Ferdinand Pizarro Offered To Admit Almagro And His Troops Into Cuzco, And
To Assign Them A Particular Quarter Of The
City for their residence, if he
would agree to defer the dispute about the boundaries, till intelligence
were sent to
The governor Don Francisco Pizarro, then at Lima, that he
might have it in his power to endeavour to fall upon some means of
settling the difference between them in an amicable manner. It has been
said by some, that a truce was agreed upon between them on these
principles; and that on the faith of this truce, Ferdinand Pizarro allowed
all the soldiers and inhabitants to retire to their quarters for rest and
refreshment, after their long fatigues, having spent several days and
nights continually under arms, without time to sleep or even to take
proper food. It is farther said, that Almagro, being informed of this
circumstance, made a night attack on Cuzco, in which he was aided by a
thick mist, so that he got possession of the defences without being
observed. Ferdinand and Gonzalo Pizarro, awakened by the noise, flew to
arms and defended their house, which was the first attacked, with the
assistance of their servants; but as the enemy set it on fire in several
places, they were forced to surrender. Next day, Almagro obliged the
Cabildo to receive him as governor, and committed Ferdinand and Gonzalo
Pizarro to prison. Several of his confidents even urged him to secure his
conquest by putting the Pizarros to death; but he was chiefly dissuaded
from this by the influence of Diego de Alvarado, who became responsible
for them.
It has been said that Almagro violated the truce which he had agreed to
with Ferdinand Pizarro, in consequence of the false representations of
several Indians and Spaniards, who told him that Ferdinand had ordered all
the bridges to be broken down, and was employed in fortifying Cuzco
against him. In proof of this, it is alleged that when Almagro was
advancing to attack the city, and saw the bridges remained uninjured, he
said aloud that he had been imposed on. The governor Don Francisco Pizarro
did not receive any account of these events at Cuzco for a good many days
afterwards. As the Inca Manco Capac had fled with a large body of Peruvian
warriors to the high mountains of the Andes, Almagro invested his brother
the _Inca Paul_[7] with the royal fringed fillet, appointing him nominal
king of Peru.
Among those things which Don Francisco Pizarro had solicited from his
majesty in reward for his services in the discovery and conquest of Peru,
he particularly requested the grant in perpetuity to him and his
descendants of twenty thousand Indians in a province named _Atabillos_[8],
with all the revenues, imposts, rights, and jurisdictions appertaining to
them, together with the title of Marquis of that province. The king gave
him the title of Marquis according to his desire; but in regard to the
grant of Indians which he solicited, answered, that he must in the first
place be better informed of the nature and circumstances of the country
and its native institutions, before he could determine on that measure,
but that Pizarro might rest assured of having every reasonable concession
in his favour.
On receiving information of the insurrection of the Peruvians around Cuzco
under Manco Capac, Francisco Pizarro, now Marquis, sent several
detachments of troops to the assistance of his brother Ferdinand at Cuzco,
sometimes ten or fifteen only together, according as circumstances or
convenience occurred, not believing the state of affairs to be so
hazardous as it was in reality[9]. The Peruvians having accurate
information of the march of these detachments, occupied the difficult
passes of the mountains with parties of warriors, and succeeded on several
occasions to defeat these small bodies, most of whom were slain. One
considerable reinforcement of seventy horsemen, was sent by the Marquis
from Truxillo and San Miguel under the command of Diego Pizarro, who was
waylaid by the Peruvians at a difficult pass called the mountain of Parios,
about fifty leagues from Cuzco, where he and his men were all slain. One
Gonzalo de Tapia, who was brother-in-law to the Marquis, who went with a
body of eighty horsemen, was likewise defeated and slain; and two other
captains, named Morgoveio and Gaete, while endeavouring to pass the
mountains to the relief of Cuzco, were treated in the same manner. Of all
these different detachments, scarcely one man escaped, so that those who
followed knew nothing of what happened to those who went before them. The
enemy always attacked the Spaniards while engaged in marching through some
deep and narrow valley among the mountains, occupying both ends of the
valley by strong bodies of warriors, and rolling down great stones and
masses of rock from the steep and high mountains on both sides of the
valley, destroyed our men and horses in a miserable manner, often without
fighting. In this way they at different times destroyed more than three
hundred soldiers, and made themselves masters of their arms, besides
acquiring considerable and valuable plunder in gold and jewels and silk
dresses. Not knowing the fate of the former detachments, Francisco de
Godoy was sent with a reinforcement of eighty men; but falling in with two
of those who had belonged to the detachment under Gaete, who had escaped,
he learnt from them what had happened, on which he immediately endeavoured
to retreat from the mountain passes, in which he had considerable
difficulty, as the Indians had already occupied the defiles in his rear.
He made good his retreat however, followed and harassed by the Indians for
more than twenty leagues, sometimes attacking him in the rear and at other
times in the van, and at length got safe to Lima with much difficulty.
About the same time the captain Diego de Aguero arrived at that place with
some other Spaniards, who had saved themselves from the Indians, who had
endeavoured to massacre them at their country residences.
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