Insurrection: The Gatonegro War of Independence

I discover that it was six years ago (!) that I began what was to be a 'campaign of battles' - a war of independence set somewhere in Latin America. Somehow, I became distracted, and never got back to the battles.  This, despite doing a fairish bit of on-line searching out the campaigns and battles of the real wars of Independence. 

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I played out what was based (supposedly) on the Battle of Maipu, April, 1818, between the Royalist Army and the insurrectionists styling themselves as 'Patriots'. This was the decisive action of the Chilean campaign of that year. As it turned out, 'Maipu' this Gatonegro battle was not, as the narrative of events will reveal.

After the early success at Arabispo, the insurrection caught popular fire, and the Reine de Oro had a serious rebellion on its hands.

Seeking to break the centre of the rebellion, the Royalists gathered what strength it could to confront the growing menace. For their part, the self-styled Patriots found recruits flocking to the nascent colours. When the clash came as the Royalist Army marched upon Maipu del Guano, they were to find themselves considerably outnumbered. Confident in the superior training of his army, General Mariano Osario drew up his force along a line centred upon rising ground close by Casa de la Espagne, a hamlet set among cherry orchards.

The Royalist Army comprised:
Commander: General Mariano Osario

1st Brigade: Colonel Ordonez
    Regiment Concepcion ... 28 figures
    Regiment Infante Don Carlos ... 28 figures
    Coy Sappers ... 7 figures
    Dragoons Ordonez ... 9 figures (under strength)
    Artillery ... 3 figures, 1 cannon
        Brigade totals: 63 foot, 9 horse, 3 artillery = 75 figures

2nd Brigade: Colonel Morta
    Regiment Arequipa ... 28 figures
    Regiment Burgos ... 28 figures
    Lancers Morta ... 9 figures (under strength)
    Artillery ... 3 figures, 1 cannon
        Brigade totals: 56 foot, 9 horse, 3 artillery = 68 figures

3rd Brigade: Colonel de Riviero
    Converged light and grenadier companies ... 28 figures
    Artillery ... 3 figures, 1 cannon
        Brigade totals: 28 foot, 3 gunners = 31 figures

Army totals: 147 foot, 18 horse, 9 artillery = 174 figures, 3 cannon

Marching to meet them, the Patriot Army comprised:
Commander: General Jose de San Martino

Division Las Heras:
    3 Regiments @ 19 figures = 57 figures
    Mounted grenadiers ... 12 figures
    Artillery ... 4 figures, 1 cannon
        Division totals: 57 foot, 12 horse, 4 artillery = 63 figures

Division Alvarez: 
    3 Regiments @ 19 figures = 57 figures
    Caballeros de los Andes horse ... 12 figures
    Artillery ... 4 figures, 1 cannon
        Division totals: 57 foot, 12 horse, 4 artillery = 63 figures

Division Quintana (Patricio Hernandez O'Hogg commanding):
    3 regiments @ 19 figures
    Escort Cavalry ... 6 figures
    Husares de la Muerte ... 6 figures 
    Artillery ... 6 figures, 2 cannon
        Division totals: 57 foot, 12 horse, 6 artillery = 65 figures

Army totals: 171 foot, 36 horse, 14 artillery = 221 figures, 4 cannon

A couple of points here:
1. My original order of battle had four Divisions, each with just two infantry regiments. A 'Reinforcement Division' under Bernardo O'Higgins would have been the fourth formation. I have no recollection as to why I changed it!

2. The considerable disparity in numbers I thought would be offset by the superior training and morale of the Royalist regulars. We'll see how that turned out.    

Regiment Concepcion's first volley.
Woeful: the pips scores count only on rolls of 4 or less... 

. 

Prospects to begin with seemed unpromising for the Royalists, drawn up in a single line with, apart from the insignificant sapper company, not a single reserve. By contrast, the Patriots began advancing with two of their Divisions, Las Heras on the left and Alvarez on the right. As the leading Divisions engaged the flanks, O'Hogg's Reserve marched onto the field, straight towards the centre of the Royalist line. 

Just about the first Royalist unit to give fire, Regiment Concepcion, let fly a woeful volley. Where it went no one knew - certainly not the intended target. Under my own combat system, at this moment, the 'Die Range' for shooting was 4 - that is to say, the pips scores counted only for dice rolls of 4 or less.  This is precisely the same as subtracting 2 from the raw pip score, but without the actual subtraction. The unit could reasonably have expected to score 6 or 7 hits (modified by my 'normalising' system, which would have yielded 4 or 5 casualties). 

This was more than matched by the Regiment Infante Don Carlos, whose valley shredded the 1st Regiment of Las Heras Division. Perhaps the powder had been left too long in the breech, and damp reduced the effectiveness of the first volley. 

At any rate, as the action became general along the front, Royalist fire became much more accurate and effective.  The Patriot columns came on, to form lines of battle to engage in a protracted firefight all along the front. And they were getting the worst of it.

Outnumbered, the Royalist Dragoons put the 
Patriot horse to the rout!

Hoping to sweep aside the dragoons guarding the Royalist right flank, Las Heras's mounted grenadiers were brought up on the extreme patriot left. The royalist horse didn't hesitate. Though outnumbered 4 to 3 (which actually made the combat equal given Royalist training) the Royalists gave rather better than they got, inflicted 5 casualties for 2, and sent the Patriot horse packing.

The height of the Patriot attack: all along the line.
So far losses have not been too serious...

The Patriots seemed to be doing better on the other flank. The Caballeros de los Andes horse braved Royalist gunfire to ride over the de Riviero's guns. Incoming musketry also caused Regiment Burgos to fall back a short distance although they maintained their good order, and continued to face the enemy.

That was pretty much all the success, as it transpired, that the Patriot Army was to show this day.  Accurate Royalist musketry cut Patriot infantry to ribbons. De Riviero redeemed the loss of his guin battery with a devastating counter-attack onto the Patriot right flank. Soon, all over the field, routed patriot foot and horse could be seen making their way to the rear.

It's all to no avail. Apart from forcing back Regiment Burgos,
and overrunning a battery, the Patriot Army has hardly dented 
the Royalist line. Several Patriot units have broken and are
fleeing in rout.

There was no doubt about this result: a devastating Royalist victory.

Somehow, I think I got the balance totally wrong. Such a one-sided result simply wasn't supposed to happen! I rather think this battlefield will be revisited, but with the 4 division, 8 regiment ORBAT for the Patriots, and their soldiery having the battlefield experience, next time around, to match the Royalist firepower...