Battle of Peralonso

Battle of Peralonso
Part of the Santander Campaign of the Thousand Days' War
Sketch of La Laja Bridge, across which Rafael Uribe Uribe charged, by rebel colonel Peregrino Rivera Arce, 1900
Date 15-16 December 1899 Location Peralonso River, modern-day Norte de Santander, Colombia Result Liberal victory
Belligerents
Conservative Government	Liberal Rebels
Commanders and leaders
Vicente Villamizar Jorge Holguín Ramón González Valencia[1]	Rafael Uribe Uribe  (WIA) Benjamín Herrera  (WIA) Justo L. Durán Gabriel Vargas Santos[2]
Units involved
I Division Bárbula Battalion Nariño Battalion Boyacá Battalion II Division Sucre Battalion Granaderos Battalion Holguín Battalion Vencedores Battalion Tiradores de Gámbita Battalion III Division Mutiscua Battalion Pamplona Battalion Chinácota Battalion Cúcuta Battalion Gramalote Battalion Arboledas Battalion Salazar Battalion IV Division Medellín Battalion Vencedores Battalion Briceño Battalion Herrán Battalion Julio Arboleda Battalion V Division First Cauca Battalion Eleventh Cauca Battalion Thirteenth Cauca Battalion VI Division Córdoba Battalion Tiradores Battalion Tenerife Battalion[3]	Autonomous Revolutionary Army of Rafael Uribe Uribe Libres de Bogotá Cavalry Squadron Vargas Santos Cavalry Squadron Villar Battalion Maceo Battalion Vélez Battalion Vargas Santos Battalion First Bogotá Battalion Colombia Battalion Volitgeros Battalion Autonomous Revolutionary Army of Benjamín Herrera 14 battalions (numbered 1-14) Autonomous Revolutionary Army of Justo L. Durán Carmen de Santander Battalion Cazadores Battalion Córdoba Battalion La Palma Battalion Libres de Puerto Santos Battalion Libres de Ocaña Battalion[4]
Strength
5,610 [5][6]	4,000[7]
Casualties and losses
700 killed and wounded 900 captured 2,000 deserted[8]	750 killed and wounded[8]

The Battle of Peralonso (Spanish: Batalla de Peralonso), also known as the Battle of La Amarilla or the Battle of La Laja, was a major battle in the Santander Campaign of the Thousand Days' War in Colombia. It took place between 15 and 16 December 1899,^[9] ending in a decisive Liberal victory. Although the Liberal rebels had suffered a series of major defeats culminating in the failed attack on Bucaramanga on November 13, the Conservative forces failed to pursue the defeated Liberals.^[10] The Liberal forces splintered into three autonomous forces, led by Rafael Uribe Uribe, Benjamín Herrera, and Justo L. Durán,^[11] but they first regrouped in Cúcuta, which Herrera had occupied on November 1. Herrera abandoned the city, however, and the autonomous rebel armies shifted to new positions on and around the heights of  [es], north of Cúcuta and close to the border with Venezuela.^[12]

Cerro Tasajero offered a strong defensive position for the rebels, protected to the east by the Venezuelan border and protected to the west by a rail line that went north to La Arenosa. Uribe's forces occupied the heights, while Herrera positioned his army to the west on the Aguablanca rail line that connected Cúcuta to Puerto Villamizar to the north. Durán's forces occupied  [es], a corregimiento bordering Venezuela, on the Táchira River.^[13] The Conservative forces delayed in pressuing the Liberals, partially due to controversy when Minister of War José Santos appointed Vicente Villamizar supreme commander of the Conservative army instead of the more popular Manuel Casabianca.^[14]

On December 9, the Conservatives offered the entrenched Liberals amnesty in exchange for a surrender. The belligerents agreed upon a five-day ceasefire to negotiate, but the Liberals forces secretly decamped from Cerro Tasajero on December 13.^[15] They successfully took the rail line north to La Arenosa and attempted a circuitous march west, across the Zulia River, with the objective of evading the Conservative forces and probing deeper into Santander (modern-day Norte de Santander).^[16] Late on the night of the 13th, Villamizar ordered Ramón González Valencia, commander of III Division, to detain the fleeing rebels, promising that V Division under Jesús Zuluaga would reinforce shortly thereafter.^[17]

After a daylong march, troops of III Division encountered Liberal forces at the , a tributary of the Zulia, early the morning of December 15.^[18] González Valencia was outnumbered and III Division was exhausted and undersupplied. Zuluaga and V Division did not arrive in a timely fashion; meanwhile, intense skirmishing broke out over La Laja Bridge, a narrow structure that provided the only viable passageway across the Peralonso.^[19] Although III Division managed to hold off repeated rebel attempts to force a crossing, on December 16 Rafael Uribe Uribe personally led a charge across La Laja Bridge that routed the Conservative forces.^[20]

The Liberal triumph at the Battle of Peralonso gave the rebellion much-needed momentum, improving morale and logistics thanks to the large quantity of materiel captured from the fleeing Conservatives.^[21] The rebels also reclaimed Cúcuta after the government forces abandoned the city.^[22] In the aftermath of their triumph, Uribe and Herrera agreed to name Gabriel Vargas Santos the Supreme Director of the War for the Liberal side, as well as the Provisional President of Colombia, in a direct challenge to Manuel Antonio Sanclemente's Conservative administration.^[23] Vargas Santos, however, failed to capitalize on the momentum of the Liberal victory at Peralonso and mostly delayed any further action in the Santander Campaign until the Battle of Palonegro in May 1900.

References[]

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