Don Diego Wished To Gain Possession Of Guamanga Before Giving Battle, And Entertained No Doubt Of Being Victorious, Trusting To His Great Superiority In Artillery Over The Royalist Army.

When the two armies were so near that the advanced guards were within musket shot, the governor detached Captain Castro with fifty musqueteers to skirmish with the enemy, while the rest of his troops marched up the slope of a hill on purpose to intercept the march of the rebels.

This movement was liable to considerable danger, as Don Diego might have done the royalists much damage by means of his artillery if he had taken advantage of the nature of the ground in proper time; for during this conversion, the royalist infantry were often obliged to halt to recover their order, which was much deranged by the difficulty of the ground. When Carvajal the serjeant-major observed this circumstance, he ordered all the troops to gain the height as quickly as possible without preserving any precise order of march, and to form again when they were arrived at the summit. They accordingly got all up, while Captain Castro and his musqueteers were skirmishing with the troops of Don Diego; who likewise continued his march, and drew up in order of battle.

After the royal army had been marshalled in good order by the serjeant-major, the governor made them a speech, in which he exhorted them to recollect that they were loyal Spaniards who were fighting in the just cause of their sovereign.

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