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308 beneath the ruins of Barquisimeto, armed the people, and raised his force to 1,000 men. At San José a division of 1,300 raw recruits sallied out to meet him; one squadron passed over to him, the rest were cut to pieces. The prisoners were butchered, and the neighbouring town of San Carlos was sacked and burned. The cities of Merida and Trujillo declared for the King. The common people, and deserters from the Patriot armies, flocked to Monteverde; he marched upon Valencia. Forty-five days after his departure from Coro he entered the Federal capital in triumph.

Affairs were now in so critical a state that Miranda was appointed Dictator. He established his head-quarters at Victoria, between Valencia and Caracas, and advanced with 4,000 men against the former city. During a skirmish between outposts an entire company passed over to the Royalists, and Miranda retreated to a position which he strengthened with field-works. The hero of Valmy and Jemappes, whose name is inscribed on the Triumphal Arch at the Barriere d'Etoile, seems to have disappeared under the cloak of the Dictator, and the irresolute General of Maestrich and Nerwinde reappeared on a new scene.

Colonel Antonanzas, detached by Monteverde to the plains of Caracas, took the town of Calabozo by assault, and put the garrison to the sword. Then being joined by a Spaniard named, he attacked San Juan de los Morros, where not only the fighting men, but the old men, women, and children, were butchered.

The Province of Barinas declared for the King, and Monteverde, being now secure in his rear, twice attacked Miranda in his entrenchments, but was each time repulsed with heavy loss. Having received reinforcements from Coro, he made a third attack, and was again repulsed, but, undismayed, he made a flank movement and turned the position of the Patriots, whereupon Miranda, though with a force greatly superior in number to his adversary, set fire to his stores, and retired precipitately, on the night