Battle of Cerro Corá
The Battle of Cerro Corá was the last battle of the Paraguayan War, fought on 1 March 1870, in the vicinity of Cerro Corá, northeast of Paraguay's capital Asunción. It is known for being the battle in which Francisco Solano López, Paraguayan president, was killed at the hands of the Imperial Brazilian Army.
The Paraguayan War was dragging on for more than five years and, after numerous battles, the Paraguayan army had been reduced to the elderly, the sick and children. The battle of Acosta Ñu was the last major combat of the war, which from then on was restricted to occasional skirmishes in the final months of 1869 and beginning of 1870. During this period, the Count of Eu, the allied commander-in-chief, organized expeditions in search of Solano López, following the path his column had taken. Along the way, López's and Eu's men made the civilian population suffer, either because of alleged conspiracies against López, or because of the looting and mistreatment inflicted by imperial troops. On 8 February 1870, López and his column reached Cerro Corá.
Conditions in the camp were deplorable, with the five hundred people who accompanied López in extreme hunger. In Cerro Corá, one head of cattle was slaughtered a day to feed everyone. The defensive positions organized by López were deficient, and to this was added the weak armament present. Brazilian troops, with about 2,600 men under the command of general José Antônio Correia da Câmara, approached and surrounded the camp, without López's knowledge. On 1 March they attacked on two sides: from the front and from the rear. The two defensive points, on the Tacuara and Aquidaban streams, quickly fell and the assault on the camp lasted a few minutes, with the resistance dispersing soon after.
López was surrounded by the Brazilians and, after refusing to surrender, was wounded with a spear by corporal Francisco Lacerda, fleeing into the forest soon after. General Câmara followed him and found him close to the Aquidaban stream, where he again refused to surrender, being shot by João Soares. The facts surrounding his death are shrouded in disagreements and inaccuracies. The battle ended soon after, with about 100 Paraguayans killed, 240 captured and seven Brazilians wounded. Time has given rise to interpretations of López's figure, portraying him both as a cruel tyrant and as a great Paraguayan leader. Over the years, the name Cerro Corá would become part of Paraguayan culture, baptizing streets, buildings, a national park, in addition to being the title of a feature film from 1978.
Background
The war
The Paraguayan War was the largest armed conflict in South America, involving Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay against Paraguay. It began in November 1864, when Solano López ordered the capture of the Brazilian steamer Marquês de Olinda, which was steaming on the Paraguay River and carrying the president of the province of Mato Grosso, Frederico Carneiro de Campos. In December of the same year, López ordered the invasion of this province. At the same time, the Paraguayan president coordinated military offensives that eventually led to the invasion of Corrientes, in Argentina, and the invasion of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil. This hostile act prompted the formation of the Triple Alliance, on 1 May 1865, between the invaded countries and Uruguay. The Paraguayan attack on Corrientes and Rio Grande do Sul proved to be a military failure, forcing López's troops to retreat into their territory, going from attacking to being attacked by Triple Alliance. In the meantime, the naval Battle of Riachuelo took place, in which the Imperial Brazilian Navy dealt a major defeat to the Paraguayan Navy that destroyed almost its entire fleet, imposed a naval blockade and isolated the country from the outside world.On 24 May 1866, already in Paraguayan territory, the biggest pitched battle of the entire war took place, the Battle of Tuyutí, which involved about 55,000 men, 32,000 allies and 23,000 Paraguayans. In this battle the allies triumphed, but were close to being defeated, given the surprise Paraguayan attack. The latter suffered about thirteen thousand casualties. Months later, the Battle of Curupayty was fought, characterized as being the biggest allied defeat, with the loss of approximately four thousand soldiers. About two years later, the allies won an important victory at the Fortress of Humaitá. The site was a strategic point and its conquest allowed the occupation of the Paraguayan capital, Asunción, on 1 January 1869. After the occupation of the city, Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, the Marquess of Caxias, until then the allied commander-in-chief, deemed the war over and withdrew from the conflict. He was replaced by Gaston, the Count of Eu, who continued the last phase of the war, known as the Cordilleras Campaign. At this stage, the fighting took place against what was left of López's army: mostly sick, elderly and children, as evidenced at the Battle of Acosta Ñu.
