On 24 May 1822 a patriot army of about 3,000 men under Antonio José de Sucre defeated the Spanish royalist army of Melchor Aymerich on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, above the city of Quito. After several hours of fighting Aymerich capitulated, and the patriots took over Quito. The battle ended Spanish rule in the old Kingdom of Quito, which Simón Bolívar then joined to Gran Colombia; it is the territory of today's Ecuador.
From Guayaquil to the highlands
The port of Guayaquil declared its independence in 1820, but on its own it could not free the highland provinces of the Kingdom of Quito, still held by Spain. In 1821 Bolívar sent his general Antonio José de Sucre to Guayaquil with about 700 men. Sucre built up an army of roughly 3,000, among them local troops, Colombians and soldiers sent by José de San Martín from Peru, and led it up into the Andes toward Quito. Ecuadorian accounts stress how mixed it was, with men from Guayaquil, Cuenca and the highland towns alongside Venezuelans, Colombians, Peruvians and others.1
El Universo notes that three women from Loja and Ambato served in the patriot ranks under men's names, and that one of them, Nicolasa Jurado, was promoted to sergeant by Sucre while she recovered from her wounds.2
A night climb and a battle on the volcano
El Universo traces the last stage of the march: the army left Ambato on 13 May, took four days to come within reach of Quito and camped at Chillogallo, south of the city, on 22 May. Sucre hoped to surprise the royalist army in Quito by marching his troops up the slopes of Pichincha on the night of 23 May. According to Quito's municipal account, at daybreak on 24 May his columns were still only just south of the city, where the royalists discovered and attacked them. The fighting took place on the volcano's slopes above Quito, in the sector of Chaquimallana, in full view of the city below.3
After several hours of hard fighting the royalists gave way. Rodríguez records that Aymerich capitulated after several hours of fighting, and Quito's account says that Sucre received the capitulation of Aymerich, the last Spanish president of the Audiencia of Quito, around midday. Britannica adds that the victory let the patriots occupy Quito the following day. Quito's municipality gives the figures usually taken from Sucre's report: 400 royalists and 200 patriots killed, 190 royalists and 140 patriots wounded.4
Abdón Calderón
The best-remembered patriot of the day is a young lieutenant from Cuenca, Abdón Calderón. In his report Sucre singled him out for staying in the fight after receiving four successive wounds. He died of them days later, though accounts differ on the date: Quito's municipality gives 29 May 1822, while El Universo writes that he lingered fourteen days and died on 7 June. Quito's account adds that Bolívar promoted him posthumously to captain.5
Ecuador joined to Gran Colombia
Britannica writes that Bolívar was acclaimed as liberator and the territory was joined to the newly formed Republic of Gran Colombia. The historian Jaime E. Rodríguez O. points out that Bolívar arrived in June and incorporated the region into Colombia over the objections of Quito's city council, and that broadsides then appeared in the city calling it the last day of despotism and the first of the same thing. Britannica calls Gran Colombia transitory: the union did not last, and Ecuador later became a separate republic.6
Ecuador still commemorates the battle every 24 May, and Quito's city council marks the day with honors at Sucre's mausoleum.7
