Cristobal Vaca de Castro

Oralloossa; or, the Last of the Incas (1832), a tragedy by Robert Montgomery Bird. [Arch Street Theatre (Philadelphia), 5 perf.] Having slain the Inca leader Atahualpa, Francisco Pizarro ( Daniel Redd) feels free to tighten his stranglehold on Peru. But he has not reckoned with Atahualpa's son, Oralloossa ( Edwin Forrest). The treacherous Diego de Almagro ( John R. Scott) urges Oralloossa on, hoping to supplant Pizarro. However, after Oralloossa kills the Spanish conquistador, Almagro turns Oralloossa's fellow Incas against him. Oralloossa is slain, and his sister, Orallie ( Miss Eliza Riddle), is buried alive. The new Viceroy, Vaca de Castro ( Mr. Quinn), orders Almagro put to death. This blank‐verse drama won one of several prizes Forrest offered for a new American play. Bird later stated he had two purposes in writing the play, “first, the portraiture of a barbarian in which is concentrated all those qualities of good and evil which are most strikingly characteristic of savage life; the second, to show how the noblest designs of a great man and the brightest destinies of a nation could be interrupted and destroyed by the unprincipled ambition of a single individual.” Forrest met with only indifferent success in the title role, though he continued to revive it on occasion. It also proved a popular vehicle for Edwin Adams until his early death.

Cristóbal Vaca de Castro , fl. 1540-45, Spanish colonial administrator in Peru. A judge of the royal audiencia at Valladolid, he was chosen by Charles V to restore order between the Pizarro and the Almagro factions. He was a man of integrity, sagacity, and courage. Arriving in 1541 and learning of the assassination of Francisco Pizarro , he assumed the governorship. Supported by Francisco de Carvajal , he put down the uprising headed by Almagro the younger (son of Diego de Almagro ), who was defeated in 1542. Vaca de Castro was succeeded by the first viceroy of Peru, Núñez Vela , in 1544. The viceroy, suspecting Vaca de Castro of sympathizing with the rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro, had him arrested. Returned to Spain in disgrace, Vaca de Castro was imprisoned for 12 years before he was cleared of all charges and restored to his honors. He probably died at some time after 1571.