The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-04 00:00:00

The War in the Brazils.

Subjoined is a more detailed account of the re-
cent operations by sea and land between the allied
forces and the Paraguayans than has yet been
published :
" The junction of Paunero with General Flores
took-place upon the 13th of August at the ford called
Sant'Anna, 22 miles from Passo dos Livres (Re-
stauracion), in which last place the Paraguayans
were, in strength about 3,000 or 3,500 men, with
four pieces of cannon.
" The forces of the allies consisted of :—Argen-
tines, six battaliOns of infantiy, two military legions

(chiefly foreigners) ; the Ist battalion of national
guards ; the battalion of the St. Nicholas national
guards, and the Ist battalion of Correntine national
guards ; 3 squadrons of artillery ; the Ist regiment
of cavalry of Correntes under General Madariaga.
They comprised four divisions. The Ist under
Col. Ignatio Rivas consisted of four battalions and
a squadron of artillery ; the 2d under Col. Arre-
dondo, of a similar force ; the 3d under Colonel
Mathias Rivera, of a squadron of artillery, the Ist
regiment of cavalry, and the Corrientes battalion ;
the 4th, under Gen. Madariaga, comprehended the
militia cavalry of Corrientes, consisting of the regi-
ments of Col. Paiva and Col. Reguera ; in all,
4,500 men.
" Brazilians—The sth and 7th battalions of in-
fantry of the line, forming a brigade under Col.
Coelho Kelly, and the battalion of volunteers raised
among the Brazilians in Uruguay by the Rio Gran-
dense Col. Fidelis ; about 1,200.

- " Orientals—Two battalions; Bustamente's legion
of volunteers ; a squadron of artillery with 8 rifled
guns ; the cavalry escort of Gen. Flores under his
son, and various other bodies of cavalry; in all about
3,200 men. The two battalions, the legion, and
Fidelis's corps formed two brigades under Colonel
Leon de Palleja. The artillery was under General
Nicasio Borges, and the cavalry, except the regi-
ment of the cavalry escort, was commanded by
General Gregorio Soares.

" The militia cavalry of General Madariaga were
sent in front to watch he enemy's movements, and
on the 16th the whole army marched in the direction
of Restauracion (Passo dos Livres), the Orientals
and Brazilians forming the vanguard, and advanced
as far as the Capiquise, leaving the rearguard under
Paunero two miles behind, General Madariaga
having brought intelligence that the enemy were
advancing, General Flores sent word to General
Paunero to hasten his march, and join the vanguard,
and decid d to give battle at the place he wag in—
that is beyond the Capiquise. However, a quarter
of an hour afteiwards he received another notice that
the enemy were retiring to Passo dos Livres. All
precautions were taken during the night to guard
against surprise.

" At 71 a.m. on the 17th the army marched to-
wards Pass dos Livres, six miles from the Capiquise,
in two parallel columns, with sufficient distances to
deploy in line, keeping in the advance the division
of. General Soares. When three miles were marched
over news was grought by the advance that the
enemy had left town, and were on the Ombusito,
miles to the north of it. Turning a little to the left,
the march continued, and after a little time it was
ascertained that the enemy, learning of the ap-
proach of the allies, were preparing to resist. The
advanced cavalry then took position on the left.
The enemy, concealed on the other side of the deep
ravine of Ombusito, took their position, occupying
some farm-houses in groves, and surrounding it
with ditches four feet wi e and six feet deep, plac-
ing their line in the bottom of the ravine, having in
front and on the flanks a circuit of ditchos.

" General Flores in person gave orders to General
Paunero to take the command of the Argentine army,
increasing it with the Brazilian brigade ; and that,
in the same formation in which they were, he
should form in the line of battle which he
was going to establish with the Oriental infantry.
With those troops General Paunero advanced a
little further to discover the enemy's line, to do
which he sent out the Chasseur companies of his four
battalions, who drove off those of the enemy whom
they found in the first ditch. At this moment, and
while forming the line of battle, the enemy's forces
inclined towards Paunero's right, which obliged the
latter to bend towards the left. .This movement was
done at quick step, throwing out the Chasseur com-
panies of his four battalions as skirmishers. The
corps halted to form line of battle whilst the Chas-
seurs who had advanced to the second ditch kept up
a fire upon the enemy, who responded with a steady
battalion fire. The squadron of artillery under
General Borges was embarrassed in its advance by
the first ditch, and delayed in entering into line at
the precise moment. Seeing this General Paunero
ordered the squadron of artillery of the first division
under Major Macdon to advance by the right of the
-other squadron, avoiding the ditches, and to enter
into the line then formed. Major Macdon advanced
with his eight pieces at full gallop, and entering the
line by the point indicated opened fire upon the
enemy at 500 paces distance. This fire and that of
the skirmishers made the enemy recoil. The line
advanced. The squadron of artillery under Nelson
as soon as it entered into line opened fire again at
the same distance as the former, and caused the
enemy to retreat, but while attempting this their
formation by battalions was converted into a shape-
less mass, without any regularity to give it the
name of column, in which were mixed up their
cavalry, artillery, &c. A few more shots from the
cannon rendered their retreat decided ; but, how-
ever, it was not without losing the ground foot by
foot and fighting heroically. The companies of
Chasseurs crossed bayonets with them ; all the
battalions advanced in column, supporting the
Chasseurs to the ditches, which prevented the re-
gular march of the troops. The 2d division, which
was Paunero's left, having no more enemies in its
front, made a diversion to the right, taking with
this movement the right flank of the enemy, and
cutting off 500 or 600 prisoners, among whom
was the commander-in-chief, Major Duarte. The
artillery fired no more, because the infantry, almost
surrounding the enemy, kept up upon them a very
heavy fire, which was returned with vigour, in spite
of their having lost ground. At this moment the
Ist regiment of cavalry made a superb charge ujon
them, but was repulsed, as was likewise the cavalry
escort of Gen. Flores, which charged several times.
The enemy inclined towards the allied left, in order
to pass the Yatay by the only practicable ford, but
found themselves deceived in the attempt, as the
cavalry of Madariaga and Soares prevented them,
cutting off their crossing. Entering among the
overflowed lands, they remained shut up in a corner
formed by the confluence of the Yatay and the Uru-
guay, and then the artillery of the 3d division, under
Major Viejo-Bueno, advanced so as to fire on them
without injuring the allied infantry, and discharged
some rounds of grape, which obliged them to throw
themselves into the rivers. The two Oriental batta-
lions did much towards this result, as they pone-