negro leader, Petion, then
acting-governor of Hayti, helped him in this enterprise, and strongly
advised him to proclaim the freedom of all slaves as the first step on
landing in his country. "For, how can you free your country," said Petion,
"if you don't free all the people in it?" Bolivar heeded his advice. With
six ships and one hundred and fifty men, he set out to reconquer Venezuela
from Spain. He landed at Margerita, where he had the good fortune to
capture several Spanish ships. With them he returned to Santo Domingo for
more men and ammunition. Petion furnished him with funds. Thus reinforced,
Bolivar made a dash for Barcelona in Venezuela. The end of the struggle was
at hand.

1817

[Sidenote: Return of Bolivar]

[Sidenote: General Piar shot]

[Sidenote: O'Higgins]

[Sidenote: San Martin]

Bolivar landed on the north coast of Venezuela on the first day of the new
year. His landing place, Barcelona, was a small town at the foot of the
Maritime Andes, so unprotected against attack that he resolved to leave it
at once. He marched his force in the direction of Santa Fe in New Granada,
hoping to push through to Peru. Marino and Piar, two insurgent leaders
operating in the south, joined forces with Bolivar, and brought 1,200
additional men. By the time their joint column had penetrated well into
Orinoco, the three leaders were at odds with each other. Piar tried to
incite revolt among his followers. Bolivar caused Piar to be seized, and
after a drum-head trial had him shot. In the meanwhile a Spanish force had
swooped down on Barcelona, and massacred the inhabitants. Things were at
this pass when the standard of revolt was once more raised in Chile by
Bernado O'Higgins. He was a natural son of Ambrosio, and had just returned
from school in England. At the time the supreme command of the
revolutionary forces was given to him this famous South American leader was
still a young man, as was his chief lieutenant, MacKenna. By his clever
handling of the campaigns that followed he won the title of "El Primer
Soldado del Nuevo Mundo"--the first soldier of America. It was still at the
outset of his career, in 1817, that help came to the Chileans from Buenos
Ayres across the Andes. The man who brought this aid was San Martin.

At Mendoza, on January 17, San Martin reviewed his little army of 5,000,
all Gaucho horsemen, as lightly clad and provisioned as the Indians of the
Pampas. The women of Mendoza presented