Wreckage of San José

The Spanish city of Valdivia had been reestablished by the Spanish in 1645 following a 1643 Dutch attempt to establish a settlement in the location.[1] More than a city the Spanish settlement of Valdivia was by 1651 a military garrison tasked with constructing the Valdivian Fort System in case the Dutch or any other naval power would attempt to take Valdivia again. This garrison was financed by the Real Situado, an annual payment of silver to strengthen the military of war-thorn Chile. As Valdivia was surrounded by hostile Mapuche territory the only access to the Spanish settlement was by sea. In January 1651 the Spanish and Mapuches had celebrated the Parliament of Boroa renewing the fragile peace that had been established in the parliaments of Quilín of 1641 and 1647.[2]

The Spanish ship San José was sailing to Valdivia was pushed by storms onto coasts inhabited by the Cuncos, a southern Mapuche tribe.[3] There, the ship ran aground and while most of the crew managed to survive the wreck, nearby Cuncos killed them and took possession of the valuable cargo.[3][4] Subsequent Spanish expeditions reached the area by sea and made fruitless efforts to recover anything left in the wreck.[4][5] Governor Acuña Cabrera was temporarily dissuaded to send a punitive expedition from Boroa by Jesuits fathers Diego de Rosales and Juan de Moscoso who argued that the murders were committed by a few Indians and warned the governor that renewing warfare would evaporate gains obtained at Boroa.[4] Being a peripheral southern group the Cuncos had not taken part in the Spanish-Mapuche parliaments, yet the prospect of new hostilities was deemed to be detrimental to the peace with the tribes furthern north. Punitive expeditions were finally sent against the Cunco, one from Valdivia and one from Carelmapu.[5][6]

Governor of Valdivia Diego González Montero advanced south with his forces but soon found that tribes he expected to join him as allies were indifferent and even misled him with false rumors. His troops ran out of supplies and had to return to Valdivia.[5] While González Montero was away coastal Huilliches killed twelve Spanish and sending their heads to other Mapuche groups of southern Chile "as if they wanted to create a grand uprising" according to historian Diego Barros Arana.[5][6] Both Spanish expeditions were meant to meet each other at Bueno River but the failure of the expedition from Valdivia prevented this.[5] The expedition from Carelmapu led by Captain Ignacio Carrera Yturgoyen penetrated north to the vicinity of the ruins of Osorno where they were approached by Huilliches who handed over three "caciques", allegedly responsible for the murders.[5] The Spanish and local Huilliches exchanged words telling each other of the benefits of peace.[5] Then, the Spanish of Carelmapu executed the three, hanged them in hooks as a warning, and returned south. Spanish soldiers in Concepción, the "military capital"[7] of Chile, were dissatisfied with the results.[5][6] Historian Barros Arana consider some may have pushed for renewed war for personal benefit.[6]

• Barros Arana, Diego. "Capítulo XIV". Historia general de Chile (in Spanish). Tomo cuarto (Digital edition based on the second edition of 2000 ed.). Alicante: Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.
• Montt Pinto, Isabel (1971). Breve Historia de Valdivia (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Editorial Francisco de Aguirre. OCLC 1397610. Archived from the original on 18 February 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2014.