Francisco Bolognesi. Courtesy of La Biblioteca Nacional 1905 The lieutenant captain and second in command of the Morro batteries, Manuel Ignacio Espinoza Camplodo, states that:“...the troops that had their rifles on duty continued to fire, until the enemies invaded the enclosure making downloads on the few that were left there; in this situation they arrived at the battery, Mr. Colonel D. Francisco Bolognesi, Chief of the Plaza, Colonel D. Alfonso Ugarte, you (referring to Manuel C. de la Torre, to whom the report is raised), Lieutenant Colonel D. Roque Sáenz Peña, who was wounded, Sergeant Major D. Armando Blondel and others I don't remember; and as all resistance was useless, the Commander General ordered that the fires be suspended, which could not be achieved loudly, Colonel Ugarte personally went to order it to those who were shooting located on the other side of the barracks, where said chief he was killed (...) At the same time that these events were taking place, the enemy troops fired their weapons at us, and Messrs. Colonel Bolognesi, Captain Moore, Lieutenant Colonel Sáenz Peña, you, the undersigned and some officers of this battery, came those on us and, despite having suspended the fires on our part, they discharged us from those who were killed Colonel Commander General of the Plaza D. Francisco Bolognesi and Mr. Captain of Ship D Juan G. Moore, having saved the others by the presence of officers who took us prisoner...” For Vargas Hurtado, a historian from Arica, Bolognesi died like this:“In moments that the enemy descended from Cerro Gordo in the direction of Morro, Bolognesi was in the middle of its plateau, directing the action, accompanied by La Torre, Ugarte, More, Sáenz Peña and his field assistants. His courage and courage instill spirits in the few soldiers he had left, who redouble their volleys on the Chilean, who advances in the midst of hailstorms of lead. It was at this moment when the defender of the Plaza, revolver in hand, fell overpowered by a treacherous bullet (...) When the assailants reached the place where the Hero lay, he was still alive, drenched in blood; but without noticing his high investiture or his wounded condition, they smashed his skull with rifle butts. KILLERS!”
Sacrifice of Francisco Bolognesi THE DISTRESSING HOURS PREVIOUS How helpless would the Peruvian combatants have felt in the Morro de Arica on the eve of their immolation? No one can imagine such moments. To think that wives or girlfriends filled their minds but were not there to comfort them; imagine that they had their children in all five senses but they really couldn't smell, kiss, touch, hear them and they were only moved by wiping the tears from their eyes; they dreamed that the warm sun caressed their cheeks in the most beautiful corner of their lives but there was no such corner, less:sun; they supposed that tomorrow they could be returning to the bosom of their small homelands by the Arica - Tacna Railway, but they were startled when they remembered that Tacna was lost and Arica could be their grave; but anguish is always disturbed by hope and, therefore, a little light illuminated their minds when they thought that a reinforcement could arrive, the troop commanded by Saldívar, from Arequipa. If he arrived, luck would have been different and this is recognized by a letter from a Chilean chief:“The fortifications of Arica were magnificent, but in order to be entirely impregnable they needed to be defended by a force not less than 5 to 6,000 men. This is the reason why we have taken them in a few hours, when well defended they would have resisted the attack of 12 to 15,000 men. The enemies have fought very well, as if they knew that the thing was worth it, since no quarter was given in the combat” (published in “Ferrocarril de Santiago”).
LETTER FROM ALFONSO UGARTE TO FERMÍN VERNAL Alfonso Ugarte describes the dire situation but hopes to receive reinforcements from Arequipa. Here is an excerpt from his letter to Fermín Vernal, his friend. “... There are no details nor do we have any sure news of ours other than what I am telling you. Here in Arica we are only two divisions of nationals, defending this point, and Even though we are so few, we cannot do the Iquique thing, abandon the port and hand it over, because this is an artillery port and it has defense elements and positions. We therefore have to fulfill the duty of honor by defending this square until it is taken from us by force. That is our duty and this is what national honor demands. We are therefore waiting to be attacked by sea and land. God knows what will turn out, so you can imagine my sad situation. However, it is necessary to resist to the last and I can also assure you that with the positions we occupy in the nose, the heavy caliber cannons and the mines that we have prepared, it will cost the Chileans many lives to reduce us and take this place away from us. We are resolved to resist with all the certainty of being defeated, but it is necessary to comply with honor and duty. Perhaps luck favors us and the reinforcements we expect from Arequipa will arrive in time...”
RAMÓN ZAVALA LETTER TO A FRIEND Ramón Zavala expresses in a letter to a friend the indomitable spirit of the Peruvians in Arica, full of courage and patriotism. If we do not make Arica a second Tarapacá, the defense will be of such a nature that no one in the country will disdain to recognize their compatriots in us, and that the neutrals will not fail to recognize us as the defenders of the honor and integrity of our country. Arica does not give up, nor do the flags unfurl to leave the plaza; on the contrary, it will resist tenaciously and vigorously, and when nature yields, obeying physical laws, the invaders will put their plant on a ground that is covered with corpses and watered with Peruvian blood. Its defenders prefer death to disgrace; Glory to a life that would have been unbearable for them, had they not taken advantage of the last one.
