ALMAGRO, Diego de, a Spanish commander, was of such obscure birth and mean parentage that he derived his name from the village where he was born in 1463. Deprived of the means of early instruction, he could neither read nor write; but nevertheless, in consequence of his improvements in the military art, he formed an association with Francisco Pizarro and Hernando de Luque, for the purpose of discovery and conquest upon the Peruvian coast. The governor of Panama having sanctioned their enterprise, they devoted their united exertions to that undertaking. Pizarro directed the conquest, and Almagro was appointed to conduct the supplies of provisions and reinforcements. In the first two unsuccessful attempts he performed this office with persevering fidelity and uncommon activity. His perseverance was followed with complete success; for they at last discovered the coast of Peru, and landed at Tumbes, situated about three degrees south of the line, and distinguished by its temple and a palace of the incas or sovereigns. Pizarro was sent over to Spain to solicit further powers, after the three adventurers had previously adjusted their future preferences, and agreed that Pizarro should be governor, Almagro lieutenant-governor, and Luque bishop. In this negotiation Pizarro obtained the clerical dignity for Luque, but chiefly concerned for his own interest, he neglected the preferment of Almagro. On his return, Almagro was so enraged that he refused to act with such a perfidious companion, and resolved to form a new association. Pizarro, for the present, artfully endeavoured to avert the indignation of Almagro, and gradually soothed the rage and disappointment of the soldier. The union was renewed upon the former terms; and it was solemnly stipulated that they should mutually share the expenses and the advantages.
In February 1531, leaving Almagro at Panama to supply provisions and reinforcements, Pizarro set sail for Peru. He attacked a principal settlement of the natives in the province of Coaque, obtained immense spoil, and made such ample remittances to Almagro as enabled him to complete his reinforcement; and, in the close of the year 1532, Almagro arrived at St Michael, with a body of men nearly double the number of those whom Pizarro had with him. The Spaniards about this time took captive the unfortunate Inca Atahualpa, and, after they had received an immense sum for his ransom, they barbarously put him to death. Ferdinand Pizarro sailed for Spain with the news of their success, and with remittances to a great amount; and consequently Almagro gained that elevated station he had so long and so eagerly desired. But no sooner did he receive the intelligence of his promotion by the royal grant than he attempted to seize Cuzco, the imperial residence of the In-
cas, under pretence that it lay within his destined territory. This produced a new quarrel; but peace was restored upon condition that Almagro should attempt the conquest of Chili, and, if he did not find in that province an establishment adequate to his merit, that Pizarro should yield up to him a part of Peru.
In 1535 he accordingly set out at the head of 570 Europeans. In crossing the mountains he suffered great hardships and losses by mistaking the route; but at length he descended into the plains of that devoted region. Here he met with a more vigorous resistance from the natives than the Spaniards had ever experienced in other countries. He had, however, made some progress, when he was recalled to Peru by the news of the natives having risen in great numbers, and attacked Lima and Cuzco. He pursued a new route, and marching through the sandy plains on the coast, he suffered, by heat and drought, calamities not inferior to those which he had endured from cold and famine on the summits of the Andes. Arriving at a favourable moment, he resolved to hold the place, both against the Indians and his Spanish rivals. He attacked the Peruvian army with great vigour, and, making a great slaughter, proceeded to the gates of Cuzco without any further interruption. The open, affable, and generous temper of Almagro, gained over to his side many of the adherents of the Pizarros, who were disgusted with their harsh and oppressive conduct. With the aid of these he advanced towards the city by night, surprised the sentinels, and surrounding the house where the two brothers Ferdinand and Gonzalo Pizarro resided, compelled them, after an obstinate resistance, to surrender at discretion. A form of government was settled in the name of Almagro, and his jurisdiction over Cuzco was universally acknowledged. This was the origin of a civil war, the beginning of which was very advantageous to Almagro, who, by skilful manœuvres, entirely routed a body of Spanish troops advancing to the relief of Cuzco, and made Alvarado, their commander, prisoner. But instead of improving these advantages, he unwisely marched back to Cuzco, and there awaited the arrival of Pizarro, who, convinced of his own feeble resources, proposed an accommodation, and, with his usual art, protracted the negotiation till he found himself in a condition to meet his antagonist in the field of battle. Meanwhile Alvarado and one of the Pizarros, by bribing their keepers, found means to escape, and persuaded sixty of the men who guarded them to attend them in their flight; and the governor released the other. When Pizarro thought himself sufficiently prepared to settle the dominion of Peru, he marched with an army of 500 men to Cuzco. Almagro, worn out with age and infirmity, had previously resigned the command to Orgonez. A fierce and bloody battle ensued, in which Almagro's army was defeated, and the commander wounded. About 140 soldiers fell in the field, and Orgonez, along with several officers of distinction, was massacred in cold blood. During that fatal day, Almagro, placed in a litter which was stationed on an eminence, beheld from thence the total discomfiture of his troops, and felt all the indignation of a soldier who had seldom experienced defeat. He was taken prisoner, remained several months in confinement, and was afterwards tried and condemned to death. In the view of an ignominious death, the courage of the veteran forsook him, and he unsuccessfully supplicated for life in a manner unworthy of his former character. All the arguments he could employ were ineffectual. The Pizarros remained unmoved by all his entreaties. As soon, however, as Almagro saw that his fate was inevitable, he resumed his courage, and exhibited all his usual dignity and fortitude. In the year 1538, and in the 75th year of his age, he was strangled in prison, and afterwards beheaded. He left one son by an Indian woman of Panama; and, in
Almagro consequence of a power which the emperor had granted him, he declared his son his successor in the government, although he was then a prisoner in Lima.