Battle of the Palo River

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Battle of the Palo River
Part of Colombian War of Independence
Battle of the Palo River by José María Espinosa
Date July 5, 1815 Location near Caloto, Cauca Result Patriot victory
Belligerents
New Granada	Kingdom of Spain
Commanders and leaders
José María Cabal Carlos de Montúfar Manuel Roergas Serviez Liborio Mejía José María Córdova	Aparicio Vidaurrázaga Francisco Soriano † Joaquín de Paz †
Strength
1,200	2,100
Casualties and losses
49 dead 121 wounded	315 dead 500 captured

The Battle of the Palo River (Spanish: Batalla del río Palo) was a battle of the Colombian War of Independence fought on July 5, 1815 in which the army of the south of the United Provinces of New Granada defeated the Spanish Royalist army of Quito.

After the failure of Nariño’s southern campaign in 1814, the remnants of the Patriot army withdrew to Popayán which was by then under the command of colonel Jose Maria Cabal. The victorious Royalists, now under Lieutenant Colonel Aparicio Vidaurrázaga, went on a counter offensive in late December of 1814 and captured the city of Popayán on December 29, 1814. They looked to invade the Cauca Valley where the patriots had retreated, and if successful, reconquer the rest of New Granada. Cabal, brigadier general by then, placed most of his forces on a foritifed position on the north bank of the Palo River where he planned to lead his enemy to. The battle occurred after a series of retreating skirmishes broke out between the patriot vanguard and the royalist vangaurd in june of 1815. The royalists appeared on the south bank of the Palo river on July 4, and began their assault during the early morning hours of July 5.

The battle was a decisive victory and one of the most important battles of the Colombian war of independence. The victory at Palo River allowed the patriots to recapture Popayán and push the royalists back to Pasto. For the next year, the Cauca province was free of royalist presence until June 1816, when the royalists conducted an offensive in tandem with Pablo Morillo’s expeditionary army from Spain coming from the north.^[1]