General Paez was one of the chief heroes of the north.  His career was to the full as adventurous as that of any other revolutionary leader.  He enlisted in the first place as a common soldier in the militia of Barinos, and was soon after captured by the Spanish forces.  His execution, together with that of all the other prisoners, was ordered, and would have taken place on the following day but for some circumstances which enabled him to give his captors the slip.

The manner of his release was afterwards frequently recalled with no little awe by the superstitious.  At eleven o’clock at night the alarm was given that the Royalist forces were about to be attacked by the patriots, whose army had been seen advancing.  The Spaniards retreated in a panic, and Paez and his fellow-prisoners effected their escape.  The following morning, when the Royalists had recovered from their alarm, they could find no enemy within a radius of fifty miles.  This incident was put down by the populace to the intervention in his favour on the part of the host of departed spirits known as the “ejercito de las animas.”

Paez was extremely popular among his men, the hardy Llaneros of the northern plains, born horsemen and fighters, corresponding in many respects with the famous Gauchos of the south.  Paez himself was a magnificent horseman, and wielded the lance, the characteristic weapon of the Llaneros, to perfection.  He was thus doubly beloved of his troops, since it was these qualities, of course, which appealed to them more than the military strategy of which he gave such marked evidence.  On one occasion, when accompanied by very few of his own troops, Paez rode up to a powerful body of Royalist cavalry.  When quite close to the enemy his men turned their horses as though in sudden terror, and galloped away, hotly pursued by the Royalist horsemen.  When Paez considered that he had drawn these sufficiently far from their camp, he turned upon them and cut them up in detail.

His most extraordinary feat, however, was the capture of some Spanish gunboats on the River Apure by means of his Llanero cavalry.  This is an account of the feat as given by an eye-witness who was attached to the British Legion: 

“Bolivar stood on the shore gazing at these [the gunboats] in despair, and continued disconsolately parading in front of them, when Paez, who had been on the look out, rode up and inquired the cause of his disquietude.  His Excellency observed:  ’I would give the world to have possession of the Spanish flotilla, for without it I can never cross the river, and the troops are unable to march.’  ‘But it shall be yours in an hour,’ replied Paez.  ’It is impossible,’ said Bolivar; ‘and the men must all perish.’  ’Leave that to me,’ rejoined Paez, and galloped off.  In a few minutes he returned, bringing up his guard of honour, consisting of 300 lancers selected from the main body of the Llaneros for their proved bravery and strength, and, leading them