First Battle of Huachi Grande

Battle context

The First Battle of Huachi Grande was the second engagement of the Ecuadorian War of Independence, fought near Ambato in November 1820, shortly after the Free Province of Guayaquil had declared independence from Spain. Despite fielding a larger force of approximately 1,800 troops against roughly 1,000 Royalist soldiers, the Patriot forces under Febres-Cordero and Urdaneta suffered a serious defeat at the hands of Spanish forces commanded by Tamariz. The loss demonstrated that numerical advantage alone could not offset Royalist military experience and organization in the early phase of the independence campaign, and it checked the momentum that Guayaquil's patriots had sought to carry into the interior of the Audiencia of Quito.