While Don Garcia thus took advantage of the apparent calm which prevailed in Chili, he received information that Francisco Villagran had arrived from Spain at Buenos Ayres, appointed to succeed him in the government of Chili, and that the king had promoted himself to the viceroyalty of Peru in reward for his services in his present government. In consequence of this information, he confided the interim government of Chili to the care of Rodrigo de Quiroga, and withdrew into Peru, to take possession of the exalted situation of viceroy which his father had formerly occupied.
Villagran, who had been governor of Chid previous to Don Garcia, had gone to Europe when deprived of that government, and had procured his reinstatement from the court of Spain. Believing, from the information of Don Garcia and Quiroga, that the Araucanians were in no condition to give any future trouble, Villagran turned his whole attention after his arrival in Chili, to the reaquisition of the province of Tucuman, which had been annexed by himself to the government of Chili in 1549, and had been since attached to the viceroyalty of Peru. Gregorio Castaneda, whom he employed on this occasion, defeated the Peruvian commander, Juan Zurita, the author of the dismemberment, and restored that country to the authority of the governor of Chili. It continued however only a short time under their government, as, before the close of that century, they were again obliged by order from Spain to surrender it to the viceroy of Peru.
Though Don Garcia and Quiroga had been long experienced in the character of the Araucanians, they had formed a very erroneous opinion of their temper and public spirit, when they deemed them finally subdued in consequence of the victories gained in the late war. Such is the invincible spirit of that brave nation, that even the severest reverses of fortunes are insufficient to induce them to submit. Even the heaviest losses, so far from filling them with dejection and dismay, served to inspire them with increased valour. Their heroic constancy under repeated defeats is perfectly wonderful, and the successful and determined perseverance with which they have ever defended their liberties and independence against the superior arms and power of the Spaniards, is without parallel in the history of the world. The scanty remains of the ulmens or Araucanian chiefs who had escaped from the late sanguinary conflicts against Don Garcia, were more resolved than ever to continue the war. Immediately after their late entire defeat at Quipeo, the ulmens assembled in a wood, where they unanimously elected an inferior officer named Antiguenu, who had signalized himself in the last unfortunate battle, to the vacant office of supreme toqui. Antiguenu readily accepted the honourable but hazardous command; but represented to the assembled chiefs, that as almost all the valiant youth of the nation had perished, he deemed it expedient for them to retire to some secure situation, until a new army could be collected of sufficient strength to keep the field. This prudent advice was approved by all, and accordingly Antiguenu retired with the small remains, of the Araucanian army to the inaccessible marshes of Lumaco, called Rochela by the Spaniards, where he caused high scaffolds to be erected to secure his men from the extreme and noxious moisture of that gloomy retreat. The young men who enlisted from time to time into the national army, went to that place to be instructed in the use of their arms, and the Araucanians still considered themselves free since they had a toqui who did not despair of vindicating the independence of their country.
As soon as Antiguenu saw himself at the head of a respectable force, he issued from his retreat, and began to make incursions into the territory which was occupied by the Spaniards, both to inure his troops to discipline, and to subsist them at the expence of the enemy. When this unexpected intelligence was brought to St Jago, it gave great uneasiness to Villagran, who foresaw all the fatal consequences which might result from this new war, having already had long experience of the daring and invincible spirit of the Araucanians. In order if possible to stifle the threatening flame at its commencement, he immediately dispatched his son Pedro into the south, with as many troops as could be collected in haste, and soon after took the same direction himself with a more considerable force. The first skirmishes between the hostile armies were unfavourable to Antiguenu, and an attempt which he made to besiege Canete was equally unsuccessful. Antiguenu attributed his failure on these occasions to the inexperience of his troops, and sought on every occasion for opportunities of accustoming them to the use of arms. At length he had the satisfaction of convincing them that the Spaniards were not invincible, by defeating a body of Spaniards on the hills of Millapoa, commanded by Arias Pardo. To keep up the ardour and confidence which this success had excited in his soldiers, he now took possession of the strong post on the top of Mount Mariguenu, a place of fortunate omen for his country. Being either so much afflicted with the gout, or averse from exposing himself to the hazard of attacking that strong post, which had formerly proved so unfortunate to him, Villagran gave it in charge to one of his sons to dislodge the enemy from that formidable position. The rash yet enterprising young man attacked the Araucanian entrenchments with so little precaution that almost all his army was cut in pieces, and himself killed at the entrance of the encampment, and on this occasion the flower of the Spanish troops and a great number of their auxiliaries were cut off.
Immediately after this signal victory, Antiguenu marched against the fortress of Canete, rightly judging that it would not be in a condition to resist him in the present circumstances. Villagran was likewise convinced of the impossibility of defending that place, and anticipating the design of the Araucanian general, ordered all the inhabitants to withdraw, part of whom retired to Imperial and the rest to Conception. Antiguenu, therefore, on his arrival at that place, so fatal to his nation, had only the trouble of destroying the fortifications and setting fire to the houses, all of which he completely destroyed.
Overcome with grief and anxiety, Villagran died soon after the disastrous battle of Mariguenu, universally regretted by the Spanish inhabitants of Chili, who lost in him a wise humane and valiant governor, to whose prudent conduct on several trying occasions they had been much beholden for the preservation of their conquests. Before his death, in virtue of special powers vested in him by his commission from the court of Spain, he appointed his eldest son Pedro to succeed him in the government, whose endowments of mind were in no respect inferior to those of his father. By the death of the governor, Antiguenu conceived that he had a favourable opportunity for undertaking some important enterprise. He divided his army, which now consisted of 4000 men, into two bodies, one of which he ordered to lay siege to Conception under the command of his vice-toqui Antunecul, to attract the attention of the Spaniards in that quarter, while he marched with the other division to invest the fort of Arauco, which was defended by a strong garrison under the command of Lorenzo Bernal.
Antunecul accordingly crossed the Biobio and encamped in a place called Leokethal, where he was twice attacked by the governor of Conception, against whom he defended himself so vigorously that he repulsed him with considerable loss, and followed him after the second attack to the city which he closely invested, by disposing his troops in six divisions around its walls. He continued the siege for two months, almost every day of which period was distinguished by some gallant assault or successful skirmish; but finding all his attempts to gain possession of the place unavailing, and being unable to prevent the introduction of frequent succours by sea to the besieged, he at length withdrew with the intention of making a new attempt at a more favourable opportunity.