especially of the blacks, as good omen for the cause of freedom." On the savage fury of the Afro-descendants and the desire to shoot the enemy, this eyewitness added: " I saw an old black man crying with rage when he realized that the officers protected those from their fury." General William Miller fought under San Martin’ s command and praised the constancy and courage of the black warriors in a letter dated on April 9, 1827( De Estrada, 1979, 86). According to historian Vicente Fidel López, San Martin ' s trusted physician was a negro from Lima who had escaped to Mendoza for political reasons. Tomás Guido, an intimate partner of San Martin, pointed out that this doctor misled the general to use opium in excess for their ailments. Another favorite of the Head of the Andean Army was a black cook with whom he liked to talk( Lanuza: 1967, 71-72). In his biographical study, Miter indicated that the freed blacks were the favorites for the independence hero among the combatants in Plumerillo. He proclaimed them and put himself at their level. San Martin warned them that if the royalists won, blacks would be enslaved again and sold for sugar in the Peruvian plantations. Enraged by such a warning, " with every bullet, with each bayonet and blow that they struck against their adversaries, in the fierceness of the fight, they repeated— full of anger and revenge— tomá pachuca( take this instead of sugar)" during the battle of Chacabuco. A month after this heroic battle and in memory of the efforts by the Afro combatants, San Martín exclaimed " poor blacks!" as he visited the ground where many soldiers from Battalion 8, composed by Cuyo’ s freedmen, laid buried.( Miter: 1950, 294, 339, De Estrada, 1979, 85-86).
Some " Bronze Faces " in the Andean Epic Deed
Lorenzo Barcala was born in Mendoza( 1795) and became an educated son of slaves brought from Africa. He was freed by the Assembly of the Year XIII. In 1815, he requested to join up the Civic Free-Colored Battalion in his province and wrote to its chief: " I am a poor unfortunate young person who has suffered much because of being a slave. I have been mortified without mercy. I want to enter the battalion to cross the Andes with the General Governor José de San Martín "( De Estrada: 1979, 27). However, his desire was not satisfied. San Martin ordered him to stay in the local garrison to instruct the new recruits who would be the reserve of the Andean Army. Barcala carried out this task so well that he was praised even by José María Paz, a man quite measured when it comes to compliment and congratulate. In Camp Plumerillo, he heard the Liberator saying:“ if the royalists win, the blacks would be sold as slaves”( De Estrada, 1979, 86, Lanuza, 1967, 71, 90-92). After joining the Grenadiers of Mendoza and rising the ranks during his engagements in the war against Brazil, the military campaign against the Indians and in the civil wars, " The Black Knight ", as Lanuza called him, found his death after a scuffle with Mendoza’ s caudillo, Friar Jose Felix Aldao, who apprehended him and ordered his execution on July 31, 1835. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento held Barcala in high esteem and praised him. Upon learning of his execution, he wrote: " Barcala, the virtuous Barcala, was shot by the friar "( De Estrada: 1979, 51). Before, he had pointed out: " Barcala felt the strength to be a gentleman and achieved it with an impeccable behavior "( Lanuza: 1967, 90). Among those who could join the Andean Army were an African dubbed as Batallón and Captain Andrés Ibáñez, both born in Africa in the late 19th century, as well as Sergeant José
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