When the land forces of the Allies at last invaded Paraguay, they
reached the Parana, after some preliminary skirmishing; and, with
50,000 men, and 100 guns, prepared to cross that river, to effect a
lodgment on Paraguayan soil. Lopez had a force of two or three thousand
men in observation at Encarnacion, and seeing these ready to oppose a
crossing, the Allies altered their plans, and marched down the Parana,
intending to cross at Paso la Patria.
On March 21st, 1866, the Allied fleet came up to Corrientes, and
anchored, in line-of-battle, extending from Corrales to the mouth of
the Paraguay.
Their fleet was now an imposing one for river warfare. They had
eighteen steam gun-boats, carrying from six to eight guns each, four
iron-clad vessels, three with casemates, and one, the Bahia, a monitor,
with revolving turret, and two 150-pounder Whitworth guns, in all one
hundred and twenty-five guns.
Two of the steamers and the ironclad Tamandaré were sent up the Parana,
to reconnoitre, but soon returned, after getting on shore and being in
some jeopardy. There was a work on the right or Paraguayan bank, some
distance from the confluence, called Itapirú. In the Allied reports it
is designated as a fortress. It was really a dilapidated battery, of
about thirty yards internal diameter; and at that time armed with one
rifled, 12-pounder field gun.
The Parana is here quite deep, except in one place, where there was
only twelve feet of water in the northern channel, and here some scows,
loaded with stones, had been sunk, which closed that channel. The
Paraguayans had, at this point, the steamer Gualeguay, armed with two
12-pounders, and two flat-bottomed boats, with an 8-inch gun mounted in
each.
On the 22d the Gualeguay towed one of these boats down half a mile
below Itapirú, and moored her close in under the right bank. The scow
at once opened upon the Brazilian fleet, and, in a short time, had put
four eight-inch shot into the Admiral’s ship.
Three ironclads were sent up as soon as possible, and approached the
scow, keeping up an incessant fire. The Paraguayans made excellent
practice, in the meantime, with their eight-inch guns, seldom failing
to hit one of their opponents. At last the ironclads approached within
about one hundred yards, and the crew of the scow left and took to the
woods. The Brazilians then lowered and manned three boats, and sent
them to take possession of the scow and her gun. As they reached her,
some infantry, numbering about one hundred, who were concealed in the
woods, gave the boats a volley, which killed or wounded about half of
their crews; the rest made off and returned to their vessels.
The ironclads then continued to fire at the abandoned scow, and at last
blew up the magazine, and she sunk. The gun was not injured, and was
recovered by the Paraguayans.
On the 27th they towed the other gun-boat to the same place, and
opened upon the Brazilian fleet again, and the ironclads renewed the
same tactics as before. This time the Paraguayans had their boat very
close in to the bank, and kept their cartridges on shore, to avoid
being blown up. Most of their 68-pound shot struck the ironclads, but
flew in pieces. Some penetrated, however. One struck the Tamandaré
at the edge of a port, broke in pieces, and the fragments entered,
killing every one in that part of the casemate, including the first
and second Captains, three other officers, and eighteen men killed,
and fifteen wounded. The Tamandaré was driven off by this shot. The
two other ironclads kept up the fire, responded to by the Paraguayan
musketry from the woods, and at nine o’clock at night the Brazilians
retired, having effected nothing. Next day four ironclads and four
wooden gun-boats came up to engage this doughty Paraguayan 8-pounder.
On this day the ironclad Barroso got four holes through her plates, and
all the rest of them were more or less damaged, until, at last, the
Paraguayan gun was struck, and fairly broken in two. Strange to say,
not a Paraguayan was hurt.
On the night of the 29th, these irrepressible people, having recovered
the 8-inch gun from the first scow, endeavored to bring a boat from
Humáitá, to mount it upon. Their audacity was such that they towed
it, with canoes, down the Paraguay to the confluence, and then up the
Parana, and all this under a bright moonlight. At last the Brazilians
saw them, before they had reached their goal, and the gun-boats steamed
up, to capture an empty scow. The men had made off, in the canoes, up
the Parana.
These Paraguayan gun-boats thus constantly engaged the whole Brazilian
fleet. But it must be remembered that a mere float, of this kind,
bearing a gun, was very difficult to hit. For a week after this, the
steamer Gualeguay went out every afternoon, and fired at the Brazilian
fleet with her two 12-pounders. This was done principally for Lopez’
amusement, and he, at a safe distance, had excellent long glasses
mounted, with which he watched the performances. The Brazilian fleet
would dash up the water, all about the Gualeguay, with every kind of
missile, from a 68 to a 150-pounder, and yet this steamboat never
received any damage but one hole in her smoke-stack.
