Porongos Massacre

Massacre dos Porongos
Part of Ragamuffin War
Date 14 November 1844 Location arroio Porongos (Pinheiro Machado) Result Loyalist victory
Belligerents
Riograndense Republic	Empire of Brazil
Commanders and leaders
David Canabarro, Teixeira Nunes †	Francisco Pedro Buarque de Abreu
Strength
150 lancers	260 soldiers
Casualties and losses
96 killed	55 killed

Porongos Massacre or Porongos Betrayal was the penultimate confrontation of the Ragamuffin War (1835-1845)^[1][2] and occurred on November 14, 1844. The battle was primarily responsible for ending the longest of Brazil's revolutions.^[3]

In November 1844, about a year before the end of the conflict, and with peace negotiations already underway, the more than 1,200 republicans, led by General David Canabarro, were surrounded and massacred in the unprotected countryside, due to Canabarro's negligence, according to some, or his treachery, according to others,^[4] by the more than 1,100 partisans who supported the Empire, led by Francisco Pedro de Abreu. Because of the siege and the military strategy constructed by Francisco de Abreu, it was possible to defeat the Republicans and, consequently, paralyze the anti-imperial revolutionary movement.^[3] Fearing a surprise attack, Antônio Netto decided to camp with his troops further away and ended up escaping defeat.^[4]

For the revolutionaries, the battle of Porongos resulted in the death of 110 supporters of the republic, the arrest of 333 men - 35 of them officers -, five banners, a cannon, utensils, archives, and more than 1000 horses. For this reason, the episode became known as one of the biggest losses that the republican movement had until then in the Ragamuffin War.^[3]