The _Pastusos_ (inhabitants of the province of Pasto) had
here taken up a strong position, supported by the Spanish troops. They
were vigorously attacked; but every charge made in front was repulsed. It
was not until the rifle battalion, commanded by the able Colonel Sands,
outflanked the _Pastusos_, that victory declared for Bolivar; but his
army had suffered so severely, that, instead of immediately following up
the fugitives through a hostile country, it fell back a short distance.
Whilst these operations were going on, Sucre liberated the provinces of
Loja and Cuenca, and, on the 24th of May, gained the victory of
Pinchincha, which gave independence to Quito. In the same year Carthagena
and Cumana, surrendered to the liberating forces in Venezuela.
The liberator entered Quito on the 16th of June. His attention was soon
attracted to the discontents which had arisen at Guayaquil, where the
Colombians had become unpopular. His excellency proceeded to that town,
and, under his auspices, the provisional government annexed the province
to Colombia.
One of the results of the interview which took place between the
protector of Peru and the liberator of Colombia was the sending of an
auxiliary force of two thousand Colombians to Lima; but the junta, which
proceeded to the protectorate, ordered the Colombian troops to return to
Guayaquil. The president Riva Aguero, who succeeded to the junta, applied
for an auxiliary Colombian division of six thousand men, and invited
Bolivar to take the command of all the military forces in Peru.
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