CHAPTER XII.
THE ARMY OF THE ANDES.
1816—1817.
The organization of the Army of the Andes is one of the most extraordinary feats recorded in military history. It was a war machine, composed of men filled with the spirit of the Argentine Revolution and with a passion for things American, without which spirit and without which passion it could never have achieved the task before it. Never was the military automaton more thoroughly endued with human energy.
The auxiliary corps of Las Heras formed the nucleus of this army, to which was soon added two companies of the 8th Regiment from Buenos Ayres, with four field guns. In 1815 Colonel Zapiola joined it with two squadrons of the Grenadiers. These corps were greatly strengthened by volunteers, who joined them in Cuyo.
In 1816 the new Government appointed by the Congress of Tucuman, constituted it formally as The Army of the Andes, under the command of San Martin as Captain-General, with General Soler as chief of the Staff, and further strengthened it with the 7th Regiment of Infantry from Buenos Ayres, and additions to the 8th; Colonel Conde being placed in command of the 8th, and Colonel Cramer, a Frenchman, who had served under Napoleon, in command of the 7th. The 11th, under Las Heras, was divided into two battalions, of which the second became
