Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Huelen

HUELEN (way-leng'), Araucanian soldier, b. in Angol about 1540; d. near Osorno in 1603. He was cacique of the tribe of Trapan, and from his early youth acquired military knowledge in the wars against the Spaniards, so that after the death of toqui Colour, he was called by the united tribes to the chief command of the Araucanian forces in the beginning of 1599. Immediately he began to attack the forces of Gen. Viscarra, whom he kept at bay, and in July of that year gave battle to Gen. Quiñones in the plain of Yumbel, which lasted a whole day, and resulted in victory for the Spaniards, but with enormous losses. Two days afterward Huelen gathered his forces again and furiously attacked the unsuspecting Spaniards, whom he defeated. He had learned from the Spaniards their military tactics, and introduced great modifications into the Indian army, whom he also taught the management of the horses captured from the enemy. On 14 Nov., 1599, he surrounded the city of Valdivia with an army of 4,000 men, of whom 200 were covered with Spanish cuirasses, and 60 armed with arquebuses. He defeated the garrison in a sally, stormed the city, and put the whole garrison and many citizens to the sword, carried off the women, and after plundering the city burned it to the ground. For two years he continued to harass the Spaniards continuously. In 1601 he routed the forces under Alonso de Rivera, near Concepcion, and immediately attacked the city, which fell into his power and was razed to the ground. In 1602 he destroyed several colonies south of Bio-Bio, and in the beginning of 1603, with a powerful army, besieged the city of Osorno, but, after desperate efforts to capture it, retreated with the loss of many men. Scarcely a month had elapsed when he gathered a new army and appeared again before the fortress; but his advanced age and the results of many old wounds brought about his death before the siege had made any progress.