Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/320



290 A WEEK AT CORTIIENTES.

on the 3rd April the Brazilian squadron,, under the Com- mandante Gomensoro^ left Buenos Aires to attack the in- vader. They occupied forty- two days in making 600 miles. Gomensoro and Lagrana met with the view of com- bining operations; meanwhile General Caceres, a resident triumvir^ brought into the field 600 soldiers^ and thus General Wenceslao Paunero^ the Argentine who commanded the land forces^ found himself at the head of 1 600 men.

On 25 th May, 1865, took place the " Battle of Cor- rientes/^ under cover of the Brazilian artillery, which fired at friend as well as foe. General Paunero landed his men at the mouth of the Arroyo del Poncho Verde, also called the Manancial : it is the northern one of the two nullahs which traverse the town. The Paraguayans de- fended the old stone causeway, or bridge with one round arch, which leads over the fiumara to the settlement, till, losing about 400 men and seeing the cause hopeless, they fell back during the night about a mile to the south. For this offence the Paraguayan Colonel Martinez was subsequently shot at Paso la Patria. Paunero occupied the Plaza 25 de Maio, and busied himself in embarking the wounded and those partisans who wished to leave the country. It is said that a stampede of horses in the dark caused the assai- lants to make for the squadron, and that in so doing many of the Allies were drowned. After a single day^s occupation Paunero and his expedition returned to the main army, and Berges with his triumvirate once more occupied the city.

The loss of the Argentines in this action about equalled that of the Paraguayans. The latter fought with a rare ferocity. " No tengo orden,-*^ replied a solitary soldier re- solved to die, when summoned to surrender. Another swarmed up an orange-tree, and had to be shot down like a bird. " Quero morir V' cried a disabled man, cutting at those who would save him. I was shown a boy ten years