Battle of Las Salinas

Date	April 26, 1538
Location	near Cuzco, present-day Peru
Result	Decisive victory for Nueva Castilla

Belligerents

Nueva Castilla

Nueva Toledo

Commanders and leaders

Gonzalo Pizarro
Hernando Pizarro
Alonso de Alvarado
Pedro de Valdivia

Diego de Almagro
Rodrigo Orgóñez †

Strength

700

500
6 guns

Casualties and losses

150 dead

The Battle of Las Salinas was a military conflict and decisive confrontation between the forces of Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro against those of rival conquistador Diego de Almagro, on April 26, 1538, during the Conquest of Peru. Both camps claimed to represent the authority of the Spanish Crown; Pizarro's forces controlled the province of Nueva Castilla, and those of Almagro, Nueva Toledo.

After an hour of carnage, the battle yielded a victory for Pizarro's forces: with Almagro captured and his lieutenant, Rodrigo Orgóñez killed on the field of battle, the Pizarros routed the enemy and took possession of Cuzco. Almagro was executed in July 1538.

The conflict between the Pizarro brothers and Almagro originated in a dispute over the possession of the city of Cuzco during the initial Spanish partition and administration of Peru. While Almagro controlled the city from 1537, both considered it under their jurisdiction. Almagro's enterprise had won him several earlier battles, but although he succeeded in taking the city by a coup de main, Pizarro's forces were by far the stronger in the region, leaving him with few options for its defence. Almagro, his fortunes on the wane, invalided by a debilitating disease, turned to Rodrigo Orgóñez to carry out the campaign.

Almagro's men made their first mistake by failing to secure the Guaitara pass guarding the approach to Cuzco; their enemy, braving the mountains, made a crossing and appeared in force along the coast. At a war council in Cuzco, Almagro even considered a new round of negotiations with the Pizarros; Orgóñez is said to have interrupted: "It is too late; you have liberated Hernando Pizarro, and nothing remains but to fight him."

Accordingly, Orgóñez marched his 500 men toward the ancient Indian salt mines of Cachipampa, situated about 5 km south of Cuzco. His choice of battlefield has been subject to criticism in that the broken terrain limited the use of his cavalry, which accounted for over half his force. The infantry, furthermore, was short on weapons and many armed themselves only with pikes. A battery of six falconet, on the other hand, gave him a marked advantage over his foes.

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Wikipedia