Battle of Tulcan

On July 31, 1862, in the city of Tulcan, a confrontation occurred between the troops of Pombo and Moreno, resulting in a victory for the Granada Confederation. Garcia Moreno was taken prisoner but later released.^[1]

Later events

these events left the situation tense between ecuador and the nascent united states of colombia.

Mosquera went to Antioquia and assumed the government of that State by convening a convention, which was installed on February 4, 1863 in Rionegro and in it the country was given the name of the United States of Colombia (1863-1886).

Ecuador sent the diplomat Antonio Flores Jijón, who made an agreement with the Mosquerista government, but the Ecuadorian president ignored the treaty and went to war. García Moreno sent General Juan José Flores,Mosquera had to go out to fight General Juan José Flores, head of the Ecuadorian armed forces, who had seized Tumaco and Túquerres with 5,000 infantry, 1,000 horsemen and some artillery pieces.^[2] being in charge of the government colombian Juan José Uricoechea.On August 15, Mosquera arrived in the territory of what is now the department of Nariño, beginning skirmishes and small battles in which the enemies recognized each other. The strength of the Ecuadorians rested on their cavalry, but it was not until December that the army was risked in battle.The Ecuadorians had crossed the border on November 21 of that year.The intention of the Ecuadorians, apart from the political quarrels between the two governments, was the annexation of the Pasto region, which they considered as their own.

Mosquera left 2,000 of his men in San Juan de Pasto and advanced with 1,000 vanguard soldiers to confront the enemy, awaiting him in the town of Guachucal, near Túquerres, but seeing the numerical superiority of the enemy, he decided to retreat and ordered the rest of his troops leaving Pasto to join forces, the city was immediately occupied by the Ecuadorians while several battalions of Colombian conservative soldiers deserted and went on to support the invading forces.

On November 26 Mosquera advanced with his troops to Sapuyes, near Túquerres, and then Chaitán where he divided his forces into two, one attacked the Malavar bridge and the other the San Guillermo bridge, positions defended by the Ecuadorian general Manuel Tomás Maldonado, being Rejected both times. At that time Mosquera was in the Chupadero plain and Maldonado advised Flores to attack the enemy in retreat with the cavalry, which was rejected by the latter.

The Colombian army then opted to continuously move around avoiding a battle until they had fully regrouped after their defeat and finally entered enemy territory,Mosquera finally entrenched himself in Cuaspud on December 3.

Battle of Cuaspud

Tomas cipriano de mosquera

García Moreno orders General Flores to mobilize towards the north of Ecuador almost all of the existing battalions in the territory, around 8,200 infantrymen and 1,150 Horsemen distributed in 4 divisions: Draquea, Salvador, Maldonado and Dávalos.

The first division, Draquea, was made up of the 2nd battalions from Pichincha, 1st, 2nd, 3rd from Imbabura and Babahoyo; the second division, Salvador, from the battalions of Guayas, Yaguachi, León and Oriente; the 3rd Division, Maldonado, from the 1st, 2nd Avengers, Chimborazo and Daule, and the 4th Division, Dávalos, from the 1st and 2nd Regiments and the Artillery Brigade; The Chiefs of the battalions of the First Division were, in order: Sáenz, Dalgo, Conde, Echanique and Rivadeneira; those of the 2nd: Pereira, Viteri, Echeverría and Mata; those of the 3rd, Espinoza, Aparicio, Larrea and Campuzano; those of the 4th, Maldonado, Ventimilla and Salazar.^[3]

General Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera mobilized 4,000 soldiers and 120 horsemen, the latter commanded by Colonel Acero, in such a way that only three divisions led by Generals Sánchez, Rudensindo López, and Colonel Gregorio Rincón could be organized. The battalions that were able to get ready to fight were the Amalia, the Bomboná, the Pasto, the 2nd and 5th Vargas, the Cariaco, the Pichincha, the Voltígeros, the Tiradores, the Bogotá, the Guitarra, the Palacé and the Granaderos. The main chiefs of these corps were General Bohórquez, General Armero (head of the 4-cannon artillery), General Anzola, General Pedro Marcos de la Rosa, and Colonels Vezga, Manuel Guzmán, José Chaves, Miguel Ángel Portillo. , Escarraga, Soto and Castillo.

At the beginning of December, Mosquera took a map, and after observing the siege of Cuaspud (current department of Nariño), he pointed to it with a pin exclaiming: "here I have to annul the cavalry of Flores". At this point was located a border farm with Ecuador, which was characterized by being swampy, with its hills and mudflats completely hidden by thick wild vegetation, a natural product of stagnant moisture as in a large mud lake. On the afternoon of December 4, the Colombian army arrived at the town of Cumbal and the Ecuadorian army stationed itself at the Chautalá hacienda, in front of the first town. On December 5, Flores received the last troop reinforcement sent from Tulcán by Colonel Gómez de la Torre; all these movements announced the proximity of combat.

Flores had no campaign plan, he only moved as his adversary moved. On December 6, Mosquera ordered that the Cumbal camp be raised and he headed towards Carchi, the foregoing due to the loss of part of the horses and oxen that loaded the cannons; Flores immediately set his eight thousand soldiers on the move, sending the 1st and 2nd Avengers battalions and three hundred horsemen in the direction of Mosquera, the two sides suddenly meeting on the slopes of the hill called Cuaspud, so close that they were almost point-blank fire. With a feigned order to his lieutenant General Payan, Mosquera made believe that he would attack Quito, Flores charged and Payan feigned retreat to Cuaspud; when the Ecuadorians fell into the swamp, Payan attacked with violence while Mosquera, with fresh troops, crowned the victory.

This move by Mosquera and his army managed to place it on the hill, interposed between Flores and El Carchi and also defended to a large extent by the deep swamps that had the appearance of simple pastures. When the battle began on December 6, 1863, more than 1,200 cavalrymen of the Ecuadorian forces were trapped, being shot by Colombian riflemen. The rest of the army fled, falling more than three thousand prisoners between officers and subordinates, who under the promise of not taking up arms against Mosquera, were released.

After the failure of the battle, many Ecuadorian soldiers flee, seeking refuge in nearby houses and even in towns near the battlefield.

Mosquera, after the battle, advanced to Carlosama, where he established his military headquarters. On December 7, he received a letter from Flores, dated Tusa, in which he proposed peace. The Colombian president agreed to it, and to negotiate it he commissioned General Antonio Gonzales Carazo; On December 21, the following armistice was signed in Ibarra^[4]

External links

• (Colombia) New Granada-Ecuador War 1863
• Augustine Berthe biography of Garcia Moreno