Everything about The Battle Of San Lorenzo totally explained
The
Battle of San Lorenzo was a military engagement of the
Argentine War of Independence, between
realistas (royalists, loyal to the
Spanish Crown), led by General
José Zavala, and the rebel forces of the
Granaderos a Caballo (Mounted Grenadiers), the
cavalry elite unit led by General
José de San Martín. This was also the first combat action for San Martin's men.
The clash took place on
3 February 1813 in
San Lorenzo, province of
Santa Fe. The royalists, about 250 men, sailed on eleven ships from their base in
Montevideo, up the
Río de la Plata and the
Paraná River, passing by the port of
Rosario (then a small village), and landed a few kilometres north on San Lorenzo's port, near the San Carlos Monastery, at about 5:30 in the morning.
Though covered by cannon fire from the ships, the royalist forces were quickly diminished and had to retreat. According to San Martín's report, the royalists lost 40 men, at least 12 were wounded, and 14 were taken as prisoners by the rebels, who in turn lost 14 men, out of about 125.
It was during this battle that sergeant
Juan Bautista Cabral gave his life to save San Martín, who got trapped under his horse.
The Mounted Grenadiers casualties were:
- Juanario Luna, José Gregorio and Basilio Bustos; from San Luis
- Juan Bautista Cabral and Feliciano Silva; from Corrientes
- Ramón Saavedra and Blas Vargas; from Santiago del Estero
- Ramón Amador and Domingo Soriano; from La Rioja
- José Márquez and José Manuel Díaz; from Córdoba
- José Mateo Jelvez; from Buenos Aires
- Domingo Pourteu; from Los Pirineos
- Julián Alzogaray; from Chile
- Capitán Justo Bermúdez, died 14 days later from complications of his battle wounds.
The March of San Lorenzo
There is a patriotic
march commemorating the battle. The music for this
Marcha de San Lorenzo was composed on February 1901 by Cayetano Alberto Silva (1868–1920), a director of several military bands. It was first played officially and publicly on
1902-10-30, at the inauguration of the monument to General San Martín in Rosario. The lyrics were written by professor Carlos Benielli in 1908.
References to the battle
The legacy of the battle was preserved in the names of four towns in the
Greater Rosario area:
Puerto General San Martín (named after the victorious general, like many other places in Argentina),
Fray Luis Beltrán (a
friar of the monastery, where the wounded were given care),
Capitán Bermúdez (a captain of San Martín's forces), and
Granadero Baigorria (a soldier of the
Granaderos unit). A street in the oldest part of Rosario is named Bajada Sargento Cabral, after sergeant Juan Bautista Cabral. An major avenue in Rosario is also named San Martín, and the road that goes through the towns mentioned above keeps its name, San Martín Avenue, in all of them.
The San Carlos Monastery preserves the remains of the dead soldiers in an urn. It has a historical museum about the battle, and the cell occupied by General San Martín can be visited. In front of it there's a monument commemorating the battle, and the battlefield (
Campo de la Gloria). On the back of the building there's an ancient tree, under whose shadow San Martín wrote his briefing about the battle.
Further Information
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