(among them Carrera and O'Higgins) decided to flee to Mendoza, an Andean province of the newly independent Argentina. At the time, the governor of this province was José de San Martín, a leader of the Argentine independence movement who would become regarded as the "Simón Bolívar" of the southern part of Spanish South America. Upon the arrival of the exiles, San Martín immediately began to favor O'Higgins (probably because of their shared membership in the Logia Lautaro, a pro-independence secret society). Carrera's influence begun to fade and ended finally when he was executed by firing squad in 1821. While San Martín and O'Higgins organized an army to recross the Andes and recapture Santiago, they charged the lawyer Manuel Rodríguez with the task of mounting a guerrilla campaign. The goals of the campaign were to keep the Spanish forces off balance, ridicule San Bruno, and generally bolster the morale of the patriots. Through his subsequent daring exploits, Rodríguez became a romantic hero of the revolution. In one of his more celebrated actions, he disguised himself as a beggar and succeeded in obtaining alms from Governor Marcó del Pont himself, who by that time had put a price on Rodríguez's head. The liberating Army of the Andes was prepared by 1817. After a difficult crossing the Andes, royalist forces led by Rafael Maroto were encountered on the plain of Chacabuco, to the north of Santiago. The resulting Battle of Chacabuco, on February 12, 1817, was a decisive victory for the independence forces. As a result, the patriots re-entered Santiago. San Martín was proclaimed Supreme Director, but he declined the offer and put O'Higgins in the post, where he would remain until 1823. On the first anniversary of the Battle of Chacabuco, O'Higgins formally declared independence. Patria Nueva During the preceding time, Joaquín de la Pezuela was installed as a new viceroy in Peru. He resolved to recall his son-in-law, Mariano Osorio, sending him south with another expeditionary force. The troops disembarked at Concepcion, and recruited a number of Amerindians to join their ranks. Meanwhile, Bernardo O'Higgins moved north to somehow stop the advance of the royalists. However, his forces were surprised and very badly beaten at the Second Battle of Cancha Rayada on March 18, 1818. In the confusion, a false rumor spread that San Martin and O'Higgins had died, and a panic seized the patriot troops, many of whom agitated for