Battle of Azua

Overview

The Battle of Azua or March 19 was the first major battle of the Dominican War of Independence and was fought on the 19 March 1844, at Azua de Compostela, Azua Province. A force of some 2,200 Dominican troops, a portion of the Army of the South, led by General Pedro Santana and General Antonio Duvergé defeated an outnumbering force of 10,000 troops of the Haitian Army led by General Souffrand.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Azua on 19 March 1844 was the first major engagement of the Dominican War of Independence and established early that Dominican forces could hold against substantially larger Haitian armies. A Dominican force of approximately 2,200 troops from the Army of the South, under Generals Pedro Santana and Antonio Duvergé, defeated a Haitian column of around 10,000 men, inflicting an estimated 1,000 casualties. Coming within weeks of the declaration of independence, the outcome demonstrated that the newly formed Dominican military was capable of defending its territory against the Haitian state it had just broken from, lending credibility to the independence project at its most vulnerable moment.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)