Battle of Miraflores

Date	January 15, 1881
Location	Miraflores District, Peru
Result	Decisive Chilean victory

Belligerents

Chile

Peru

Commanders and leaders

Manuel Baquedano

Patricio Lynch

Emilio Sotomayor Baeza

Pedro Lagos

Nicolás de Piérola

Andrés Avelino Cáceres

Belisario Suárez

Justo Pastor Dávila

Strength

~ 10,000 - 13,000 soldiers
88 cannons

~ 10,500 - 11.000 soldiers & civilians

Casualties and losses

500 casualties

2,000 casualties

The Battle of Miraflores occurred on January 15, 1881 in the Miraflores District of Lima, Peru. It was an important battle during the War of the Pacific that was fought between Chile and the forces of Peru. The Chilean army led by Gen. Manuel Baquedano defeated the army commanded by Nicolás de Piérola guarding the second defensive line of the Peruvian capital city. Two days later, Lima, the capital city of Peru was occupied by Chilean troops. Gen. Baquedano's forces marched into Lima triumphant, while Peru's president and his officers fled into the interior, leaving the country without any government. Even after the fall of Lima, the war continued between the occupation army and the troops of Andres Caceres for another three years. During the occupation of Lima, Peru's National Library was burned, while a number of other monuments were ransacked by Chilean forces and taken as war trophies.

During the battle, Peruvian naval officer Captain Juan Fanning became a national hero for leading a spectacular infantry charge of marines that nearly outflanked the enemy. Fanning's brigade caused some Chilean casualties until running out of ammunition, then continued to fight with knife and bayonet until Fanning was mortally wounded. 400 of Fanning's 524 men were killed during the charge.

After the Chilean victory at Chorrillos, a truce was declared between both sides while peace conversations took place. The Chilean objective was to obtain an unconditional capitulation and avoid another battle before entering Lima. To that end, General Baquedano held talks with Nicolás de Piérola and mediators Spencer St John of England, Jorge Tezanos Pinto of El Salvador and M. de Vorges of France. The failure of these peace talks led to the second battle for control of Lima.

During the peace conversations, Pierola arranged his army on the second defensive line of Miraflores. The defenses were arranged in a similar way to those at Chorrillos two days earlier. A 12 km. line extended from the beach at Miraflores until Surco River, formed by 10 strongholds about 900 m apart.

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