Battle of Los Horcones

[Francisco Oberto, the Spanish commander, took defensive positions with his Royalist troops at Los Horcones plain, 5 km away from Barquisimeto on the route to Quíbor, where they waited for the arrival of the Patriot column, commanded by José Félix Ribas and Jacinto Lara.

The battle started at 11:00 and the Royalist troops repulsed the first two attacks thanks to its artillery, but a third attack finally overran the Spanish positions. This was largely thanks to sub-lieutenant Gabriel Picón González, who then aged 14 years old and became a hero by rushing and taking a Spanish cannon despite getting his right femur shattered due to shrapnel.^{[citation needed]}

When the battle was lost for the Royalists, Oberto and Cañas fled with 15 soldiers through San Felipe, with Ribas chasing them with 50 horsemen and finally capturing them at Cabudare.

Both sides suffered heavy human losses,^[2] but otherwise Ribas achieved a complete victory for the Patriots, capturing all four artillery pieces as well as other weapons, medical supplies, transport vehicles and over 300 prisoners.

Gabriel Picón became a hero for Simón Bolívar, who quickly wrote a letter to Antonio Rodríguez de Picón, Gabriel's father and commander of Mérida, saying that his son would become "eternal in the annals of Venezuela" due to his courageous action that day. Afterwards, Bolívar kept Picón under his protection, who wouldn't be able to pursue a military career and instead focused on politics, and later would become the governor of Mérida. Picón would get known as the "boy-hero of the Battle of Los Horcones" due to his young age.^[3]

Gabriel Picón is buried in the National Pantheon of Venezuela, resting place for Venezuelan national heroes, and has a parish named after him in the Alberto Adriani Municipality.