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| Battle of Las Piedras | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Spanish American wars of independence | |||||||
 Surrender of Posadas at Las Piedras, by Juan Manuel Blanes | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Criollos Orientales allies of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 José Posadas (POW) | José Gervasio Artigas Manuel Francisco Artigas | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
638
| Negligible | ||||||
The Battle of Las Piedras was fought on May 18, 1811 as part of the Uruguayan struggle for independence.
In 1810, the May Revolution forced the Spanish to abandon Buenos Aires, but they held on to the Banda Oriental (present-day Uruguay), as Spain moved the headquarters of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata to Montevideo. At the beginning of April 1811, the revolutionary José Gervasio Artigas returned to the Banda Oriental with approximately 180 men provided by the Government of Buenos Aires. On April 11, he issued the Mercedes Proclamation, assuming control of the revolution.
The Governor of Montevideo, Francisco Javier de Elío, appointed frigate-captain José Posadas as the head of the forces loyal to Spain. Posadas installed his headquarters at San Isidro Labrador de Las Piedras near Montevideo, to provoke a decisive battle against the revolutionaries.
Meanwhile, José Artigas was camped near Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe with an army of a thousand men. The army of Posadas counted 1230 men, of which some 200 would defect to Artigas in the midst of battle.
The battle happened on May 18 at Las Piedras, and resulted in a total victory for the revolutionaries. José Posadas capitulated. It was at this occasion that Artigas pronounced his famous sentence "Clemencia para los vencidos, curad a los heridos, respetad a los prisioneros" (Mercy to the vanquished, cure the injured, respect the prisioners), an unusual decision in those times, referring to the Spanish wounded and prisoners. One of the casualties on the revolutionary side was Manuel Artigas, nephew of José Artigas.
Both armies fought in the name of King Ferdinand VII of Spain.
Some historians consider the victory in the Battle of Las Piedras as crucial for the survival of the revolution in Uruguay and Argentina, after the defeats of General Manuel Belgrano in Paraguay and Paraná.
After the battle, the Royalists remained in control of only Colonia del Sacramento and Montevideo, which was finally taken by Carlos María de Alvear on June 20, 1814.
The day of the battle, May 18, is now an official holiday in Uruguay. The date is also commemorated in the military and civilian honour, the 18 May 1811 Medal.
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Gervasio Antonio de Posadas y Dávila was a member of Argentina's Second Triumvirate from 19 August 1813 to 31 January 1814, after which he served as Supreme Director until 9 January 1815.
José Gervasio Artigas Arnal was a soldier and statesman who is regarded as a national hero in Uruguay and the father of Uruguayan nationhood.
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Banda Oriental, or more fully Banda Oriental del Río Uruguay, was the name of the South American territories east of the Uruguay River and north of Río de la Plata that comprise the modern nation of Uruguay, the modern state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and part of the modern state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It was the easternmost territory of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, earlier known as the United Provinces of South America, was a name adopted in 1816 by the Congress of Tucumán for the region of South America that declared independence in 1816, with the Sovereign Congress taking place in 1813, during the Argentine War of Independence (1810–1818) that began with the May Revolution in 1810. It originally comprised rebellious territories of the former Spanish Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata dependencies and had Buenos Aires as its capital.
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The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown. On July 9, 1816, an assembly met in San Miguel de Tucumán, declared full independence with provisions for a national constitution.
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