José de San Martín Manuel Rodríguez had returned to Chile before the crossing, and began a guerrilla war in Santiago de Chile against the royalists, in support of the upcoming army. He was supported in the south of the city and the countryside. The strategy was to occupy nearby villages, seize the royalists' weapons and flee. The attacks on Melipilla and San Fernando, and a failed one at Curicó, demoralized the royalists. The columns that crossed the Andes began to take military actions. The column in the north led by Cabot defeated the royalists in Salala, seized Coquimbo and then Copiapó. In the south,
Jerónimo Bernardo de Quirós Jerónimo Bernardo de Quirós Jerónimo Bernardo de Quirós, O. Praem. (died 1617) was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Pozzuoli (1604–1617) and Bishop of Castellammare di Stabia (1601–1604). Jerónimo Bernardo de Quirós was born in Spain and ordained a priest in the Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré. On 28 January 1601, he was consecrated bishop by Antonmaria Sauli, Cardinal-Priest of Santo Stefano al Monte Celio, with Agostino Quinzio, Bishop of Korčula, and Giovanni Battista del Tufo, Bishop of Acerra, serving as co-consecrators. On 15 February 1601, he was appointed during the papacy of Pope Clement VIII