[citation needed] According to the poetic work La Araucana the primary known wife of Caupolican was Fresia, although she is also named Gueden or Paca by other authors.

It appears that Caupolican was a member of a very respected family in Mapuche society, seeing as he and his brothers were always in the group of military leaders who planned battle strategies for the tribe.

[3] The name Caupolican became a symbol of Native American resistance, and his life and acts were collected by Alonso de Ercilla - one of the military captains in the army of Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza y Manrique - in his epic poem La Araucana and by Ruben Dario in his poem Caupolican.

The attack was highly disorganized, and despite the great numeric difference, the Mapuche were defeated in brutal hand-to-hand combat; leaving hundreds of dead and injured and 150 prisoners of war.

Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, ordered his soldiers to mutilate the right hand and nose of the prisoners to teach them a lesson.

The battle of Millarapue lasted from the early morning until 2 PM the following day, and Caupolican directed it from atop a white horse.

On 20 January 1558 the Spanish army suffered an attack on the fortified city of Cañete, in the which it was surrounded in siege by more than 15,000 Mapuches led by Caupolican.

Alonso de Reinoso, captain of the fort, had already expected the spy's visit and gave instructions to all his soldiers to pretend to be sleeping.

When almost the entire army was already inside the fort, they were received with rounds of gunfire that caused a high number of casualties among the attackers, who escaped in a disorganized fashion.

While the surviving Mapuche forces were still retreating, an advance party commanded by Pedro de Avendaño arrived at Pilmaiquen, and in the Battle of Antihuala (on 5 February 1558) they captured Caupolican, who was in process of preparing a counteroffensive.

The woman reprimanded him for having allowed himself to be captured alive; she threw the baby down at his feet and walked away, useless the cries given asking her to return for the child.

In modern times, Caupolican is recognized for his exploits in all of Chile by the naming of streets, theaters, parks and monuments in his honor.