Battle of San Lorenzo

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Monument commemorating the battle at the Campo de la Gloria.

The Battle of San Lorenzo was the first military confrontation 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 unit led by General José de San Martín.

The battle 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 26 men, out of about 150.

It was during this battle that sergeant Juan Bautista Cabral supposedly gave his life to save San Martín, who got trapped under his horse.

[edit] 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.

[edit] References to the battle

San Carlos Monastery, opposite the battlefield.

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 is a monument commemorating the battle, and the battlefield (Campo de la Gloria). On the back of the building there is an ancient tree, under whose shadow San Martín wrote his briefing about the battle.