Capture of Valdivia

3–4 February 1820, Corral Bay, Valdivia

Chilean victory; the forts of Valdivia taken

Valdivia was Spain's strongest fortress on the Pacific coast: fifteen forts and batteries round Corral Bay with about 110 guns. After his second failure at Callao, Cochrane decided to take it with almost nothing. He borrowed some 250 soldiers under Major Jorge Beauchef at Concepción, added 60 marines under William Miller, and sailed with O'Higgins, the brig Intrépido and the schooner Moctezuma. On the afternoon of 3 February the two small ships landed the troops at the Aguada del Inglés, on the western side of the bay. That night they took Fort Inglés from behind and then ran on from fort to fort, through San Carlos, Amargos and Chorocamayo, to the Castillo de Corral, where about 200 men surrendered after a stiff fight. The next morning the garrisons of Niebla and Mancera, across the bay, abandoned their forts, and the Spanish governor, Colonel Manuel Montoya, fell back on Chiloé. Some 310 attackers had beaten a garrison of about 1,600 men. Intrépido ran aground in the bay and was lost.