title: Bombardment of Pisagua
text: # Bombardment of Pisagua
  
  vteWar of the Pacific :
  
  Naval campaign
  
  1st Iquique
  
  Chipana
  
  Pisagua
  
  1st Callao
  
  2nd Iquique
  
  Punta Gruesa
  
  Huáscar
  
  1st Antofagasta
  
  3rd Iquique
  
  Rímac
  
  2nd Antofagasta
  
  Punta Arenas
  
  Angamos
  
  Pilcomayo
  
  Arica
  
  Naval Battle
  
  Rupture
  
  2nd Callao
  
  Land campaigns
  
  Loa Line and Altiplano
  
  Calama
  
  Río Grande
  
  Quillagua
  
  Tambillo
  
  Tarapacá campaign
  
  Pisagua
  
  Pampa Germania
  
  San Francisco
  
  Tarapacá
  
  Tacna and Arica campaign
  
  Ilo and Pacocha
  
  Moquegua
  
  Mollendo
  
  Los Ángeles
  
  Locumba
  
  Buenavista
  
  Tacna
  
  Arica
  
  Tarata
  
  Lynch Expedition
  
  Lima campaign
  
  Chilca
  
  Yerba Buena
  
  Bujama
  
  Humay
  
  El Manzano
  
  Rinconada de Ate
  
  San Juan and Chorrillos
  
  Miraflores
  
  Lima
  
  Chilean occupation of Peru
  
  Sierra campaign
  
  San Jerónimo
  
  Letelier Expedition
  
  Sángrar
  
  Verrugas
  
  1st Purhuay
  
  Calientes
  
  1st Pachía
  
  Cieneguilla
  
  Motupe
  
  Guadalupe
  
  1st Pucará
  
  Acuchimay
  
  Sierralumi
  
  Huaripampa
  
  Llocllapampa
  
  Chupaca
  
  La Oroya
  
  2nd Pucará
  
  Concepción
  
  San Pablo
  
  Tarmatambo
  
  2nd Purhuay
  
  Huamantanga
  
  Crossing of the Andes
  
  Huamachuco
  
  Izcuchaca
  
  2nd Pachía
  
  Arequipa-Puno Line
  
  Arequipa
  
  Titicaca Lake :
  
  The Bombardment of Pisagua, was an act of arms by Chile on Peru that took place on April 18, 1879, within the framework of the naval operations developed during the War of the Pacific. The first civilian casualties of the war were produced there.
  
  ## Background
  
  On April 5, 1879, Chile declared war on Peru, initiating its naval forces operations on the Peruvian coasts and destroying the unguarded guano docks and cargo elements of Pica and Huanillos on April 15 and 16. On April 17, the Chilean Chacabuco corvette cut the telegraph cable to Iquique and on April 18 it appeared over the port of Pisagua being followed by the armored Blanco Encalada, with the first Chilean corvette trying to repeat the previous operations without prior notice to the port authorities to do so. which launched two boats with 60 sailors. As military commander of Pisagua was the frigate captain José Becerra, who commanded the garrison made up of 300 soldiers from the Ayacucho battalion, disembarked on April 7 by the Chalaco transport from Callao.
  
  ## The battle
  
  As soon as the Peruvian forces sighted the Chilean boats heading ashore, they opened rifle fire on them, which despite being immediately answered by their crew, caused them casualties and forced them to retreat back to their ships. Immediately afterwards, Admiral Juan Williams Rebolledo ordered to open fire with naval artillery on the entrenched Peruvian troops, causing the population to burn and numerous deaths among the civilian population. A second attempt at approach by the Chilean boats was once again rejected, the bombardment being resumed until 1 in the afternoon, at which time the Chilean ships withdrew leaving the port engulfed in flames.
  
  ## Aftermath
  
  As a result of the bombardment and fire, the port of Pisagua was almost completely destroyed, a misfortune that Rear Admiral Williams Rebolledo attributed in his official report, "To the situation occupied by the enemy troops on which the shots were fired, which when bouncing and deviating damaged some of the immediate buildings (...) resulting in the almost complete conflagration of the main neighborhoods of the population. " while according to the American newspaper Chicago Tribune, according to a cable sent by an official of the American ship Cosmopresent in Pisagua, it was a deliberate act in which the British consulate in which a large number of women and children had taken asylum was even bombed and set on fire, and the consular agent Mr. Jeffrey, his wife and wife had to take refuge in the Cosmo with their children.
  
  According to a telegram from the Chacabuco commander, Oscar Viel y Toro, the ship under his command had 1 dead and 6 wounded, resulting in the combat in the population fire and "I suppose many deaths", while the commander of Puerto Becerra, at the time of writing his report to the General Command of the Navy, he reported having knowledge of 5 soldiers and several injured individuals from the town, 4 civilians having died, including a child, according to other sources the number of Peruvian deaths was 8 and 6 wounded, among the first 5 women and 2 children.
  
  