Battle of Cuchilla del Tambo 1816
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 29 June 1816 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1816 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Colombia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | South America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Spanish reconquest of New Granada | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 2.4542, -76.8178 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of La Cuchilla de El Tambo was fought during the Colombian War of Independence, fought between the Republican troops of New Granada and the expeditionary force of the Spanish crown who came to reconquer its former colony. It took place on 29 June 1816, at a place called La cuchilla del Tambo (the ridge of El Tambo), in the vicinity of the town of Popayán (in the south of the present-day Colombia). The Republican troops were completely defeated by the Royalist army. This triumph ended the First Republic of New Granada and completed the Spanish reconquest of New Granada.
On June 27, 1816, Lieutenant Colonel Liborio Mejía and his 680 troops of the southern army of the army of the union left Popayan in the direction of Tambo to meet their enemy. On June 29 they found the Spanish troops who were numerically superior and positioned high up on the ridge of the Cuchilla de El Tambo, which they had fortified and was protected by artillery. The Republican troops fought fiercely for 3 hours but were kept at bay by enemy fire. They were finally surrounded and forced to surrender, with only Mejía and a few men managing to escape.
At the end of the fighting, the battlefield was littered with 250 dead Patriots, while Sámano took 300 prisoners and recovered all the Patriots' war material.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Cuchilla del Tambo (revision 1375450424), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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