The treachery of an
officer delivered the citadel of Puerto Cabello into the hands of some
Spanish prisoners who were there confined, and in June, 1812, Colonel
Bolivar was compelled to evacuate the town with all his force. While
Monteverde lorded it over his country, he took refuge in the neighboring
islands, and afterwards in New Granada, where he conceived the daring
project which freed Venezuela, and has perpetuated, with his name, the
simple but expressive title: Liberator, _Libertador_.
It is not our purpose here to follow the intrepid partisan in his
descent, with six hundred New Granadian adherents, from the Andes, upon
the astounded Spaniards. We cannot follow him, nor the generals whom
he created, in their marvellous marches, and still more marvellous
triumphs, during many succeeding years. Suffice it to say, that he
fell like a thunderbolt from a sunny sky upon the confident Royalist
troops,--that he defeated and routed them time after time, broke, with
his terrible lancers, upon encampments which believed him a hundred
miles away, and drove the Royal commanders, with varying success, from
one point to another of Venezuela. His watchword was, _Guerra a la
muerte_, "War unto death!" Every battle-ground became a shamble, every
flight a butchery. The system was inaugurated by his antagonists, who
cruelly slew eight Patriot officers, and eight citizens of Barinas,
shortly after the commencement of hostilities, under circumstances of
peculiar barbarity.
Pages:
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120