He was thinking of Boves, Boves who had a large army, all the resources of the plains, and the support of public opinion, while he had neither men nor resources, nor the invigorating approval of his fellow citizens. Mariño established himself in La Puerta, a place of ill-omen for the patriots, and his position was disadvantageous. When Bolívar arrived to take charge of the army, it was too late to change the place, for Boves was to the front, with three times as many men as there were patriots. It was necessary to fight and it was impossible to conquer. All was lost. A patriot general (Antonio María Freites) killed himself in despair; some officers who had been with Bolívar since the beginning of his glorious career died on the field of battle. Boves killed all the wounded men and prisoners who fell into his hands. He invited a prisoner colonel (Jalón) to dine with him, and at the end of the meal he ordered him to be hanged and his head sent as a present to his friends at Calabozo. Mariño escaped in one direction, and Ribas and Bolívar went to Caracas, not without first taking all possible steps to hinder the advance of Boves towards the city. Bolívar was always full of enthusiasm. At that time his most frequent remark was: "The art of conquering is learned through defeats." This battle of La Puerta took place on June 15, 1814. Boves entered the city of La Victoria and then besieged Valencia, which resisted until every means of defense was gone and the defenders were dying of thirst and hunger. Boves proposed capitulation of the besieged and, it being accepted, entered the city on the 10th of July. The treaty provided for the inviolability of the life of all the inhabitants of the city, either military or civilian. Boves had sworn that he would fulfil this convention, but as soon as he had the city in his power he violated his own oath and, with his usual ferocity, put to the sword the governor, the officers, some hundreds of the army, and about ninety of the most prominent inhabitants. His officers forced the young ladies of the families of those who had died to attend a reception in honor of Boves.