave, and moved to Córdoba. In Córdoba he continued planning and to this end he requested and obtained from the government the nomination as Governor of the Cuyo province. He then left Córdoba for Mendoza, capital of Cuyo, a city that stands at the foot of the mountain range of the Andes. There he recovered from his illness and began to prepare an army to cross the Andes.
Later, Juan Pueyrredón was sent by the provisional government of the United Provinces of the South to give San Martín full support on the development of his Liberation Campaign (Campaña Libertadora).
The crossing of the Andes
While San Martín was focused on preparations for the Crossing of the Andes (Cruce de los Andes), he also performed his duties as Governor. During his term, he made tax collection stricter; farm workers were regimented; he ordered a mass vaccination against smallpox; and he founded a library. He also reorganised the mail service to strengthen its security. Meanwhile, he tried to exhort other provinces to declare independence. Tomás Godoy Cruz in particular received regular letters from him on this matter.
One month after he took office, Royalist forces in Peru defeated the rebel forces under Bernardo O'Higgins' command and O'Higgins fled to the Andes. San Martín strengthened his espionage network with the so-called Guerra de Zapa ("War of Zapa"), a pun on the expression trabajo de zapa, which means hidden work done slyly towards some particular aim.
On his behalf, San Martín sent his aide-de-camp and amateur cartographer Álvarez Condaco (carrying an Act of Independence to Chile as an excuse) into the Andes. He travelled through Los Patos pass (the longest path), returning through the Uspallata (the shortest one), to perform reconnaissance of several locations, mainly the Chacabuco area.
San Martín also instigated other measures including a disinformation campaign in Chile, sending fake information on possible attack routes, and began information gathering on the situation in Chile, in order to prevent a possible attack from there.
In Mendoza, San Martín prepared an army, with minimal resources. This required all the people involved contributing with greater commitment than usual, as it was going to be a dangerous expedition.
During his governorship of Cuyo, he organized the Army of Cuyo. On 8 November 1814 he created the 11th Battalion of Infantry (Batallón Número 11 de Infantería) which included the Corps of Chile (Cuerpo de Chile) which was under command of General Gregorio de Las Heras. These Chilean corps were remnants of the army that had fled from Chile after the Battle of Rancagua.
By October 1815, after contributions from several provinces, the army had 1,600 infantry soldiers, 1,000 men in the cavalry, 200 men in the artillery and 10 cannons. However many problems arose, such as low supplies of powder, iron, and uniforms. Because existing local industries were not enough to supply the Army of the North, San Martín handled the problem by creating local industries in Cuyo to meet the requirements of the army he was creating.
During 1816 San Martin sent a delegation representing the province of Cuyo to the congress that met in Tucuman. He gave the delegation specific orders to insist on the declaration of independence. Because of his insistence, the declaration of independence from the rule of Spain of the Provincias Unidas del Rio de la Plata - the primitive name of what is now the Argentine Republic - was made on 9th July 1816.
Despite having the support of the Supreme Director of the United Provinces, support was far from being nationwide. San Martin's efforts were often undermined by the scepticism of some local leaders about the viability of the planned campaign against the Viceroyalty of Peru. However, on 1st August 1816, Pueyrredón renamed his troops the Army of the Andes (Ejército de los Andes) and San Martín was appointed General in chief. This gave his army national priority.
By the end of the preparations, the Army of the Andes had three generals, 28 chiefs of staff, 207 officials, 15 civil employees, 3,778 soldiers, and 1,392 auxiliary forces, totalling 5,423 men, 18 pieces of artillery, 1,500 horses and 9,280 mules. All of these were placed under the command of San Martín San Martín also insisted that he was given formal permission by the government of Buenos Aires for his army to cross the Andes to invade Chile.
In September 1816, San Martín relocated his Army of the Andes to Plumerillo, in the Northern part of Mendoza Province, where he took care of the final details before starting his crossing of the Andes. The army was divided in two main columns and four minor ones. He kept the chosen paths secret, letting each commander know only their own route and the destination.
In January 1817, in a feat comparable to the Crossing of the Alps by Hannibal and Napoleon, he crossed the Andes from Mendoza into Chile, and prevailed over the Spanish forces after the Battles of Chacabuco and Maipú, liberating Chile, with the assistance of forces commanded by Bernardo O'Higgins.
