On the afternoon of April
3, Osorio crossed the Maypo, the patriot cavalry harassing his flank and
rear as he advanced. On the 5th his army took up a position on the brow of
a hill opposite that occupied by the patriot forces.
Passing out from Santiago there is a succession of white hills, known as
the Lorna Blanca, on one crest of which, commanding the roads to the fords
of the Maypo and to Santiago, the patriot army was encamped. The royalists
occupied the crest and slope of an opposite ridge. Below them ran the
Maypo with its forests and hills.
As the sun rose on the morning of the 5th San Martin saw with satisfaction
the royalist force beginning to occupy the high ground in his front. With
hopeful tone, he said, "I take the sun to witness that the day is ours."
As he spoke, the golden rays spread like a banner of light from crest to
crest. At ten o'clock when the movement of the armies began, he said, with
assurance, "A half-hour will decide the fate of Chili."
A few words will serve to describe the positions of the armies. Each was
more than five thousand strong, the patriot army somewhat the smaller.
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