Knowing that Latorre had advanced to Araure, the General moved with his army towards the town of San Carlos, where he received some reinforcements. As other independent commanders were harassing Latorre at different points, the Spaniard had to send some of his troops to repel these attacks, and so was forced to weaken his own army. Then he placed himself on the plain of Carabobo, where Bolívar, in 1814, had defeated the royalists commanded by Cagigal and Ceballos. There he was attacked by Bolívar on June 24, 1821. At eleven o'clock in the morning the battle began, and it developed with the swiftness of lightning. In an hour the royalist army was destroyed, not without great losses to the independents. In one hour not only the royalist army was defeated, but the Spanish domination in Venezuela had come to an end. In this battle, a very decisive rôle was played by the British legion, and by the brave _llaneros_ commanded by Páez. As the battle of Boyacá practically secured the independence of Nueva Granada, the battle of Carabobo secured the independence of Venezuela. Boyacá and Carabobo were up to that moment the greatest titles of glory for Bolívar, but his work was not completed, and America had still more and brighter glory in store for him. He, in his vigorous style, described the battle in a communication to the Congress, in which he said, among other things: "Yesterday the political birth of the Republic of Colombia was confirmed by a splendid victory." Then he praised Páez, whom he immediately promoted to the rank of full General of the Army, and paid last homage to General Cedeño, who died in action,-- "none braver than he, none more obedient to the Government ... He died in the middle of the battle, in the heroic manner in which the life of the brave of Colombia deserves to end.... "The Republic suffers an equal pain in the death of the most daring Colonel Plaza, who, filled with unparalleled enthusiasm, threw himself against an enemy battalion to conquer it. Colonel Plaza deserves the tears of Colombia ... The Spanish army had over 6,000 picked men. This army does not exist any more; 400 of the enemy's men entered Puerto Cabello today." The struggle for Venezuelan independence opened on April 19, 1810, in Caracas, and closed on June 24, 1821, at Carabobo. The Congress decreed the highest honors to the conquerors of Carabobo, ordered a day of public rejoicing throughout the whole country, and set the following day for the funerals of all those who had fallen on the field of battle. After the battle of Carabobo, Venezuela was divided into three military districts, which were placed under the command respectively of Mariño, Páez and Bermúdez, who had also been promoted to the rank of general. In this way, Bolívar tried to satisfy the ambitions of his officers, who, in more than one respect, considered their conquests as private property.