On 18th January 1817, the first of the main columns left for Chile , taking the artillery with it, travelling through the Uspallata pass under command of General Las Heras. It reached Las Cuevas on 1st February.
The second main column led by San Martín himself, left on 19th January, going through the Los Patos pass. This column reached San Andrés de Tártaro on 8th February where it was later joined by Las Heras in Santa Rosa of the Andes, thus concluding the first part of the crossing. By the time the main columns reunited, both had already had minor skirmishes: the first column had fought Royalists in Potrerillos, while the forces led by San Martín had fought the Battles of Achupallas and Las Coimas.
After crossing the Andes and entering Chile, they found the Spanish Royalist forces were taking positions around Mount Cuesta Vieja, preparing themselves for the confrontation against the Army of the Andes.
In total, around 4,000 men made the journey - infantry, cavalry and artillery – and they carried provisions for a month. The crossing of the Andes took twenty-one days. It was an extremely difficult enterprise, with temperatures ranging from 30º Celsius during the day to -10º°C at night, altitudes averaging 3,000 meters above sea level, and paths that were far from being roads appropriate for an army. The route consisted of many 50 cm (18″) wide paths mainly used by locals for travelling on mules, with several passages which had to be crossed literally in single file. Besides all those hardships, San Martín was far from healthy and was carried on a stretcher during most of the trip.
By the end of crossing, around 300 men — over 5% of those that started out — had lost their lives, mostly due to the harsh conditions of the trip.
By 10th February 1817, the Army of the Andes was in the Aconcagua valley, but the Spanish Royalist forces had not taken up full positions. San Martín, realising that the Royalists were not prepared, took the initiative and hastened preparations for his attack. Despite a severe attack of rheumatoid arthritis, San Martín commanded the battle. Seeing the Spanish forces were inferior in numbers, and considering the surprise factor, he developed a strategy to persuade the Spanish forces to surrender, avoiding bloodshed.
At 2 am on 12th February 1817, the forces commanded by San Martín started ascending Mount Cuesta Vieja, divided into two main divisions. Facing South, the division on the left was under General Miguel Estanislao Soler and the one to the right was under O'Higgins' command.
Initially the strategy was that the division under Soler's command was to take up a position to the rear of the loyalists, while the forces under O'Higgins would face the vanguard. Meanwhile, men of the Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers were scouting the area.
At around 10 pm, the Grenadiers took the vanguard of the Royalist forces by surprise and charged against their infantry. The Royalist Spanish commander, General Rafael Maroto, was expecting two more days to take up positions and to receive more troops to defend the position – but he and his men fled and San Martín had secured an important strategic position for the battle which was to come.
O'Higgins requested permission to pursue the fleeing royalist vanguard in order to avoid their reorganisation. San Martín agreed to this but recommended not taking action until Soler's division was in place. Despite this, the forces led by O'Higgins went down, only to find an arroyo (creek), leaving them in a bad position and in range of enemy guns so O'Higgins division started retreating. Seeing the difficult position of the O'Higgins' troops, San Martín sent a message to Soler, ordering him to hurry up and charge.
Some say that O'Higgins had a poor relationship with Soler and, not wanting him to take credit for the victory, O'Higgins himself ordered a charge, reportedly shouting "Soldiers! To live with honour or die in glory! Let those who are brave follow me. Columns, charge!" O'Higgins' charge was a stalemate until Soler's division joined the battle, turning the odds in favour of the loyalists.
The Royalist forces suffered some 500 casualties, and 600 Royalist soldiers were taken prisoner. The Army of the Andes lost 12 dead and around 100 wounded. They also gained "new" artillery and other weapons. More importantly to some, they restored the Chilean revolution.
San Martín sent a despatch reporting the victory: "The Army of the Andes has attained glory and can report: In twenty-four days we have completed the campaign, passed through the highest mountain range on the globe, defeated the tyrants and given freedom to Chile".
On 14th February San Martín and O'Higgins triumphally entered Santiago de Chile, the capital city. On 18th February, a meeting was held in the Town Hall where San Martín was appointed Governor of Chile. San Martín immediately resigned, and O'Higgins was elected Supreme Director of the State of Chile (Director Supremo del Estado de Chile).
