Battle of Rincón

Battle context

The Battle of Rincón was the opening engagement of the Cisplatine War between Fructuoso Rivera's rebel forces and Brazilian imperial troops. As the first direct clash of the conflict, it marked the transition from political rupture to armed confrontation in the Banda Oriental, the territory that would eventually become Uruguay. The engagement pitted a relatively small rebel militia against forces loyal to the Empire of Brazil, with Orientales casualties recorded between 140 and 300 out of a force estimated at 270 to 700. The battle established Rincón de las Gallinas, in the Río Negro Department, as the initial flashpoint of a war that would ultimately run from 1825 to 1828 and conclude with the independence of the Banda Oriental.