Battle of Tambillo

The battle began in the early hours of the 6th, as soon as the Chileans, sheltered behind some stone walls, spotted the opposing forces and opened fire on them. Carrasco had ordered Lieutenant Colonel Moscoso to attack from the left, Lieutenant Colonel Patiño from the front, while he with the reserve surrounded the enemy from the right. After thirty minutes of gunfire and his ammunition exhausted, Ferreira was forced to retreat, being dislodged from his positions by the Bolivian horsemen.^[3] Because they were dismounted and because their mounts had been dispersed during the confusion of the combat, the Chilean soldiers were easily killed or captured by the Bolivian cavalry. Only Lieutenant Ferreira and three soldiers managed to escape. The Chilean force consisted of recently recruited peasants in the south who had barely done a target practice (three bullets per man). The park that they had in San Pedro was scarce, since an incursion of the allies was not envisaged.

Carrasco's forces recognized 2 dead and 1 wounded, while those of Ferreira left 9 dead and 19 prisoners in the camp.^[4] The loot taken by Carrasco consisted of 18 Winchester rifles with some endowment, 14 swords and 16 horses with their mounts and straps.

After the combat, Carrasco's forces occupied the town, immediately requesting General Campero to send reinforcements to hold their position. When he did not receive a response and after carrying out a short reconnaissance to the south, he chose to withdraw to Bolivia, crossing the mountain range again.^[4]

The 70 grenadiers and 30 "Desert Hunters", dispatched by Commander Bouquet in order to assist Ferreira and cut off the retreat of the Bolivian forces, arrived in San Pedro de Atacama when the combat had already ended and the Bolivians had withdrawn.

The string of conspiracies in the Bolivian high power and President Hilarión Daza's fear that Campero would take away popular acceptance, caused the president to order abort the mission of the 5th Division and withdraw it to Oruro until new orders, with which Bolivia would lose any further opportunity to recover its coast.

The news of this confrontation caused a commotion in the Chilean forces occupying Antofagasta, as they believed that it could be the appearance of the vanguards of the 5th Division of Campero, announced so many times in march on the coast, a campaign that was never carried out. The Chilean command dispatched reinforcement troops to the interior and because almost all of the men under its command were lost, a court martial was followed against Lieutenant Ferreira. His defender was Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Díaz Muñoz. During 1880, he was acquitted and rejoined the army and fought until the Lima Campaign.

After the Battle of Topáter, where the Chilean army fought against Bolivian civilians, this was the last combat between the standalone armies of Bolivia and Chile; in following battles, Peru and Bolivia would fight together against Chile.^[3]

• Machuca, Francisco (1928). Las Cuatro Campañas de La Guerra del Pacífico Tomo II.
• Querejazú Calvo, Roberto (1998). Guano Salitre y Sangre, Historia de la Guerra del Pacífico.