thousand five
hundred strong, freshly clothed and in fair fighting condition, was
gathered in a camp near the city. The artillery lost in the flight could
not be replaced, but a few field-pieces were secured. San Martin and
O'Higgins, with other able officers, were in command, and hope once more
began to dawn upon despair.

The enemy was known to be approaching, and the army was moved to a point
about nine miles from the capital, occupying a location known as the farm
of Espejo, where the coming enemy was awaited. On the afternoon of April
3, Osorio crossed the Maypo, the patriot cavalry harassing his flank and
rear as he advanced. On the 5th his army took up a position on the brow of
a hill opposite that occupied by the patriot forces.

Passing out from Santiago there is a succession of white hills, known as
the Lorna Blanca, on one crest of which, commanding the roads to the fords
of the Maypo and to Santiago, the patriot army was encamped. The royalists
occupied the crest and slope of an opposite ridge. Below them ran the
Maypo with its forests and hills.

As the sun rose on the morning of the 5th San Martin saw with satisfaction
the royalist force beginning to occupy the high ground in his front. With
hopeful tone, he said, "I take the sun to witness that the day is ours."
As he spoke, the golden rays spread like a banner of light from crest to
crest. At ten o'clock when the movement of the armies began, he said, with
assurance, "A half-hour will decide the fate of Chili."

A few words will serve to describe the positions of the armies. Each was
more than five thousand strong, the patriot army somewhat the smaller. It
had been greatly reduced by its recent defeat, the memory of which also
hung about it like a cloud, while the royalists were filled with
enthusiasm from their late victory. The royalist lines were about a mile
in length, four squadrons of dragoons flanking their right wing and a body
of lancers their left, while a battery occupied a hill on the extreme
left. Confronting them were the patriots, the left commanded by General
Alverado, the centre by Balcarce, the right by Las Heras, while Quintana
headed the reserves.

The battle opened with a brisk fire from the patriot artillery, and in
about an hour the infantry forces joined in full action. As the royalists
moved down the hill they were swept with the fire of the patriot battery,
while shortly afterwards the royal battery on the left was captured