It was little more than the skeleton of an army that at length
reached the beautiful valley of Sagamoso, in the heart of the province of
Tunja, on the 6th of July, 1819. Resting at this point, Bolivar sent back
assistance to the stragglers who still lingered on the road, and
despatched parties to collect horses and communicate with the few
guerillas who roamed about that region.

Barreiro, the Spanish commander, held the Tunja province with two thousand
infantry and four hundred horse. There was also a reserve of one thousand
troops at Bogota, the capital, and detachments elsewhere, while there was
another royalist army at Quito. Bolivar trusted to surprise and to the
support of the people to overcome these odds, and he succeeded in the
first, for Barreiro was ignorant of his arrival, and supposed the passage
of the Cordillera impossible at that season of the year.

He was soon aware, however, that the patriots had achieved this impossible
thing and were in his close vicinity, and with all haste collected his
forces and took possession of the heights above the plain of Vargas. By
this movement he interposed between the patriots and the town of Tunja,
which, as attached to the cause of liberty, Bolivar was anxious to occupy.
It was not long, therefore, before the opposing armies met, and a battle
took place that lasted five hours. The patriots won, chiefly by the aid of
the English infantry, led by Colonel James Rooke, who had the misfortune
to lose an arm in the engagement.

[Illustration: BRIDGE ENTERING QUITO.]

BRIDGE ENTERING QUITO.

The victory was by no means a decisive one, and the road to Tunja remained
in the hands of the royalists. Instead of again attacking his intrenched
foe, Bolivar now employed strategy, retreating during the day, then making
a rapid countermarch at night, thus passing Barreiro's forces in the dark
over by-roads. On the 5th of August Tunja fell into his hands. He found
there an abundance of war material, and by holding it he cut off
Barreiro's communication with Bogota.

The strength of Bolivar's generalship lay in rapid and unexpected
movements like this. The Spanish leaders, bound in the shackles of
military routine, were astonished and dismayed by the forced marches of
their enemies over roads that seemed unfit for the passage of an army.
While they were manoeuvring, calculating, hesitating, guarding the
customary avenues of approach,