Creation of the United Army
The United Army (Ejército Unido) was created with Chilean and Argentinian soldiers. The Chilean soldiers were placed under O'Higgins command, while San Martín was General in Chief of the whole United Army.
Armies have always needed money, and San Martin's army was no different. In order to raise funds for a fleet, San Martin left Chile for Buenos Aires and, after negotiating with Pueyrredón, a delegation was sent to London to raise funds and support, to provide ships for a new fleet in the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, in Chile during the last days of 1817, San Martín sent a delegation to Lima proposing regularisation of the war to the Viceroy of Peru, Joaquín de la Pezuela, and an exchange of prisoners of war. The real purpose of the visit was to gain as much information as possible about the enemy's plans. The delegation brought back the news that a Spanish army under General Mariano Osorio was about to set sail in four frigates to Southern Chile.
Despite the defeat in the Battle of Chacabuco and leaving Santiago and the North of Chile under patriot control, the Spanish royalist forces still had a very strong presence in Southern Chile. The men under Osorio's command joined the Royalist forces in the South by sea. The Royalists had also allied themselves with native Mapuche Americans.
The first defeat of the loyalists
On 19 March 1818, the Royalist forces concentrated in Talca making around 5,000 men under the command of General Osorio, while the independent forces of around 7,000 men of the United Army were taking positions in the Cancha Rayada plains. San Martín, fearing an attack on his flank, ordered the troops to change position.
Knowing they outnumbered in terms both of infantry and cavalry, the Spanish General Mariano Osorio was not eager to engage in battle, choosing to remain in Talca. However, after proposals from Colonel José Ordóñez a confrontation was decided upon, under Ordoñez' command. In a bold move, Ordoñez made the kind of attack San Martín had feared: circumventing the city and making a surprise attack at night behind the vanguard where the patriot forces were still taking positions. The surprise attack happened before the patriot army had repositioned itself, and was directed at the battalion under O'Higgins command, near San Martín's position.
The vanguard soldiers were soon dispersed, leaving O'Higgins and his men in a bad position. O'Higgins' horse was shot dead, and he was wounded in one arm. In an uncharacteristic move, instead of ordering retreat San Martín held the position, which made even more patriot soldiers flee under enemy fire, leaving weapons and supplies behind. After this initial setback, however, he ordered retreat. The rear and reserves had already been re-positioned and thus were able to withstand the attack, but had no-one in command, as Colonel Hilarión de la Quintana had left for headquarters to receive orders after the repositioning, and had yet to return.
Las Heras took command, and led the men during the retreat, while trying to recover as much artillery and weapons as possible. San Martín and O'Higgins (who were also retreating at full speed) were being closely chased by Royalist forces.
By 21st March 1818, around 3,500 patriot forces who had been left in disarray had reunited in San Fernando, while news of the defeat had reached Santiago. Rumours of deaths of O'Higgins and San Martín were spreading, and an exodus from Santiago to Mendoza started.
Regarding the battle, San Martín sent the following despatch: "Camping the army under my command in the outskirts of Talca, it was attacked by the enemy, and suffered an almost generalised disbanding which forced me to retreat. I'm reuniting the troops right now, with happy results, as I'm already counting 4,000 men from Curicó to Palequén".
The battle (which was the first defeat of the loyalist campaign) resulted in around 150 patriots being killed and 200 men taken prisoner. Several hundred more had deserted, and the whole of the artillery of the Argentine side was lost, along with considerable numbers of horses, mules and weapons from both the Chilean and Argentine parts of the army.
However from the Royalist perspective it was a pyrrhic victory. The action decimated their ranks with 200 soldiers dead, 300 men captured and some 600 having deserted - a total of more than half the 2,000 men that had charged into the battle.
Final defeat of the Royalist forces
After the sorpresa de Cancha Rayada (surprise of Cancha Rayada), the Royalist forces concentrated and marched towards Santiago. On 4th 1818, the United Army took up positions in Loma Blanca, near the Maipú plains. The army separated into three divisions: Las Heras commanding the column on the right, Colonel Rudecindo Alvarado commanding the column on the left, and Quintana at the rear. O'Higgins, who was still suffering from the wounds at Cancha Rayada, was in charge of the reserves.
