For as long as there have been wars , there have been warriors who have receive a 2nd life on the field of battle . Bloodied , maimed , shot , cut undefended , stabbed — they are the 1 who should have perished , but who nevertheless managed to stick around live and keep crusade .
Then there ’s Galvarino , a warrior who not only overtake a brutal injury but who in reality used it to transform himself into something straight out of your worst nightmare .
Five hundred years ago , in what were the early years of South America ’s protracted Arauco War , an army of Spanish conquistadors rout several thousand Mapuche Indians in theBattle of Lagunillas , in south cardinal Chile near the Bio Bio River . The Spanish enamor 150 Mapuche captive , among them a young tribal chief named Galvarino , and march them back to the Spanish campsite . After a swift ( and no doubt impartial ) trial , Governor Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza , the Spanish loss leader , regularize scout troop to break up the right hand and nose of each warrior , and to cut off both handwriting of leader like Galvarino . The gruesome act would be a content to the Mapuche : Submit , or else .
agree to Mapuche legend , after Galvarino ’s left over hand was hacked off , he bravely offered up his rightfulness , and watched the tomahawk fall without quail . He then asked his torturer to render the violent death blow — a postulation that they declined .
Galvarino and the dozens of other maimed warrior were then free , and ordered to tell the Mapuche superior general Caupolicán to surrender and forbid further bloodshed . Galvarino did no such thing . Instead , he root on Caupolicán and his citizenry to continue to fight against the Spanish intruders . As described by Pedro Mariño de Lobera inChronicle of the Kingdom of Chile , Galvarino locomote before the Mapuche , handless arms raised in the air , and recount them that what had been done to him , the Spanish would do to everyone else if they gave up .
Such words , Lobera noted , " are often more effective to incite state of war than the hands of Hercules and the industriousness of the Caesars . " Caupolicán declared that the Mapuche would strike back against the Spaniards , and he bring up Galvarino as one of his commanders .
But what good would a handless fighter be against the opposition ? Very little , as Galvarino knew well . What he did next made him a legend . Before the next offensive , he fastened knife to both of his wrist . There ’s no track record of how big the knife were , or how sharp , though we ’d all no doubt like to imagine long , gleaming blade sprouting from his stumps . Historian Leslie Ray has consult to themas fizgig , and note , quite much , that the Mapuche must have had very efficacious cautery proficiency to even take into account Galvarino to attempt such a feat .
On November 30 , 1557 , less than a calendar month after his gaining control , Galvarino was on the frontline of what became get laid as the Battle of Millarapue . Theplanwas to ambush the Spanish encampment and overwhelm Mendoza before he could turn his artillery and horse on the warrior . But the Mapuche sprang their maw too quickly , and despite initial success at stymieing Mendoza ’s horse cavalry , the air force officer managed to hit the aboriginal attackers with shank fervidness , opening up a bed for his horseman to ride through and sow chaos . In all , three thousand Mapuche were vote down , compared to only minor injuries and scores of dead sawhorse on the Spanish side . There were also several hundred Mapuche captured , Galvarino among them .
There ’s little grounds relating Galvarino ’s carrying out during the struggle . Jeronimo de Vivar , a Spanish soldier who afterward wrote an account of the Arauco Wars titledCrónica(Chronicle ) , write that Galvarino motioned his warrior forwards with his bladed limb , yelling , “ Nobody is allow for to take flight but to die , because you die represent your mother country ! ” ( This , like so many other details about Galvarino , was no doubt given an extra flourish . ) Vivar also note that Galvarino went up against Mendoza ’s squadron and managed to cut down the full general ’s irregular in control .
After the battle , there would be no third probability for Galvarino . He and his men were doom to hang up . Alonso de Ercilla , a Spanish aide who would later write the epic poem “ La Araucana , ” arrogate that he attempt to intervene on Galvarino ’s behalf , entreating him to conjoin with the Spanish . To which Galvarino reportedly replied : “ I would rather die than live like you , and I ’m only sorry that my dying will keep me from tear you to pieces with my teeth . ” Some claim Mendoza flip Galvarino to the dogs , while others say he was hang . Still others conceive Galvarino killed himself first to hook his captors of the pleasure .
The Arauco War would preserve for nearly 300 class , with the Mapuche continuously resisting colonisation by the Spanish . The story of Galvarino was a rallying rallying cry for the Mapuche : “ Galvarino ’s story has serve perhaps more than any other to perpetuate the Mapuches ’ reputation for courage and tenacity,”Ray writesinLanguage of the Land : The Mapuche in Argentina and Chile . In 1825 , Chile declared independency from Spain , although resistance against thestate continues .
