Battle of La Ciudadela

On 3 November at noon a fight began at Famaillá, but federal troops were detained by the thick forest. The next morning, at the Citadel, Quiroga divided his forces into two halves, the left under General José Ruiz Huidobro, and the right led by Martín Yanzón and Nazario Benavídez, who would later be governors of San Juan Province. Lamadrid's forces were commanded by Javier López and Juan Esteban Pedernera. Other prominent colonels were Juan Arengreen, José María Aparicio y José Félix Correa de Saá.

The battle took place for two hours, without decision for either side, and several times Lamadrid seemed close to victory. But Quiroga personally brought back to the battlefield each regiment that was dispersed, and slowly it became clear that victory would be for the federal forces. Furthermore, the efficiency with which the federal caudillo was obeyed, as compared to the Unitarians, made the numerical superiority of the Tucuman forces less important to the result. Lamadrid attributed the defeat to the doubts that some of his colonels had when ordered to attack, especially Pedernera.

There were fewer than fifty deaths among the federal forces, including Colonel Bargas and three other officers. Quiroga wrote about the victory: "The enemies have lost hope". The Unitarians suffered a total of over two hundred dead and over a thousand prisoners. Some 33 captured Unitarian officers were executed.^[9]

Lamadrid and most of its officers sought refuge in Salta Province, but the provincial government refused to organize a new army to oppose Quiroga, and they had to flee to Bolivia. The federal victory ended Unitarian attempts to control Argentina for several years.

On December 2, the governors of La Rioja Province and Salta Province signed a peace agreement in Tucumán, in which Salta undertook to clearly follow federal policy and to pay the costs of the war to La Rioja. General Alejandro Heredia was elected governor of Tucumán, and through his influence the Salta government was assumed by the Federalist Pablo Latorre. Years later, Heredia would expel Latorre from his post. The most prominent Unitarian party leaders in Tucumán were forced to pay reparations demanded by Quiroga, but these were not paid off in full because of the friendship of Heredia and Quiroga. Catamarca province also was ordered to pay the cost of repairing war damage to La Rioja.^[10]

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