The hunt for Solano Lopez
The battles of Piribebuy and Acosta Ñu were the last two major clashes of the war. What was left of the Paraguayan soldiers who took part in them joined Solano López, before heading to the Hondo stream. From there, the column marched to the village of Caraguatay, where the Paraguayan president proclaimed it the fourth capital of the country. At this point, the numerical superiority of the allies allowed them to organize three columns, with the intention of flanking Lopez's column, reaching the three paths that led to Caraguatay. The first column, the 2nd Army Corps under the command of marshal Vitorino José Carneiro Monteiro, coming from Campo Grande, advanced along the trail of Caaguijurú, on the central path of the village. The second column, a mixed force of Argentines and Brazilians commanded by generals Emílio Mitre and José Auto da Silva Guimarães, advanced to the right of the first column. On the left marched the 1st Army Corps commanded directly by the Count of Eu. Dionísio Cerqueira, at the time an ensign in Vitorino's column, witnessed a scene, which he called a "horrible scene", when they approached the trail. Some Brazilian soldiers were found mutilated and hanged from tree branches, over bonfires that had charred their feet. According to Cerqueira, such a scene "filled the soldiers with indignation".On 18 August 1869, general Vitorino's column reached the road at Caaguijurú where there were about 1,200 entrenched Paraguayans. A quick combat ensued, with the Brazilians motivated to avenge their fallen comrades; the Paraguayans suffered a complete defeat. Also in revenge, general Vitorino authorized the beheading of the Paraguayan officers who survived the battle, a little over 16 men. On the next day, the three columns reached Caraguatay, whose residents suffered at the hands of the Brazilian troops. By this time, López had already fled, crossing the Salladilo stream, near the Manduvirá river. In the village, the Brazilians were received by 80 women and children who managed to escape from a kind of concentration camp called Espadín, a place used by López to imprison the "destinadas", women who were accused of treason. The Count of Eu then dispatched a cavalry force there, under the command of colonel Moura; upon arriving at Espadín he found and rescued about 1,200 women and children in a state of misery. Upon learning of the presence of the Brazilians, the women were elated with joy, moved by their release. It was very common, in the search for Solano López, to find starving women, dressed in rags, who begged with outstretched hands for flour or meat.
The allies wanted to maintain pressure on López, with the goal of preventing the reorganization of his forces. Therefore, still on 18 August, the Argentine general Mitre sent a force of Brazilian cavalry to march in pursuit of López's column, with the general joining it the next day. That day they reached Manduvirá, advancing until they reached the Salladilo stream, joining the Argentine regiment San Martín, which was in the Paraguayan rear, but López had already moved from there. On 20 August, a small Brazilian force, under the command of colonel Carlos Neri, faced the rearguard of the Paraguayans in the Hondo stream, about 30 kilometers from Caraguatay, but decided to camp there along with the rest of Mitre's troops. The next day they advanced on the Paraguayans, but before attacking, general Mitre sent a note to the Paraguayan commander demanding their surrender within thirty minutes, under the guarantee that they would live and return home. But if they refused, even the eventual prisoners would be beheaded, causing surprise both for Solano López, who was outraged by the note, and for the Count of Eu, who said he had been unaware of the incident, due to the novelty of the content of the message. At the end of the term, the Brazilians found that the Paraguayans had taken advantage of the given time to flee.
During the escape, López began to discover alleged plots by his subordinates to kill him. On 27 August, three Paraguayan spies, colonel Hilario Marcó and 86 other soldiers were executed. On 7 September, the column camped near the Capiibary stream, where López ordered the death of a few more soldiers who supposedly were involved in the conspiracy. When passing through this route, the Brazilian troops found the bones and more than one hundred skulls of these Paraguayans. New battles took place between the Brazilians and Paraguayans on 21 September, in the town of San Isidoro and on the next day, in Hurucuatí, near the town of San Joaquín, all won by the Brazilians, the latter being occupied by the troops. In pursuit of the remnants, captain Pedro Werlang reported seeing hundreds of dead people lying on the road, murdered because they were exhausted and sick. They were men, women and children, killed to avoid being captured by the Brazilians. In October, the 1st Brazilian Army Corps remained in Caraguatay and the 2nd Corps occupied San Joaquín. There were Argentine soldiers and some anti-López Paraguayans in both armies, but the Argentine forces withdrew, leaving only 800 men in that region. The few Uruguayan soldiers in Paraguay were camped on Cerro León. From then on, it was up to the Brazilians to capture Solano López.
On 26 September, the Count of Eu was having difficulties in maneuvering his army in pursuit of the Paraguayan president, due to constant supply issues, and in order not to let López escape through the interior, he divided his forces into small vanguards. One of these, under the command of Fidélis Pais da Silva, reached and captured the town of Curuguaty on the 28th. Meanwhile, a column of 2,600 men from Concepción, led by general José Antônio Correia da Câmara, guarded the Mato Grosso border to prevent López from crossing the Paraguay River to the right bank. López's column headed east towards the Maracaju Mountain Range at the end of December. In the first months of 1870, the Brazilians found out that López was in this region, heading towards Ponta Porã, then deviating towards Chiriguelo. From there, López and the few remnants of his army headed for Cerro Corá.