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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