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,
Bernardo Antonio de' Medici Bernardo Antonio de' Medici Bernardo Antonio de' Medici (1476 – 1552) was an Italian bishop and diplomat. He was considered as one of the leading ambassadors of Cosimo I de' Medici. He was the son of Antonio de' Medici and Selvaggia di Felice del Beccuto. He was bishop of Forlì between 1528 and 1551, before being transferred to the diocese of Cassano on 23 October 1551. In 1537 Cosimo I gave him the delicate mission of getting confirmation of his right to the duchy (which had passed to him after Alessandro de' Medici's death) from Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.