Battle of San Francisco
The Battle of San Francisco, also known as the Battle of Dolores (not to be confused with the Battle of Dolores River (1904) during the Philippine–American War), was a major battle in the Tarapacá Campaign of the War of the Pacific, fought on November 19, 1879, in the Peruvian department of Tarapacá. A Chilean army under Colonel Emilio Sotomayor had moved via Dolores rail road deep into the desert and was encamped at San Francisco Saltpeter Office, about 30 kilometers south east of the port of Pisagua. Allied forces under General Juan Buendía launched an attack on Sotomayor's army. At the beginning, Bolivian General Carlos Villegas pressed the attack over a poorly defended battery right in the Chilean centre and almost succeeded. Only the arrival of infantry support allowed Colonel José Domingo Amunátegui to hold the position.