The Royalist forces under General Osorio's command took defensive positions, despite the convictions of some of his Colonels (among whom was Ordoñez) that taking the offensive as in Cancha Rayada was the prefered option. According to the Irish Mounted Grenadier John Thomond O'Brien, San Martín, seeing Osorio's disposition of the forces, exclaimed "Osorio is clumsier than I thought. Today's triumph is ours. The sun is my witness!"
Around 11 am on the morning of 5th April, the patriotic forces charged against the Royalist forces with great determination and devastating effect: after a sustained six hour battle, the Royalists were defeated. Osorio attempted to retreat to a property called "Lo Espejos" (The Mirrors) but on failing to reach it, fled to Talcahuano with around 1,200 men, although they were virtually rendered useless as a fighting force since they had lost most, if not all, of their weaponry.
The Royalist forces had been routed: 2,000 dead, 3,000 taken prisoner; all their artillery lost, destroyed or captured. The patriotic forces, on the other hand, suffered only 1,000 casualties – killed and injured. The highly respected historian, Colonel José Luis Picciuolo, in his book "Argentina Cavalry in the History of the Army" stated that "this battle was executed as a typical act of annihilation".
As result of the battle, any thoughts of the Spanish regaining control over Northern Chile ended, and the independence declared on 12th February 1818 was partially accomplished. Viceroy Pezuela considered Northern Chile lost, and Osorio set sail for Peru, leaving Colonel Juan Francisco Sánchez in charge of 1,000 men in Talcahuano.
Since the time of the Battle of Chacabuco, San Martín had been urging both the governments of Santiago and Buenos Aires to build a fleet on the Pacific. Convoys had been sent to the United States and England in order to buy and hire several ships, however, lack of political cohesion in Argentina, the Spanish blockade in Valparaiso, Chile and the Battles of Cancha Rayada and Maipú had heavily delayed the project. Advantageously, though, the mountainous landscape of the region meant the economy and people depended on maritime trade routes and shipping. This meant that there was an abundance of shipyards and a ready supply of willing and eager sailors.
Immediately after the Battle of Maipú, San Martín left for Buenos Aires in order to speed up the process and meet up with his wife and daughter, whom he had not seen since the start of the Campaign of the Andes. In Buenos Aires, he learned from Pueyrredón that the half a million pesos required would not be available for the project. San Martín resigned as Commander of the Army under the pretext of being prescripted by his doctor to take a rest in the hot springs of Chile. The resignation was not accepted and San Martín was granted only leave of absence.
After Supreme Director José Rondeau was defeated in the Battle of Cepeda, San Martín sent his resignation from the Army from Santiago to Rancagua, where Colonel Las Heras had settled with the army, arguing that the authority to which he had to report had ceased to exist, and thus his own authority had expired.
The officials of the army rejected his resignation on the basis that "the army's goal was to hasten the happiness of the country and the authority was given ultimately by the health of the people, something that was immutable and could not expire."
The route to Lima by sea was now open, but since there was no fleet in existence, it was necessary to create one. With some boats captured from the enemy and others bought from the United States and England, the Chilean navy was created on very limited funds. The first Admiral was Blanco Encalada but command was soon passed to an English Admiral, Lord Cochrane.
The Campaign for Peru
On 20th August 1820 the expeditionary Argentine-Chilean army sailed Northwards from the port of Valparaiso towards Peru. The fleet comprised of eight warships and 16 transport ships of the Chilean Navy, under the command of Thomas Alexander Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald. It's destination was to be Paracas in southern Peru.
On 7th September, the army disembarked at Paracas and successfully attacked Pisco. Just four days after landing, on 11th September 1820, San Martín sent out a "manifesto" to the Peruvian people stating: "My announcement is not that of a conqueror that tries to create a new enslavement. I cannot help but be an accidental instrument of justice and agent of destiny. The outcome of victory will make Peru's capital see their sons united for the first time, freely choosing their government and emerging onto the face of earth among the ranks of nations".
While previous campaigns had been military in nature, San Martín tried to avoid confrontation in Peru and emphasised diplomacy. His strategy revolved around waiting for the Peruvian people to begin the uprising by themselves. This resulted in many diplomatic envoys going to Lima, urging Viceroy Joaquín de la Pezuela to grant the independence of Peru. However these diplomatic efforts proved fruitless and San Martin had to alter his tactics.
