Battle of Tucumán The Battle of Tucumán was a battle fought on 24 and 25 September 1812 near the Argentine city of San Miguel de Tucumán , during the Argentine War of Independence . The Army of the North , commanded by General Manuel Belgrano , defeated the royalist troops commanded by General Pío de Tristán , who had a two - to - one advantage in numbers , halting the royalist advance on Argentina ' s northwest . Together with the Battle of Salta , on 20 February 1813 , the victory at Tucumán allowed the Argentine troops to reaffirm the borders under their control . Prelude . The Upper Peru region ( present - day Bolivia ) , was again under royalist control after the rebel defeat at Huaqui , where the inexperienced commander Juan José Castelli was easily defeated by the royalist army . The orders from the First Triumvirate had placed Belgrano in command of the Army of the North on 27 February 1812 , headquartered in Jujuy . From there Belgrano attempted to raise the morale of the troops after the defeat at Huaqui . Under that effort on 25 May he raised in Jujuy the new flag he had created a few months back , and had it blessed in Jujuy ' s Cathedral by Father Juan Ignacio de Gorriti . He soon realized that he did not have enough strength to defend the city , and on 23 August he ordered a massive retreat of all the civilian population to the interior of Tucumán Province in what was later known as the Éxodo Jujeño . Civilians and military men retreated , destroying anything that could be of value to the royalists . When the Spaniards entered the city , they found it empty : Tristán wrote to his superior , Perú ' s viceroy , José Manuel de Goyeneche : On orders from the Triumvirate , the Army of the North had to create a stronghold in Córdoba . Instead , Belgrano had the idea of stopping farther north in Tucumán , where the local population was eager to support the army . The 3 September victory at the Battle of Las Piedras between his rearguard and two advance royalist columns confirmed his ideas . He captured the column commander , Colonel Huici and about twenty soldiers . He sent Juan Ramón Balcarce towards the city , ordering him to recruit and train a cavalry troop from the local militia , and deliver letters to the rich and powerful Aráoz family , one of whose members , Lieutenant Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid , was among Belgrano ' s best officers . The decision : consolidate or give battle . Balcarce ' s mission , along with the rumours that his army was retreating to Córdoba , caused consternation in the city . The Cabildo bells rang and the legislature , in public session decided to send three representatives – officers Bernabé Aráoz and Rudecindo Alvarado and the priest doctor Pedro Miguel Aráoz — to Belgrano , to ask that he face the Spanish at Tucumán . Arriving in Tucumán on 13 September , Belgrano met Balcarce with 400 men – without uniforms and with only lances for weapons , but well organized – and the city ready to support them . Belgrano , historians say , did not need more than that pretext to disobey the Triumvirate ' s retreat orders and stay . He said he would stay if they supplied him with 1 , 500 cavalry troops , and if they gave him 20 , 000 silver pesos for the troops , amounts that the legislature decide to grant . Therefore he ignored the Triumvirate ' s orders of retreat and instead entrenched in Tucumán . At the same time , the royalist army had difficulty advancing , not finding in the scorched earth tactics supplies or places to stay and rest . Local irregulars organized by the militias were harassing them constantly . On 23 September , Tristán received the news that the rebel army was in the city and ready for battle . Combat . In the morning of the 24th , Tristán ordered a march towards the city . Sources say that instead of taking the straight road in , he rounded the central plaza from the South , attempting to prevent a possible rebel movement towards the South . Others say that in the village of Los Pocitos he found burning fields ordered by Dragoons Lieutenant Lamadrid , who counted on the fierceness of the fire and the wind to disorganize the Spanish column . In the meantime , taking advantage of the confusion created by the fire , Belgrano , who had placed his troops in the very early morning at the North side of the town , had changed his front facing West , counting on having a clear image of Tristán ' s troop movements . Once he saw them , the quick advance over Tristán ' s flank barely gave him time to reorganize his front and mount the artillery formation . Belgrano had organized his cavalry in two wings ; the right , commanded by Balcarce , was the bigger of the two , as it included the local gaucho troops recently recruited . The infantry was divided in three columns , commanded by Colonel José Superí on the left , captain Ignacio Warnes at the center , and Captain Carlos Forest on the right , plus a section of Dragoons , supported the cavalry . A fourth reserve column commanded by Lieutenant - Colonel Manuel Dorrego ; and Baron Eduardo Kaunitz of Holmberg ( who commanded the artillery ) , was placed between the infantry columns , but was too divided to be effective . The artillery initiated the battle , bombarding the " Cotabambas " and " Abancay " battalions , who responded with a bayonet charge . Belgrano ordered a response by having Warnes charge with his infantry , along with the cavalry reserve of Captain Antonio Rodríguez , while Balcarce ' s cavalry charged over Tristán ' s left flank . The charge had a formidable effect . With lances pointed , and making loud sounds