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| Battle of Mataquito | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theArauco War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Spanish Empire |  Mapuche | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Francisco de Villagra | Lautaro † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 120 Spanish soldiers[2] and a number ofindios amigos[3] | 700 Mapuche and 500 allied warriors,[4] from the provinces of "Itata, Nuble and Renoguelen"[5][non-primary source needed][non-primary source needed] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 Spaniard, over half of the indios amigos | 250 – 500 Mapuche[6] | ||||||
TheBattle of Mataquito was fought in theArauco War on April 30, 1557, between the forces of theSpanish governor,Francisco de Villagra, andMapuche headed by theirtoquiLautaro. It was a surprise attack, carried out at dawn, on Lautaro's fortified camp between a wooded mountain and the shore of theMataquito River.[7] The battle is notable for ending Mapuche designs onSantiago, while also avenging the death of former governorPedro de Valdivia, who had beenkilled by Lautaro's warriors four years earlier.
In early 1557, following the defeat and retreat of Lautaro after theBattle of Peteroa, Francisco de Villagra felt strong enough to gather a strong force of soldiers and march south to aid the remaining cities against the Mapuche besetting them. Discovering that the city of Santiago was now relatively unprotected, Lautaro evaded the army of Villagra, letting them pass to the south. He soon marched again on Santiago, gathering a new army of 6,000 men joined by allies under Panigualgo,[8] raising its strength to 10,000 men.[9][non-primary source needed][non-primary source needed] However once the army reached the banks of the Mataquito River, Lautaro's treatment of the local Indians in a manner similar to that of the Spaniards had created many enemies, and after a quarrel with his ally over this mistreatment, most of the allies and many of the Mapuche refused to follow him. He moved over a league up river fromLora and established himself in a fortified camp[10] in a place called Mataquito.[11][non-primary source needed][non-primary source needed]
Villagra became aware that the location of the camp had been betrayed by local Indians previously abused by Lautaro. Villagra sent word toJuan Godíñez near Santiago to meet him as he hurriedly returned from the south with seventy men. The Spanish forces met at a location in the province ofGualemo threeleagues from Lautaro's camp,[12] without Lautaro being warned by the local Indians. The unified force of Francisco de Villagra and Juan Godíñez came to 120 men, with 57 horsemen (includingPedro Mariño de Lobera), fivearcabuzeros, and more than four hundredyanakuna, made a surprise night march over thehills of Caune, to the one overlooking Lautaro's camp, on the shore of the Mataquito River. Villagra sent a body of Spanish infantry (including Alonso López de la Eaigada) with arquebus or swords and shields into the carrizal under Gabriel de Villagra.[10][13]
At dawn Villagra made his surprise attack on the camp. The infantry burst into the fortress while Juan Godíñez and Villagra led the charge of the cavalry down the hill against the fortress with their Indian allies in advance.[14] In the beginning of the battle they killed Lautaro, coming out of the doorway of hisruca.[10] When the Spaniards shouted Lautaro was dead, the allied warriors from Itata, Ñuble, and Renoguelen fled any way they could,[15] leaving only Lautaro's Mapuche fighting a six-hour battle, putting up a stubborn resistance despite the death of their leader. At the end of the battle Lautaro and from 250 to 500 Mapuche[14] were killed, while the Spaniards lostJuan de Villagra and over half of their yanacona killed or wounded along with many of the Spaniards' horses. Lautaro's head was then taken and displayed in the main plaza of Santiago.
Of these sources Pedro Mariño de Lobera and Alonso López de la Eaigada participated in the battle. While Jerónimo de Vivar and Alonso de Góngora Marmolejo were both living in Chile at the time, Vivar was in Santiago compiling his history, Marmolejo was in the south. Diego de Rosales wrote about one hundred years after the battle, Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche over two hundred years later.
35°04′05″S71°38′19″W / 35.06806°S 71.63861°W /-35.06806; -71.63861