After securing Pisco, the army set sail Northwards on 26th October and landed at Huacho, a much better place from a strategic perspective, on 12th November. San Martín then established Huacho as his main headquarters. While there, San Martín heard of the emancipation of Guayaquil by the Peruvian Gregorio Escobedo. This and other events (such as the blockade of Callao by Admiral Cochrane and the victories over Royalist forces by Alvarez de Arenales in Guacarillo (6th October) and Pasco (20th December) strengthened the position of the main independence efforts being led by San Martín.
On 29th January, Pezuela was deposed by José de la Serna as the Viceroy. On 21st February 1821, San Martín published the Provisional Rules (Reglamento Provisional) which were designed to provide legal guarantees to Peruvian citizens. A design for the first flag of Peru was also created and published. All the while, San Martin was preparing to march on Lima.
In March, 1821 the army set sail and landed in Ancón (near Lima). General Guillermo Miller had moved to the Southern coastal region and Alvarez de Arenales towards the Eastern hills, further emphasising Lima's isolation. Diplomatic efforts once again failed, as Viceroy de la Serna refused to agree to declare independence. San Martín refused to accept de la Serna's counter-proposal: that if the loyalists accepted the Spanish Constitution of 1812, they could send emissaries to the Cortes Generales.
On 2nd July, San Martín met Viceroy de la Serna. This time San Martín proposed to create a constitutional monarchy with a European monarch to be appointed later. De la Serna, arguing that he did not have the power to make such a decision, asked for two days to discuss the issue. However after discussing the issue with the Royalist forces' commanders, the proposition was turned down, on the basis that they did not have the power to grant independence, even if it was to create a monarchy.
San Martín responded by simply marching into and occupying Lima, the capital of Peru, on 12th July 1821. This was a huge loss for the Spanish forces and the Spanish Government – the end, in reality, of the Spanish American Empire.
Independence for Peru was finally declared on 28th July 1821 and San Martin was voted the "Protector" of the newly independent nation. During the same year, he founded the National Library of Peru, to which he donated his collection of books, and praised the new library as "one of the most efficient means to spread our intellectual values".
San Martín meets with Simón Bolívar
On 26th July 1822, San Martin met with Simón Bolívar at Guayaquil to plan the future of Latin America. The meeting lasted more than 4 hours, after which San Martin returned to Lima. Most of the details of this meeting were secret at the time, and this has made the event a matter of much debate among later historians.
On 20th September 1822 there was a meeting in Lima of the first Congress of Peru and San Martín surprised everyone by resigning his office. The same day he embarked for Chile, and months later crossed the Andes to Mendoza. Some believe that the meeting between San Martín and Bolívar was central to the decision which San Martín made. They say that Bolívar's refusal to share command of the combined forces made San Martín withdraw from Peru and resettle as a farmer in Mendoza, Argentina. Another theory claims that San Martín yielded to Bolívar's energy and avoided a confrontation.
Possibly they disputed over Guayaquil, which Bolívar had just occupied and which San Martín wanted to be incorporated into Peru. Possibly they disagreed on the type of government to be instituted in South America. San Martín did not believe the South Americans were ready for democracy, and he probably preferred a constitutional monarchy, whereas Bolívar believed, at that time, in complete democracy. Possibly they disagreed on the terms by which the armies of Bolívar would be brought into Peru.
San Martín leaves South America for the last time
On 3rd August 1823 San Martín's wife died in Buenos Aires. On the 10th February 1824, displeased by the civil wars in the Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata, San Martín embarked for France with his little daughter, Mercedes. He first went with his daughter to England, then on to Brussels. To keep a neutral position during the 1830 Belgian Revolution, he moved to Paris, where he caught cholera. Cured but weakened, he bought a house and retired at Grand-Bourg, near Evry, but was once again disturbed by history.
In 1848, when the revolution started in Paris, he decided to move to London, but finally stopped in Boulogne-sur-Mer where he spent the remainder of his days, until his death on 17th August 1850. His last acts on Argentine soil were to accept a gift from the Governor of Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas, and his refusal to fight in the civil wars that tore the country apart.
In 1880 his remains were taken from Brunoy to Buenos Aires and re-interred in the Buenos Aires Cathedral.
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