Army+of+the+Andes+By+Emma+Hall

The army of the Andes started on January of 1817. Jose de San Martin was an Argentine general that helped free Chile from the Spanish empire. General Raphael Maroto led the Spanish army in the battle. The crossing of the Andes mountains took 21 days. Jose de San martin crossed 500 kilometers of mountain range. He split his army of about 3500 in 4 columns. The 2 major ones were led by Miguel Estanisiao Soler and Bernardo O' Higgins. The second one was led by Joan Las Heras. Then he lost 1/3 of his army because of damage blown to his troop. The design of the plan was made by Thomas Maitland. That's when Jose de San martin led it. The Chileans fled to Mendoza because of the new royalist government who was Spanish. They started to make cannons and gunpowder to go into war. The Chileans had special people to carry there food, they ate mostly meat and onions, but sometimes ate maize cakes, brandy, and garlic. The problem with this plan was to coordinate the passages across the Andes. They both ended up in Chile territory around February 6-8 of 1817. On February 12 they met the Spanish army in Chacabuco. Jose army surrounded the Spanish and attacked them. Leaving Chile with a victory. This is important today because it declared Chile independent. The Spanish couldn't stick them into Spanish colonial rule anymore. In Argentina they have a memorial to the army of the Andes also called The Cerro de la Gloria. This is located in General San Martin Park.