In some of the subsequent bombardments, Lopez would take up his
quarters in a secure bomb-proof, and receive exact reports of every gun
fired; what it had effected, and so forth. But he never exposed himself
for a moment.
The Allied artillery, on the left bank of the Parana, kept up a heavy
fire upon the post of Itapirú. But there was nothing there to receive
any damage, the 12-pounder being snugly stowed away for an occasion.
This continued for some time; until, at last, the Brazilians occupied
a sand bank, or bar, in the river, opposite Itapirú, and mounted eight
guns there, with two thousand men in trenches. From this point they
reopened a fire upon the work, which seemed a perfect bugbear to them.
On the 10th of April the Paraguayans attacked this bank, or bar; and
the naval part of the enterprise consisted in their coming in canoes.
Nine hundred men were embarked, in divisions of four hundred and fifty
each; with a reserve of four hundred at Itapirú. It was a dark night,
and the canoes, propelled by paddles, arrived at the bank, or bar,
at four o’clock in the morning. It was a complete surprise; and the
Paraguayans delivered one volley, and then charged with the bayonet,
taking the trenches. They were soon driven out of them again, however,
by overwhelming numbers; retook them, and were again driven out. The
Brazilian guns opened with canister, and the Paraguayans lost heavily
from this source. Two hundred of them were dismounted cavalrymen, armed
only with their swords, but they did great execution, charging up to
the guns, and taking them; but being again driven off by heavy musketry
fire.
As soon as the firing was heard below several gunboats and ironclads
came up, and surrounded the island, while the garrison was reinforced
from the left bank.
At last the Paraguayans were almost all killed or wounded, and those
who could move pushed off in their canoes, some paddling with one arm
who had the other one wounded. The daylight had appeared, and they
were forced to stem a heavy current, under the fire of the Brazilian
vessels, at close quarters; and yet fifteen canoes got back to their
own shore.
The Paraguayans lost fourteen officers killed, and seven wounded. Of
the soldiers three hundred returned, almost all wounded, and they left
five hundred men on the bank, or bar. Among the prisoners taken by the
Brazilians was a Lieutenant Roméro; and Lopez forced his wife to write
a letter disowning him as a traitor to Paraguay, because he had allowed
himself to be taken alive.
In this affair the Brazilians lost about a thousand, killed and
wounded, many more than the whole attacking force. The fire of their
own steamers destroyed a number of these.
Six Brazilians were afterwards tried for cowardice in this engagement,
and were shot.
In February, 1868, the Brazilian iron-clad vessels succeeded in passing
Humáitá, the extensive works above the confluence of the rivers, which
had so long kept them in check.
On the 13th three new monitors had arrived from Rio Janeiro, and joined
their squadron. They were built in Rio Janeiro, and had twin screws,
with four inches of iron on the hull, which was only one foot out of
the water, when prepared for action in fresh water. They had each one
revolving turret, six inches thick, with one heavy Whitworth gun in
each. The circular port for the gun was barely larger than the muzzle,
and when run out was flush with the face of the turret. Elevation
and depression of a gun so placed was obtained by means of a double
carriage, which raised or lowered the trunnions.
On February 18th everything was ready, and at half past three in the
morning the Brazilians began to bombard the Paraguayan works most
furiously.
The large casemate ironclads, each with a monitor lashed alongside,
then steamed up to the batteries at Humáitá. The fire of these
batteries was well sustained, and true, as the Paraguayan fire had
always been, but their cast-iron shot flew to pieces on the armor of
the ironclads, which passed without serious damage. After passing the
works they continued straight on, past more batteries, at Timbó, to
Tayi. The batteries at Timbó were water batteries, and injured the
ironclads more than all the others they had passed. In this passage
one of the Brazilian monitors received no less than one hundred and
eighty shot; and another one was hit one hundred and twenty times.
Their plates were dented and bent, and the bolts started, but there was
little or no loss of life on board them.
If one or two of the Brazilian ironclads had remained between Humáitá
and Timbó, instead of all running by the latter place, the works of
the former would have been really closely invested; and as the object
of running the batteries was to cause the surrender of Humáitá, the
movement was to that extent a failure. The Paraguayans evacuated their
works at their leisure, taking guns and stores.