Mr. Buck to Mr. Bayard.
Lima, Peru, October 17, 1885. (Received November 16.)
Sir: News comes from the north of heavy fighting at Cajamarca. On the 7th instant Romero Florez with a force stated as numbering about eighteen hundred men attacked that place. The prefect, Augustine Marsevo, reports that after seven hours of fighting, in which the inhabitants of the city united with the Government forces to repel Romero, that that revolutionary chieftain was repulsed and disastrously defeated.
Cajamarca is an important city high up in the mountains, about 100 miles from the coast, and is the capital of the department of the same name. It was the home of President Iglesias, and there was organized the present Government of Peru.
News of the battle seems to have come by way of San Pedro to Truxillo, and from there here. The President has issued a proclamation, felicitating the Cajamarcañas and the country upon the conduct of his townsmen and the victory gained.
I advised you in my No 42, of October 10, that Romero was thought to be moving toward Cajamarca, with the ultimate purpose, perhaps, of joining General Cáceres in the valley of the Jauja. If this was the proposed plan the result of the fight at Cajamarca must, I should think, curtail seriously Cáceres’s hopes of getting to get her near Tarma large reinforcements. It is given out in the papers that he has lost heavily on his march from Canta over the Cordilleras; and from what I can gather the forces which can be drawn to him under Colonel Ibarra from the south, from Arequipa, Cuzco, and all other points en route, can hardly exceed from five to seven hundred men.
[Page 624]General Lorenzo Iglesias, brother of the President, who was in command of the forces of the center which occupied Canta, died on the 15th instant at Charcera Huanchullo, on his way back to Lima, where he was returning on account of sickness. Colonel Relaygo has been announced as successor to General Iglesias. There is a report, which is indorsed from a source worthy of some consideration, that General Echencique the minister of war, is to assume command of the army, but whether it is true remains to be seen.
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