Battle of Río Bueno (1654)

Renewed Cunco-Spanish conflict Governor of Chile Antonio de Acuña Cabrera arranged the Parliament of Boroa in January 1651. With this parliament, peace was established between the Spanish and the northern Mapuches. On 21 March 1651, the Spanish ship San José was sailing to the newly re-established Spanish city of Valdivia when it was pushed by storms onto coasts inhabited by the Cuncos, a southern Mapuche tribe. There, the ship ran aground and while most of the crew managed to survive the wreck, nearby Cuncos killed them and took possession of the valuable cargo. The Spanish made fruitless efforts to recover anything left in the wreck. Governor Acuña Cabrera was temporarily dissuaded from sending a punitive expedition from Boroa by Jesuit fathers Diego de Rosales and Juan de Moscoso who argued that the murders were committed by a few Indians and warned the governor that renewing warfare would dissipate the gains obtained at Boroa. Governor of Valdivia advanced south with his forces but soon found that tribes he expected to join him as allies were indifferent and even misled him with false rumours. His troops ran out of supplies and had to return to Valdivia. of Chile, were dissatisfied with the results. It was thought to be a lucrative slave raiding expedition. Mapuches "rebels" were considered Christian apostates and could therefore be enslaved according to the church teachings of the day. In reality these legal changes only formalized Mapuche slavery that was already occurring at the time, with captured Mapuches being treated as property in the way that they were bought and sold among the Spanish. Legalisation made Spanish slave raiding increasingly common in the Arauco War. To reinforce the expeditionary army, Acuña Cabrera attempted first to revive a practice of military service for local encomenderos; however, the encomenderos refused to obey the order. Acuña Cabrera ignored this insubordination and proceeded instead to boost the expedition with the purchase of 400 horses in Santiago. ==Battle==

The Spanish expedition started from the fort of Nacimento in La Frontera with a force of 900 soldiers and 1500 Indian auxiliaries. Local Mapuche-Huilliches had been warned in advance of the Spanish advance south, so they concentrated in large numbers on the opposite shore of the river. The Mapuche-Huilliche had brought women and children with them, but they remained hidden in the forest, as did also most of the men, only the ones on horseback revealing themselves to the Spanish. In total, Mapuche-Huilliche forces numbered about 3000 men armed primarily with lances. Some veteran officers expressed their doubts about Salazar's plans, including the stability of the bridge. As the pontoon bridge stood ready, Juan de Salazar sent a first force across. About 200 soldiers that had crossed were quickly surrounded and were being routed, so Salazar ordered the other soldiers to speed up their march across the bridge. However, the bridge was not stable enough and at this point broke apart with disastrous consequences for the Spanish. Altogether, the Spanish lost a hundred professional soldiers and 200 auxiliaries in a battle where the actual fighting was very limited. Despite these losses, the surviving Spanish managed to get back north to their bases without harassment from the Mapuche. ==Aftermath==

On learning of the defeat, governor Acuña Cabrera ordered an investigation into any military misconduct during the campaign. ==Notes==