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When complimented upon his victory at Carabobo, Bolivar remarked: "Let us not be dazzled by the victories Fate gives us; let us prepare ourselves for greater struggles; let us employ all the resource our good or bad condition, based on the principle that nothing is accomplished when there is something more to do; and we have much still to do."
The Battle of Carabobo proved one of the most decisive of the campaign. Its conclusion marked the end of the Spanish occupation of the north. Bolivar had now cleared his own country of the Spaniards, and was free to turn his attention to Peru. In the south-east of the Continent the struggle for liberty was far less prolonged than that in the districts of the centre, west, and north.
He was the best personification of his own race, the Spanish race, which made him the brother of Morillo, Latorre and Rodil, a race which lives in twenty nations of the earth and in whose memory all names now stand equal, if they represent the same principles, whether they were written in Covadonga or Carabobo, by the sword of Pelayo or by the sword of Bolivar.
How many of the thousands who were wont to pass the stout old soldier, with his seamed forehead and gray moustache, as he enjoyed his quiet stroll down Broadway, thought of him as the lad of Araure, the horseman of Barinas, terror of the Spaniard, victor of Carabobo, and President of Venezuela?
In this battle, a very decisive role was played by the British legion, and by the brave llaneros commanded by Paez. As the battle of Boyaca practically secured the independence of Nueva Granada, the battle of Carabobo secured the independence of Venezuela.
We may well remember the honors paid to Girardot, his beautiful words in homage to Cedeno and Plaza, how Paez received his dues after the battle of Carabobo, and how Sucre was given his right place as one of the most legitimate glories of the continent by Bolivar. Speaking of Anzoategui's death, he said: "I would have preferred the loss of two battles to the loss of Anzoategui."
He asked to be recalled, and was succeeded by D. Manuel de Latorre, of whom we have already made mention. Transfer of the command was effected on the fourteenth of December, 1820. The Second Battle of Carabobo. Ambitions and Rewards. Bolivar's Disinterestedness. American Unity
His measure of reprisal in this case can be considered as ferocious only by contrast with his previous clemency. The Heroic Death of Ricaurte. Victory of Carabobo and Defeat of La Puerta Boves had retreated from La Victoria, but after reorganizing his army he was again ready to attack. Bolivar had very few men, for the country was nearly exhausted.
This first battle of Carabobo, fought on the 28th of May, was one of the swiftest and most complete victories of the Liberator. Three hours were enough to destroy the royalist army and to force its commander to flee to the southwest with some of his men.
Boyaca and Carabobo were up to that moment the greatest titles of glory for Bolivar, but his work was not completed, and America had still more and brighter glory in store for him. He, in his vigorous style, described the battle in a communication to the Congress, in which he said, among other things: "Yesterday the political birth of the Republic of Colombia was confirmed by a splendid victory."
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