Battle of San Lorenzo - Battle

Battle

The grenadiers left the convent at dawn, preparing their formations behind the convent. San Martín returned to the tower to watch the enemy who disembarked at sunrise, 5:30 in the morning. He mounted his horse, gave a short harangue to the troops, and headed to battle. His strategy was to divide his cavalry forces into two columns, of nearly sixty horsemen each, and make a surprise pincer movement to trap the enemy forces. The cavalry would not use their guns, relying instead on saber and spear attacks. The right-hand column was headed by Justo German Bermúdez, and the left-hand one by San Martín. The royalists marched in two columns with the two cannons, a deployed flag and military drummers. The clarion of the regiment of mounted grenadiers sounded for the first time, marking the beginning of the battle.

San Martín's column was the first one to reach the enemy. The two cannons and the cannon fire from the ships defended the royalists, but they were quickly outmanoeuvred by the saber attacks and, unable to form a square, had to retreat. The advantage of surprise and the speed of the cavalry charge allowed the regiment to defeat the larger royalist army who had almost double the amount of soldiers. When Bermúdez and his column joined the battle the royalists were not able to stand their ground and were routed, retreating in disarray under covering fire from the ships. Bermudez led the attack at this point as San Martín had fallen from his horse.

San Martín did not mention Escalada in his first battle report, leading initial historians to infer that they stayed within the convent during the battle. However it is currently considered that they took part in the battle, as suggested by the royalist battle report and a later report from San Martin which clarifies that only twelve grenadiers stayed in the convent.

The combat took around fifteen minutes and left forty royalists dead and many injured, including Zabala. Fourteen patriot grenadiers died in the combat and two more would die afterwards due to combat injuries. Manuel Díaz Vélez fell from his horse in the gully, was mortally injured and captured by the royalists. Bermúdez was shot in the patella and died a few days later. Hipólito Bouchard captured the Spanish flag after killing the standard bearer.