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1572 - The Vilcabamba campaign The Spaniards enter the Vilcabamba valley Whilst assembling his forces, Toledo sent an advance contingent under Juan Alvárez Maldonado to rebuild the bridge at Chuquichaca and hold it until the main expedition arrived. The Vilcabamba natives soon realised what was happening and began anxious preparations for the defence of their homeland. Toledo's force of 250 Spaniards, 2,000 native warriors and 700 native porters left Cuzco during May 1572. Most of the experienced conquistadors were now old men and the younger men had little experience of fighting Indians. Smaller contingents of Spaniards separated from the main force and entered the Vilcabamba valley by circuitous routes, hoping to cut off the Inca's escape routes. After crossing the bridge at Chuquichaca, the Spanish forces advanced with difficulty through the dense jungle. The natives waited until the Spanish were in a bad, steep passage before launching their first attack. "The location was very favourable to the Indians, for their enemies could only march in single file as the path was very narrow" "They threw themselves into the mouths of the arquebuses, unafraid of the harm these could do them, simply to come to grips". Both sides suffered losses during the ensuing battle before the Indians eventually retreated. The battle for Huayna Pucará  The Spaniards continued their advance, seizing
the town of Vitcos and much food to replenish their supplies.
The natives retreated further into the jungle, towards the city
of Vilcabamba, hoping that the Spaniards would give up their
pursuit as in previous expeditions. But the attackers were determined
to capture the Inca this time and advanced to the pass of Chuquillusca,
where Manco Inca had almost destroyed Gonzalo Pizarro's forces
some 33 years previously. Tupac Amaru's forces missed an opportunity
to repeat the success of that attack, though they continued to
harass the Spaniards on their march, "making a great noise, shouting and firing arrows and boulders in each difficult place".The Spaniards' situation improved after Chuquillusca when an Inca captain named Puma Inca defected to the Spanish side. This traitor told the Spaniards about "a fort called Huayna Pucará, made a sketch of it, and showed how it could be taken without danger to the Spaniards"."For [three miles] before the fort, the Inca's Indians had fortified some narrow defiles with many boulders, and had built the fort itself on a knife-edge ridge at the far end...". For a distance in front of the fort "they had placed many palm stakes painted with [poisonous] herbs, with a single narrow entrance through which only one man at a time could enter the fort". The Spaniards were able to use Puma Inca's information to scale the valley sides and capture the supply of boulders. The natives were forced to retreat into the fort and "defended it for a while with spirit and bravery". "When the artillery fire began, and seeing that the heights had been taken from them... [the Indians] abandoned the fort". |
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