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Gasca, by promising that the obnoxious laws concerning the Indians should be repealed, and adroitly pointing out that those who adhered to Gonzalo were, in effect, in rebellion against their sovereign, had so undermined the allegiance of his men that Gonzalo, who had marched to the Valley of Xaquixaguana, found himself deserted on the eve of the battle by all but a handful of faithful retainers.
The golden opportunity was irrecoverably lost; and the disconsolate cavalier rode back in all haste to report the failure of his enterprise to his commander in Cuzco.18 The only question now to be decided was as to the spot where Gonzalo 'Pizarro should give battle to his enemies. He determined at once to abandon the capital, and wait for his opponents in the neighboring valley of Xaquixaguana.
No event of importance occurred on the road, and Pizarro, having effected a junction with Almagro, their united forces soon entered the vale of Xaquixaguana, about five leagues from Cuzco. This was one of those bright spots, so often found embosomed amidst the Andes, the more beautiful from contrast with the savage character of the scenery around it.
On a general muster and review of the army, it was found to consist of seven hundred musqueteers, five hundred pikemen, and four hundred cavalry. Afterwards, on arriving at Xaquixaguana on the march towards Cuzco, it was augmented to nineteen hundred men, by the junction of several other detachments, forming the largest and best appointed array hitherto seen in Peru.
These pardons referred to all public crimes of which they had been guilty during the rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro, yet leaving them liable to answer in civil actions for every thing respecting their conduct to individuals. This battle of Xaquixaguana, which will be long famous in Peru, was fought on Monday the 9th of April 1548.
On it was placed a label, bearing,"This is the head of the traitor Gonzalo Pizarro, who rebelled in Peru against his sovereign, and battled in the cause of tyranny and treason against the royal standard in the valley of Xaquixaguana." 14 His large estates, including the rich mines in Potosi, were confiscated; his mansion in Lima was razed to the ground, the place strewed with salt, and a stone pillar set up, with an inscription interdicting any one from building on a spot which had been profaned by the residence of a traitor.
Without further apprehensions for the event, he resolved to remain in Cuzco, and there quietly await the hour when a last appeal to arms should decide which of the two was to remain master of Peru. Dismay In Gasca's Camp His Winter Quarters Resumes His March Crosses The Apurimac Pizarro's Conduct In Cuzco He Encamps Near The City Rout Of Xaquixaguana
When it was known at Cuzco that the president had crossed the river Apurimac with all his army, and had taken possession of the pass in the high mountain, Gonzalo Pizarro immediately marched out from that city with his army and encamped at Xaquixaguana, about five leagues from Cuzco, in a plain through which the road passed by which the royalists would have to march on their way from the mountain towards Cuzco.
"The head of Gonzalo Pizarro, a traitor and rebel, who revolted against the royal authority in Peru, and presumed to give battle to the army under the royal standard in the valley of Xaquixaguana."
It was the fortune of war.38 Thus terminated the battle, or rather rout, of Xaquixaguana.
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