and shouts , they made the royalist cavalry of " Tarija " disband at their charge , retreating over their own infantry and disorganizing it to the point that , almost without resistance , the rebel cavalry reached the enemy ' s rearguard . It is impossible to know what effect charging from there in a pincer movement would have had with a rebel force composed of country folk without military discipline . A good portion of the gaucho cavalry broke formation to capture the mules loaded with supplies , including coins and precious metals from the royalist army . They therefore negated their use of supplies and ammunition . Only the Dragoons and regular cavalry under Balcarce stayed in formation at the front , but the loss of their supplies and baggage was enough to disorganize the royalist wing . On the other side of the front the results were very different where Belgrano was fighting . The royalist ' s cavalry and infantry advance was unstoppable , with Colonel Superí being taken as prisoner . Even though the strength of the central column allowed the rebels to regain terrain and release Superí , the unequal advances fractured the front , creating a confused battle . The commanders had trouble seeing what was happening and often the decisions were taken by the local unit officers in the heat of battle . At that time a swarm of locust s appeared on the fields , which obscured the battlefield and confused the soldiers . Tristán attempted to retreat to organize his troops , abandoning his artillery , and in the course found Dorrego ' s column , virtually unprotected . Along with a troop of infantry of Eustaquio Díaz Vélez , they recovered thirty nine wagon s loaded with arms and ammunition which were taken to the city , along with the cannon they could push . The rebels also took many prisoners and the flags of the " Cotabambas " , " Abancay " and " Real de Lima " regiment s . Belgrano , at the time not knowing the result , was attempting to reorganize his troops when he found Colonel José Moldes , who was his main observer . Both then found Paz , and through him what remained of the cavalry . Balcarce joined them a while later , being the first to be bold and qualify the battle as a victory , judging by the body - covered field and Spanish equipment remains , even though they did not yet know the fate of the main infantry regiments and what was happening inside the city . It took General Belgrano the rest of the afternoon to reorganize the troops . At the same time , Tristán was evaluating the loss of his ammunition , most of his artillery and supplies ; he ordered the rest of his army , which had lost more than a thousand men between dead and wounded , to form and advance on the city and demand their surrender under threat of burning it . Díaz Vélez and Dorrego , strong in the city by now , responded by threatening to kill the prisoners , including four colonels , if Tristán set fire to the city . The Spaniard spent the night outside , in doubt over the course to follow ; the following morning he found Belgrano ' s troops at his rear , who demanded his surrender through Colonel Moldes . The royalist commander responded that " the King ' s soldiers do not surrender " , so Tristán retreated towards Salta , while being followed and harassed by 600 men commanded by Díaz Vélez . Results . " Even though the victory at Tucumán " , writes Mitre , " was the result of unforeseen circumstances " , it earns Belgrano " the glory of having won a battle against all probabilities and against the wishes of his own government . " The materiel abandoned by the Spaniards — 13 cannons , 358 muskets , 39 wagons , 70 ammunition boxes and 87 tents — would serve the Army of the North in the subsequent campaign . 450 royalists lost their lives in combat and 690 , between officers and soldiers , were captured as prisoners . On their side , the defenders only had 80 dead and 200 wounded . On 27 October they celebrated a thanksgiving mass ; in the procession that carried the statue of the " Virgen de las Mercedes " ( " Our Lady of Mercy " ) , Belgrano deposited his command baton , proclaiming the saint as " General of his Army " . Moldes and Holmberg would leave the army , but Belgrano would gain Juan Antonio Álvarez de Arenales , with whom he would start on 12 January the march towards Salta , where the royalists had entrenched . The victory consolidated the work of the revolution and momentarily ended the danger of a disaster for the rebel forces . If the patriot army would have retreated as ordered , the North Provinces would have been lost to the enemy whom , controlling a vast territory , would have reached Córdoba , where it would have been easier to receive the help from the royalists at the " Banda Oriental " ( today ' s Uruguay ) and the Portuguese troops from Brazil . The victory also had important political consequences , as Belgrano – who had allies in the Logia Lautaro — had defeated the invader against orders from his government and vindicated the requests of the opposicion , when they asked for help to be sent to the Army of the North . In Buenos Aires , three days after the victory was known , the First Triumvirate was overthrown in the revolution of 8 October . The Second Triumvirate allowed the army soldiers to wear a medal with the inscription : " " La Patria a su defensor en Tucumán " " ( " " The Motherland to the defenders of Tucumán " " ) ; and also ordered that the names of the soldiers be inscribed in the book of honor of the respective Cabildo s of Buenos Aires and Tucumán . Belgrano was offered a promotion to Captain General , but he declined the honor .