as not to make a move without gaining a decided and absolute success."
Acting on this advice Sucre had advanced with great caution. Several times the enemy offered battle, which Sucre declined, as he was waiting the arrival of reinforcements which were hurrying forward. There were several skirmishes in which no decided advantage was gained by either side, but the movements of the patriots frustrated some of the plans of the viceroy and compelled him to make many changes of position.
On the 4th of December, Lieutenant Colonel Medina, adjutant of the liberator, Bolivar, came into Sucre's camp with a final order that a decisive battle was to be ventured. It was offered on that very day in the plain of Tambo, but the Spaniards declined.
On December 8th both armies stood face to face. Every thing told that they were on the eve of a great battle, which neither could avoid by means of a retreat without the risk of destruction. Sucre's position was at a considerable distance from the friendly villages, and he was opposed by an army accustomed to quick marches; the roads were rough, and his supplies were giving out. Scarcely could he muster 5,780 men, and he had only one small piece of artillery.
On the other hand the Spaniards were obliged to force the fight. A retreat would have been tantamount to a rout, and their rations were alarmingly short. But they were superior in numbers, as they counted 9,310 men of all arms, with fourteen pieces of artillery.
The Spanish army was on the hills round about Condorcanqui; its right and left wings were protected by a deep ravine, its rear-guard stood against the steep mountain range, and its front was towards a plain half a mile in width and a mile in length.
General Miller of the liberating army thus describes the battle-field:
