853 / 1060
BooK
V.
Royal
Commentaries.
'fohn de .Acofta
was jull: ready
to
m~ke
an
~toempt
ofSurprife upon the Enemy,news.
was brought, that one of
Centeno
s
Sould1ers was fled
~o
the
oth~r
Party;
whereby
fearing
that
the delign was di(covered , th.at_
re
foluuo~
was
.laid afide ,
much
~o
che fatisfaCl:ion of
Pi9tr.rro,
who was of opm1on
th.at~IS
advantage_
was
greater_
m
a
full
engagement
with
the whole Body, than to kmm!h and fight
m
frnaU parties:
and
thus much
Gomara
confirms,
and
fays,
that
Piyarra
told
Acofta,
that
there
was
no need
to
adventure his perfon where the Victory
was
fecure
and
already
certain. And indeed rhe confidence of
Pi
y11rro
and his Officers was grounded on
a
belief that every individual Souldier would fight as valiantly as themfelves,
which
~ertainly,
if they had, it would have gained them the Victory: but cheir
errour foon appeared
j
for:
oeither did thofe who were reputed valiant, fight like
fuch, nor men of lefs efl:eem iliew themfelves cowards.
The Advice which the Souldier brought who fled from
Pifttrro,
that
{ohn
de
.A.–
cofta
was defigning. to furprize them and beat up their quarters ; caufed
the Prefi–
dent to draw out his men and put thein into array, in
which
poftur they conti..
nued the whole night, and endured fo much cold, (as the Hifl:orians
Gomara
and
Carate
write ) that they were not able
to
hold their weapons in
their
hands.
But
fo
foon
as it
was day, being the ninth
of
Ay,-il
1548.
the King's Army drew
farther
our into the open field, and into
a
larger quatcer than the night before.
The
Infantry were all joined in a Body condueted by their refpe&ive Captains, an<il
fupported on each hand with wings of Mufquetiers ; and flanked on the left with
two hundred Horfe, whofe Captains .were
Diego
de
Mora,
[ahn de
Saavedra,. Rodri–
go
de
Sal~ar
and
Francifco
Hernande:G
Giron;
w
homCar
ate
calls
Aldana :
on
the
right
were the Captains
Gome:G
de
Alvarado
,
Don
Petl.roCahrera,
and
Alonfp
MercadiJlo,
with
other two hundred Horfe appointed to defend the Royal Standard, which
was carried by the
Licenciado
C4n1ajal
,
in
the
fame rank with thefe Captains.
On the right hand of thefe (
at
fome dillance from them ) Captain
filoefo de
'Mendofa
and
Diego de Centeno
were ranked
withfixty
Horfe under their command,
all whlch, or the greatefi part of chem, confified of thofe who efcaped from the
Battel of
Huarina;
who would have no other Captain than
Mendofa,
becaufe he
bad been their Companion
and
fellow Souldier in
all
_their travels
ana
fufferings :
and thefe drew
up
near the River to fuccoui_and receive fuch
as
fhou!d tevolt
over to their Party; for they expeeted many to fly over to them from all quar–
ters of the Army; and on thls quarter efpecially there appeared mofi difficulcy
and danger. Captain
Graviel de
RojJU
was indufl:rioufly employed
in
planting his
Cannon in the field, which he with much labour performed by reafon of the
Rocks and ruggednefs of the way. The General
Pedro
de
Hinojofa,
the Lieute–
nant General
./:flonfo
de .Alvarado,
and the Serjeant Major
Pedro de Villa-vicencio,
and the Governour
Pedro
de
Valdivia,
difpofed the other Troops and Companies
in
their due Places.
In
the Rere of all was
the
Prefident with three Bifhops,
vi:i.
of
Coz:.co,
of
~itu
and
Lo.r
Reyes,
with the principal perfons of the Order of
Preachers, and Friars of the Order of our Lady of
M erced,
with a very great
number ofChurch-men and Friars, who followed the Camp; for guard of whom
a
Parcy
of
fifcy Horfe were appointed, and to defend them
in
ca[e any
misfor–
tune fhould happen.
:
,
...
XXXVo
the Succefs of
the
Batte! of
Sackfahua
total defeat
of
Gon<Salo
Pi~rro.
,
io
the.
time
of
the
.. "'.
f
...
I.
•
•
.
I
•
•
•
$
0 f
oon as
it
yvas
d~y.
Gonfalo
Pif~rro
co.mmanded
th~ ~o
·beat
a
march ,
and
dre~
out his
men
mto the Plain which
lyes
be
een ,.the . River and
tne
Mounta1~: ~e
alfo commanded a Plat-form to
be
raifed and the Cannon moun-–
ted.
It
IS
~aid ~lfo,
by
Gomara,
that he committed the charge of d(awing up the
Army
to
L1cenciado Cepeda,
becaufe
that
Carvajal
was
fo
al)gry and difpleafed that
.....
-
.
his
•