Battle of Tuyú Cué

Between Humaitá and Tuyutí, a swamp which anchored the allied position, there were some key roads that were used both by the allied and Paraguayan forces, for supplies and communications. Laid amongst them was Tuyú Cué.^[a] The position, a little village with some orange groves, had been used by the Paraguayan Army before allied advances made it untenable; the allies then took control over it, and it was part of many of their larger supply trails. By the end of July 1867, it would house most of the allied army engaged in the Humaitá campaign.^[7]

The Paraguayan leader Francisco Solano López decided to disrupt allied supply lines with an ambush, with the added goal of capturing materiel and wreaking havoc in general. Major Bernardino Caballero led the operation, being in charge of a mobile unit designed for this sort of irregular warfare.^[8]

The Paraguayan force, composed of between 300 and 400 infantrymen, supported by more than 400 cavalrymen at a distance, set up an ambush in the trail between Tuyutí and Tuyú Cué. When a supply convoy passed through, the ambushers fired two volleys at them, which forced the convoy's guards and drivers to run. In response, the Count of Porto Alegre sent three cavalry corps and an infantry brigade against the enemy; two of the cavalry units were sent to cut off the Paraguayan retreat. Amongst the Paraguayan cavalry, which was charged upon by the allied cavalry, there were more than 80 deaths and 10 prisoners; amongst the allies, two officers were killed and a few men were wounded. The convoy was recovered, albeit severely damaged, according to the official report by the Count.^[9]

This engagement, while small in comparison to other ones to take place in the Humaitá campaign, such as the Battle of Curupayty and the Second Battle of Tuyutí, was part of the reason why the Siege of Humaitá took so long to be concluded despite the disparity of strength between the allied and Paraguayan armies. Jourdan mentions this sort of skirmishing over supplies to have been common in this phase of the campaign, citing another Paraguayan ambush that took place in the 24th of September with a far larger number of casualties for the allies, the Battle of Estero Rojas.^[10]

In the accounts of Paraguayan soldier Leandro Pineda, it is mentioned that through this action "[they] gained possession of soap, biscuits, clothes, a few rolls of paper, and other items I cannot recall".^[11]

• Burton, Richard Francis (1870). Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay. London: Tinsley Brothers.
• Cooney, Jerry W. (2004). "Economy and Manpower: Paraguay at War, 1864-69". In Kraay, Hendrik; Whigham, Thomas L. (eds.). I Die with my Country: Perspectives on the Paraguayan War, 1864-1870. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska. ISBN 0-8032-2762-0.
• Doratioto, Francisco (2002). Maldita Guerra: Nova história da Guerra do Paraguai (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). São Paulo: Companhia das Letras. ISBN 978-65-5921-286-6.
• Jourdan, Emilio Carlos (1890). Guerra do Paraguay (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Tipografia de Laemmert e Co.
• Leuchars, Cristopher (2002). To the Bitter End: Paraguay and the War of the Triple Alliance. Westport: Greenwood.
• Pineda, Leandro (2013). "A Chronicle of War". In Lambert, Peter; Nickson, Andrew (eds.). The Paraguay Reader. Duke University Press. pp. 90–95.
• Thompson, Jorge (1869). La Guerra del Paraguay (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Imprenta Americana.