The Paraguayan War

Front matter

THE |

NEAL d oia

T

Contents

List of Illustrations List of Maps Acknowledgments Introduction

THE DAWN OF NATIONHOOD 1. Environment and Society

5. The Misiones and Chaco Disputes 6. The Uruguayan Imbroglio

PART V: Conclusion

14. The Siege of Uruguaiana 15. Retreat to Paso de la Patria

The End of the Beginning

Notes Index

351 374 391 416 423 505

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va vols au Bus

ILLUSTRATIONS following page 254

. José Gaspar de Francia

Carlos Antonio López

. Emperor Dom Pedro Il

. Justo José de Urquiza

. Bartolomé Mitre

. Venancio Flores

. Marshal Francisco Solano López . Eliza Lynch

. Joaquim Marques Lisboa, baron of Tamandaré Charles Ames Washburn

Paraguayan army assembled at Asunción

Fort at Nova Coimbra

Battle of the Riachuelo

Adm. Francisco Manoel Barroso Battle of Yatai

Argentine encampment near Uruguaiana

Lt. Col. Antonio Estigarribia Allies land at Corrientes

MAPS

. South America, circa 1850

. Disputes with Brazil

. Chaco and Misiones Disputes

. The Banda Oriental, 1864-65

. The Mato Grosso Campaign, 1864 - 65 . The Corrientes Campaign, 1865

. Battle of the Riachuelo, 11 June 1865 . The Advance into Rio Grande

. Battle of Yataí, 17 August 1865

Acknowledgments

The inclination to give heavy weight to individual scholarship is well known in academic circles. The truth, of course, is that anyone embarking on a major study accumulates many scholarly and personal debts. My case is no different. I can hardly begin to thank all those friends and colleagues who have given me their encouragement and advice since I began this project some years ago. Most of what is good in the following volume comes as a direct result of their help.

Research in South America and the United States was made possible by grants from the Fulbright-Hays Program, the American Philosophical Society, and the University of Georgia Faculty Research Program.

I am grateful to the directors and staffs of various archives and libraries, including Asunción's Archivo Nacional, Biblioteca Nacional, Centro Paraguayo de Estudios Sociológicos, and Museo Histórico Militar; the Archivo General de la Nación (Buenos Aires), Archivo del Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Museo Mitre, Archivo General de la Provincia (Corrientes), Instituto de Investigaciones Geo-históricas (Resistencia), Archivo Histórico y Administrativo de Entre Ríos (Paraná); Instituto Histórico y Geográfico Brasileiro (Rio de Janeiro), Biblioteca Nacional (Rio), Biblioteca e Arquivo do Exército (Rio), Servico Documental Geral da Marinha (Rio), Arquivo Histórico do Rio Grande do Sul (Pórto Alegre); Biblioteca Nacional (Montevideo); Oliveira Lima Library (Washington), Nettie Lee Benson Library (University of Texas at Austin),

Spencer Library (University of Kansas), and Tomás Rivera Library (University of California, Riverside).

Scholars in several countries lent me critical counsel. Canadians Roderick J. Barman, Robert Wilcox, Stephen Bell, and Hendrik Kraay were especially helpful, as were Brazilians Heraldo Makrakis, Eliane Pérez, and Eduardo Italo Pesce. Uruguayans Alicia Barán, Luis Rodolfo González Rissotto, and particularly Juan Manuel Casal alerted me to some unusual sources and corrected some errors and weaknesses in the manuscript. I received other useful criticisms and advice from Argentines Tulio Halperín Donghi, Ariel de la Fuente, Dardo Ramírez Braschi, Alberto Rivera, and Miguel Agustin Medrano. And I owe an equal debt to Paraguayans Milda Rivarola and Arnaldo Fernández, Germans Wolf Lustig and Barbara Potthast, and Russian Moises Al'perovich.

In the United States, I benefited from the valuable suggestions of Richard Graham, Carol Reardon, William McFeely, Erick Langer, Peter Hoffer, Amber Smock, John Chasteen, Jeffrey Needell, Bryce Jaeck, and Shawn Lay. Theodore Webb, Billie Gammon, and Joseph Howell shared some fascinating documents with me. My greatest appreciation of all goes to Tom Davies, J. T. LaSaine Jr., Loren "Pat" Patterson, and Jerry W. Cooney, each of whom contributed immeasurably to the realization of this project.

Finally, I am grateful to my family and to many friends whose personal support was so very important to me during difficult times. My wife, Marta, had to tolerate a crotchety husband and an avalanche of dusty papers coming at her and our two sons from seemingly every direction. The following study is, as much as anything, a tribute to their patience and love.

xii Acknowledgments