Battle of Caaguazú The Battle of Caaguazú took place in Mercedes Department , in Corrientes Province , Argentina on 28 November 1841 , during the Argentine Civil War , between the forces of Entre Ríos Province , commanded by brigadier Pascual Echagüe and Corrientes Province , under brigadier José María Paz , with a sound defeat of the Federal Party forces of Entre Ríos . Precedents . Since 1839 Corrientes Province had rebelled against the Buenos Aires Province dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas . The conflicts between Corrientes and Buenos Aires were overshadowed by the terms requested by the contenders . Corrientes demanded the sanctioning of a new constitution , while Rosas accused the Corrientes government of being run by the Unitarian Party . The governor of Corrientes was a federal like Rosas , but the province was allied with the Unitarian generals Juan Lavalle and José María Paz . The real discussion was about the Customs House of the port of the city of Buenos Aires . They took the income from Customs duties and benefited from it , without giving due share to the other provinces , and having an open business policy that was ruining the local industries in the provinces . The provinces most affected by this policy were the ones with ports on the Paraná River , but Santa Fe and Entre Ríos were firmly allied with Buenos Aires ; which made Corrientes fight alone on the defense of the " riverine federalism " . In 1839 , then - governor Genaro Berón de Astrada had rebelled against the city of Buenos Aires , but a quick attack from the forces of Entre Rios governor Echagüe , had defeated him at the battle of Pago Largo , having Berón de Astrada paid with his life for the rebellion . After a short - lived federal party government , brigadier Pedro Ferré was elected to succeed them . Ferré was a political enemy of Rosas since 1832 , when Rosas had caused the failure of his opportunity to defeat the Unitarians trying to organize the constitution of the nation . Ferré had put his provincial army under the command of general Lavalle , but the latter had invaded Entre Ríos and had taken the army to invade Buenos Aires , leaving the province defenseless . To make matters worse , he had been defeated and had to retreat to the northwest . Ferré put all the remaining resources of the province under General José María Paz , who had a long Unitarian history . Paz worked on organizing and training the new army , to put it in combat conditions . He was lucky that Echagüe did not attack until the year 1840 , because Lavalle had taken Santa Fe for a few weeks . The battle . After learning of the defeat of Lavalle at the Battle of Famaillá , Echagüe marched to the north . Paz had increased the size of his army with fleeing soldiers from Lavalle ' s , and Ferré had signed an alliance with Santa Fe ' s governor , brigadier Juan Pablo López . Echagüe stayed in the south of the province for several weeks , reaching the Corriente River and waiting for the opportunity to attack with an advantage . Paz did not give him that chance , and crossed the river at the Caaguazú pass . At the start of the battle , Echagüe had more than 5 , 000 men ( 1 , 000 of them infantry ) and 12 artillery pieces , under the command of Colonel Servando Gómez and other experienced officers , but he did not have the best of his generals , brigadier Justo José de Urquiza . Paz ' s forces , of about 3 , 000 men were commanded by less - capable officers , with the only experienced officer , who had fought in the War of Independence , Colonel Indalecio Chenaut . Among the Corrientes army ' s officers they would distinguish themselves the future governors , lieutenant colonels Joaquín Madariaga and Benjamín Virasoro . Paz awaited the attack in a seemingly weak position : his cavalry on the left flank retreated at the first attack by the forces commanded by Gómez , and were chased for a few kilometers . But as they were advancing , they were surrounding themselves by the Corriente River and a swamp , and being shot at from the riverside by the Corrientes ' infantry . Upon reaching the end , they were met by the infantry and artillery concentrated together and was defeated . They had to retreat and along the way they were shot at again effectively by the enemy ' s infantry in both flanks . The Corrientes cavalry attacked on the right flank , under General Manuel Ramírez , and defeated the demoralized and weakened forces he confronted . The chase of the Federal cavalry pushed Echagüe , who was close to being shot to death . His infantry , lacking cavalry ' s protection , had to retreat ; but several leagues distant , tired and thirsty , they surrendered . The artillery under Colonel Juan Bautista Thorne was the only force that acquitted themselves on the Federal side , but they had to finally surrender as the infantry had . The Corrientes army had 53 dead , while the Entre Rios army lost 1 , 350 dead and 800 prisoners , plus all their artillery , supplies and infantry weapons . Consequences . The battle of Caaguazú was the last and most brilliant victory of General Paz . Argentina ' s entire littoral was left open for the advance of Corrientes forces , which were now made stronger by the captured weaponry . Paz quickly advanced towards Entre Ríos and took the city of Paraná . Upon reaching Paraná , the differences between Paz and Ferré became serious and Paz was left by himself , with control only of the prisoners of Caaguazú . A little while later , Juan Pablo López was defeated in Santa Fe , and was replaced by Echagüe . Paz attempted to retreat to the east , and join with his ally brigadier general Fructuoso Rivera ; but the ex - prisoners he had as soldiers deserted and joined the forces of Urquiza coming from Buenos Aires . Paz arrived alone to Concepción del Uruguay , where he refused to be out under the orders of Rivera . In the meantime , el brigadier general Manuel Oribe a rival of Rivera , crossed the Paraná River and advanced along Urquiza to the east , where he would defeat Rivera at the Battle of Arroyo Grande . That Federal victory signified the fall of all the opposition to Rosas in the whole country , including Corrientes . Two years later , the Madariaga brothers would revolt against Rosas again in Corrientes province , and would again put their army in general Paz ' s hands , but their final defeat in 1847 gave absolute control of the country to Buenos Aires governor , Rosas .