The Battle of Cepeda in 1859, the second of that name, was a warlike encounter that took place in the province of Buenos Aires, due to the conflicts that arose from the declaration of independence in Argentina.
The battle was fought on October 23 in the Cañada de Cepeda (Santa Fé, Argentina). The two fighting parties were the forces of the State of Buenos Aires, which had separated from the rest of the country, and the forces of the Argentine Confederation.
After the defeat of Bartolomé Miter, leader of the army of the State of Buenos Aires, the battle ended the secession of this part of the country.
Due to the events that took place after the battle, the province had to accept the federal constitution of 1853, signing the San José de Flores national pact.
Background
Before the entry into force of the Republican Constitution of 1853, and after the Battle of Caseros, the Argentine province of Buenos Aires was established as an independent state.
However, the Argentine Confederation still needed the port of Buenos Aires to be able to trade abroad.
After several unsuccessful attempts to peacefully reincorporate the province to the rest of the country, Confederate leaders took a warlike approach.
After the assassination of the governor of the province of San Juan in 1859, allegedly perpetrated by an agent of the dissident province, the Congress of the Confederation approved a law that triggered an armed conflict between the two forces.
In this law, Congress granted President Urquiza the power to "peacefully reintegrate the province of Buenos Aires." But if this was not possible, the president had permission to do so by force.
After the approval of this law, which the government of Buenos Aires interpreted as a declaration of war, the Parliament of the dissident province gave the governor permission to face any military threat using the armed forces of the province.
The Buenos Aires army undertook two offensive maneuvers at the same time. On the one hand, the Navy received orders to blockade Panama (the capital of the Confederacy) by sea.
On the other, Bartolomé Miter, leader of the Buenos Aires troops, was entrusted with the mission of attacking the province of Santa Fé.
Despite the fact that several countries tried to force the two parties to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, the negotiations did not come to fruition.
This was mainly due to the demand by Buenos Aires that Urquiza, the president of the Confederation, abdicate.
Consequences
After defeating the Buenos Aires forces, Urquiza camped in the city of San José de Flores to continue negotiations.
With the mediation of Francisco Solano López, an ambassador from Paraguay, the two parties in conflict ended up reaching an agreement on November 11, 1859.
The Pact of San José de Flores reincorporated Buenos Aires to the Republic, in exchange for granting it certain special privileges that consolidated the importance of the province over the years.
References
- Ramón J. Cárcano. (1922). From the site of Buenos Aires to the Cepeda field. Buenos Aires: Coni.
- Juan B. Leoni. (2015). Archeology and the study of battlefields: the case of the battle of Cepeda, 1859. Regional History, 33, 77-101.
- Alain Rouquié. (1987). The Military and the State in Latin America. California: University of California Press.
- Elisa Ferrari Oyhanarte. (1909). Cepeda, October 23, 1859: monographic essay devoted to the study of a political face of Argentine history at the time of the national organization, the separation and reincorporation of Buenos Aires to the confederation in the light of official documents, causes and results of the Battle of Cepeda. Buenos Aires: Impr. of Coni Hnos.
Battle of Cepeda (1859). (Without date). On Wikipedia. Retrieved on October 14, 2017 from en.wikipedia.org.