Battle of Cuchilla del Tambo

Battle of Cuchilla del Tambo
Part of the Colombian War of Independence
Painting of the battle by José María Espinosa Prieto (1850).
Date 29 June 1816 Location El Tambo, Cauca, Viceroyalty of New Granada 2°27′15″N 76°49′04″W / 2.45417°N 76.8178°W / 2.45417; -76.8178 Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
United Provinces of New Granada	Kingdom of Spain
Commanders and leaders
Liborio Mejía	Juan de Sámano
Strength
770 men[1]	1,400 men[1]
Casualties and losses
250 killed, 300 prisoners[1]	light

The Battle of La Cuchilla del 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 Mejia 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 del 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.^[1]

The Spanish then took Popayán shortly after, Colonel Mejia and the last remnants of the army of the union would be defeated days later at the Battle of La Plata marking the end of the first republic and the completion of the Spanish Reconquest of New Granada. The following months would see the arrest and executions of many of the Neogranadine patriots who had spearheaded the revolution in 1810 as well military officers and their supporters by orders of Generals Pablo Morillo and Juan de Sámano and what is known as the Regime of Terror.