TELEGRAMS Bolognesi, before the battle, had communication with the prefect of Arequipa, Carlos Gonzales Orbegoso. In the different telegrams he tells him not to count on Manuel Leyva, Lizardo Montero, Narciso Campero (Bolivian), his battalions never made it to the battle of Arica. "Enemy all weapons transferred by trains. They are camped two leagues from this plaza. We expect an attack tomorrow." We will resist," says the June 2 telegram from Bolognesi to the prefect. For historian Medina, the documents showed that the situation was complicated, the lack of food, the alarm over the Chilean occupation, but they still went to the front. "Suspended by enemies cannonade. Parliament said:General Baquedano, out of special deference to the energetic attitude of the square, wishes to avoid bloodshed. I answered according to the agreement of the chiefs:my last word is we will burn the last cartridge. Long live Peru!", writes Bolognesi to the prefect of Arequipa in a telegram dated June 5, while Orbegoso responds with emotion:"I congratulate you and the leaders of the plaza on behalf of the people of Arequipa for your noble actit You. Arequipa replies:Long live Colonel Bolognesi!".
LETTER FROM BOLOGNESI TO HIS WIFE from him It is a letter imbued with courage, but, at the same time, with concern for his wife and criticism of Mariano Prado, who had fled, and Nicolás de Piérola, the Dictator, who had been a failure leading the war.“... This will surely be one of the last news that you will receive from me, because with each passing day we see that danger is approaching and that the threat of surrender or annihilation by the enemy superior to the Peruvian forces is latent and decisive. The days and hours pass and we hear them like tragic bell blows that are spread over this rock of the military citadel enlarged by a handful of patriots who have their time counted and their decision to fight without dismay in combat so as not to disappoint Peru. . What will become of you, beloved wife? You who accompanied me with love and holiness. What will she become of our children, that I will not be able to see or feel in the common home? God is going to decide this drama in which the politicians who fled and those who assaulted power have the same responsibility. Both of them have dictated with their incapacity the sentence that the enemy will apply to us. Never claim anything, so that they don't think that my duty has a price...”.
Letters from the hero. Correspondence sent to his family and to the prefect of Arequipa show the tension that the hero experienced. "What will become of you, beloved wife?... God is going to decide this drama in which the politicians who fled and those who assaulted power have the same responsibility." Chilean General Manuel Baquedano looked at them through his spyglass. He couldn't believe it. They were 6 thousand and Francisco Bolognesi's soldiers did not exceed 1,400. He did not understand how these men, more than armed, enraged, opted for suicide to confront them. Bolognesi knew that death was coming. But the homeland came first, that's why he wrote letters that were not only a farewell to his loved ones, but also a confession of courage and love for Peru. His line was firm, but in the message there was annoyance and A lot of tension. He knew the hard battle that awaited him... Despite this, in every word he showed the desire to fulfill the entrusted order. The hero, who was born on November 4, 1816, thus lived a chapter of his life that today we remember one day before the anniversary of the battle of Arica, a deed in which he gave his life for the country. The letters that Colonel Bolognesi he wrote to his family before the battle, in June 1880, during the war with Chile, they showed the will to fulfill their duty, despite the difficulties. "Dear son: It's 11 o'clock in the morning and he's addressing these words to you to say goodbye. The enemy is near Tacna. General Montero awaits him there with his entire army, unless the Chileans play a trick on him and come to take this place (Arica), which has left it very weak," Bolognesi wrote to his son Enrique on April 19. Months later From this emotional letter, Enrique Bolognesi also decides to fight in the War of the Pacific, in the battle of Miraflores in 1881. "I don't have more than 1,400 infantry for your defense; They can –in hours– bring 3 or 4 thousand men to Pacocha (Ilo) and at the same time commit combat by sea and land. Finally, the time has come to decide the issue.
Don't be scared: we are not bad If things are directed well, we will give them a broth like in Tarapacá. I think I will be the duck of the wedding for occupying this position that is the dream of the enemy. As long as our people are in Tacna, perhaps there will be nothing here. I'm already annoyed, I wish that the moment of an attack will come to rest in the way you want to understand it. I don't sleep, they don't even let me eat; in the street and wherever I go I have to deal with everyone who looks for me. Affections to everyone at home, to friends and friends. Goodbye," Bolognesi narrates in a letter.
Historian Lourdes Medina He comments that when one reads the letters from Bolognesi, one notices that the hero always speaks of fulfilling his duty, because he did not want to disappoint Peru. he thought he could win in Arica, his hope was in the mines (camouflaged dynamite), the job was carried out by the engineer Teodoro Elmore, but he was captured with the plans, later the Chileans identified the location of the mines", recalls the historian Medina. Then, on May 22, he wrote to his wife María Josefa, who in her first words anticipated that these would be her last words, because she knows that every day that passes the enemy approaches Arica, she knew perfectly well that the Chilean forces surpassed to the Peruvian defenders.
"Adored María Josefa"
This will surely be one of the last news that you will receive from me, because with each passing day we see that danger is approaching and that the threat of surrender or annihilation by the enemy superior to the Peruvian forces is latent and decisive. The days and hours pass and the same ones like tragic bell blows that are spread over this rock of the military citadel, enlarged with a handful of patriots who have their time counted and their decision to fight without fainting in combat, so as not to disappoint to Peru. What will become of you, beloved wife, you who accompanied me with love and holiness? What will become of our daughter and her husband, who will not be able to see or feel me in our common home? God is going to decide this drama in which the politicians who fled and those who assaulted power have the same responsibility. Both of them have dictated, with their incapable behavior, the sentence that the enemy will apply to us. Never claim anything, so they don't think my duty had a price. Kisses for you and Margarita. Hugs to Melvin”, writes Bolognesi to his wife. Indeed, a group of Peruvians, despite the situation against them and who knew they were going to die, resisted in the end. In addition to the war over guano and saltpeter, it was a struggle for national dignity.
6-11-1905. The monument was inaugurated in his homage. The ceremony was attended by one of the survivors of the defense of Arica, the Argentine Roque Sáenz Peña, with the rank of general in the Peruvian army.
Inauguration of the monument to Bolognesi -1905 