Of the country in which these operations were carried on, the general
gives a frightful picture.
In 1823, colonel Miller, was promoted to the rank of general of brigade,
and in the same year he became chief of the staff of the Peruvian army. In
1824, he was introduced to _Bolivar_. On the 13th of June he crossed
the Andes to take the command of 1,500 montoneros (a body of men very
similar to the Guerillas of Spain,) who occupied the country round Pasco.
The difficulties of this service, and the perils of a campaign in the
Andes, may be well inferred from the following passages:--
It often occurred during the campaign of 1824, that the cavalry being in
the rear, were, by a succession of various obstructions, prevented from
accomplishing the day's march before nightfall. It then became necessary
for every man to dismount, and to lead the two animals in his charge, to
avoid going astray, or tumbling headlong down the most frightful
precipices. But the utmost precaution did not always prevent the corps
from losing their way. Sometimes men, at the head of a battalion, would
continue to follow the windings of a deafening torrent, instead of turning
abruptly to the right or left, up some rocky acclivity, over which lay
their proper course; whilst others who chanced to be right, would pursue
the proper track.
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