Page:Tupper family records - 1835.djvu/112

 90 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER.

tended victim ; but the previous anguish of this unhappy young woman, then in her twenty-third year, may be more easily conceived than described. She had heard, during the morning, every shot fired by the contending armies, and did not yet know the fate of her husband ! The day after the action, Colonel Tupper waited in plain clothes on General Freire, and resigned the command of his regiment, determined to serve no longer under such leaders and in such a cause ; but unfortunately he was prevailed upon by his old commander to accept the appoint- ment of commandant of arms, or military governor, of the town and province of Coquimbo, a very desira- ble part of the country, and a situation of emolument, as well as, at that time, of great responsibility. To a young officer, with an increasing family and limited means, the offer was too tempting to be refused, although he never entertained a favorable opinion of General Freire's abilities, giving him credit only for good intentions. He was at Valparaiso, preparing to embark for Coquimbo, when Freire arrived in the former town, Prieto having, as Colonel Tupper had all along foreseen and apprehended, attempted to take him prisoner, and compelled him to seek security in flight from the capital. In this manner Prieto ob- tained possession of a fine park of field artillery, and incorporated the constitutional cavalry with his own. Among other charges of duplicity, General Freire accused Prieto, in a letter of January 1 8th, which was published, of having excited the authorities of Coquimbo not to receive Colonel Tupper, whom he had destined for that command in the conviction that he was best fitted for it. Colonel Tupper, now bound in honor not to abandon Freire in his difficulties,

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