Page "Eusebio Ayala, Paraguay" Paragraph 5

The Battle of Acosta Ñu, the final major battle in the Paraguayan War.

was fought here on August 16th, 1869.

The Paraguayan army, composed of, by this time in the war, 6000 mostly elderly, children, adolescents, women and invalids, faced 20 000 Brazilians and Argentinians.

The battle began with an infantry assault on Paraguayan positions which lasted for eight hours until the Paraguayans retreated to a fortified redoubt.

The redoubt was destroyed by Brazilian artillery fire, and the defenders formed a defensive square around the eight cannon stationed there.

However, the square was soon destroyed by a huge Brazilian cavalry charge, but the battered Paraguayan survivours managed to scatter them afterwards.

The Brazilian commander, Gaston d ' Orléans, ordered a final bayonet charge, which broke the remaining Paraguayan lines.

General Caballero, the Paraguayan commander, finally ordered a withdrawal and left the field with his remaining 3000 troops.

According to Brazilian historian Chiavenatto, when Eu noticed movements within the forest behind the plain of Acosta, he believed that they were Paraguayans preparing a counter-attack, and so ordered his engineers to burn the forest.

The movement was in fact Paraguayan camp followers attempting to recover the injured from the field.