The Battle of Las Piedras was fought on May 18, 1811 as part of the

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an struggle for independence.

Background and development of events

In 1810, the

May Revolution The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terri ...

had forced the Spanish to abandon

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, 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 The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata ( es, Virreinato del Río de la Plata or es, Virreinato de las Provincias del Río de la Plata) meaning "River of the Silver", also called " Viceroyalty of the River Plate" in some scholarly writings, i ...

Montevideo Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern co ...

. At the beginning of April 1811, the revolutionary

José Gervasio Artigas José Gervasio Artigas Arnal (; June 19, 1764 – September 23, 1850) was a political leader, military general, statesman and national hero of Uruguay and the broader Río de la Plata region. He fought in the Latin American wars of in ...

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 at 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 Our Lady of Guadalupe ( es, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe ( es, Virgen de Guadalupe), is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus associated with a series of five Marian apparitions, which are believed t ...

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 was fought 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 "Curad a los heridos, clemencia para los vencidos" (''Cure the injured, mercy to the vanquished''), 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 , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_p ...

Importance of the battle

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 Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano y González (3 June 1770 – 20 June 1820), usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano (), was an Argentine public servant, economist, lawyer, politician, journalist, and military leader. He ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to t ...

and Paraná. After the battle, the Royalists remained in control of only Colonia del Sacramento and

, 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 The 18 May 1811 Medal ( es, Medalla 18 de Mayo 1811) is the second highest military decoration of the Uruguayan Army. The medal was established 16 December 1997 to complement the Medal of Military Merit, the highest decoration of the Uruguayan Ar ...

External links

Official website of the Bicentennial
{{Coord missing, Uruguay Colonial Uruguay Las Piedras 1811 Las Piedras Las Piedras Las Piedras 1811 in Uruguay May 1811 events Las Piedras, Uruguay

Background and development of events

Importance of the battle

See also

External links