Battle of Vilcaconga
After emerging as victors in the battle of Cajamarca, some 180 Spaniards under Francisco Pizarro were in control of major parts of the vast Inca Empire and of its emperor, Atahualpa. After recovering a vast ransom for his release, Pizarro had the Inca executed on July 26 once his army disbanded and crossed the mountains to the south after rejoining Diego de Almagro, commanding some 100 Spaniards. The Incas under Atahualpas commander Quizquiz possessed, after the previous victory in the Inca Civil War tens of thousand Inca warriors around the area of Inca capital Cuzco, the main target of the Spanish conquistadors.
The Inca general commanded to fortified the mountain pass at Vilcaconga where the Spaniards would have to pass, and managed to ambush them, when a group of forty horsemen led by Hernando de Soto arrived. Several Spaniards were killed, and the rest was in deadly peril. The next day, however, another forty horsemen led by Almagro arrived. This combined force, though numerically outnumbered, managed to rout Quizquiz's forces and press further towards Cuzco. The Inca capital was captured by 15 November 1533.
