Spanish–Portuguese War (1776–77)

Spanish–Portuguese War (1776–1777)

Part of the Spanish–Portuguese wars

Date	February 1776 to 24 February 1777
Location	South America
Result	Spanish victory First Treaty of San Ildefonso

Belligerents

Spanish Empire

Portuguese Empire

Commanders and leaders

Pedro Antonio de Cevallos

Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo

Robert MacDouall

Jorge Hardcastle

Strength

1,450 initially
9,000 expeditionary corps

6,000 initially

The Spanish-Portuguese War was fought between 1776 and 1777 over the border between Spanish South America and Portuguese South America.

Portuguese attack

In the previous Spanish-Portuguese War 1762–1763, Spain had conquered the Colonia del Sacramento, Santa Tecla, San Miguel, Santa Teresa and Rio Grande de São Pedro in the First Cevallos expedition.

Colonia del Sacramento was returned to Portugal in the Treaty of Paris, but Santa Tecla, San Miguel, Santa Teresa and Rio Grande de São Pedro remained in Spanish hands.

The Portuguese started assembling troops and harassing the Spanish in 1767. Over the years the Portuguese built up an army of 6,000 men, considerably more than the 1,450 Spanish troops in the area. The matter escalated in February 1776 when two Portuguese fleets under Robert MacDouall and Jorge Hardcastle landed troops near the fortress of Rio Grande de São Pedro, and started shelling the Spanish fort. A Spanish fleet under Francisco Javier Morales drove off the Portuguese fleet after a three hour battle where the Spanish fleet suffered sixteen killed and 24 wounded, while the Portuguese lost two vessels.

Portuguese land forces pushed forward and the Spanish commander Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo was forced to withdraw and give up the entire Rio Grande area.

Spanish response

The response of the Spanish King Charles III was swift. There was little fear that Portugal's old ally Great Britain would come to their aid, as it was fully occupied by the American Revolutionary War.

King Charles III promoted Governor Pedro Antonio de Cevallos to Viceroy of the Río de la Plata and gave him the leadership of the expedition. Cevallos had already proven his ability in the First Cevallos expedition (1762–1763), when he had conquered Colonia del Sacramento and had marched deep into Portuguese territory.

Cevallos was in Spain and organized personally the expedition from Cadiz. He had 9,000 men, and a fleet of six warships (Poderoso, 70 guns, Santiago la América, 64, San Dámaso, 70, Septentrión, 70, Monarca, 70, and San José, 70), six frigates, a number of smaller ships and a hundred transport ships at his disposal. The commander of the fleet was Francisco Javier Everardo Tilly y García de Paredes, marqués de Casa Tilly. The fleet left Cadiz on the 20th of November and arrived in South America on the 18th of February 1777, capturing several Portuguese ships on the way .

There they encountered the Portuguese fleet of Robert MacDouall, which was much smaller and managed to escape.

Cevallos decided to attack the island of Santa Catarina on the 23rd of February. When the Portuguese saw the formidable Spanish fleet disembark their troops, the garrison fled to the mainland without firing a shot. On the 20th of March, Cevallos sailed towards his second target, Rio Grande de São Pedro, but the fleet was dispersed by a storm and had to return to Montevideo.

There he split up his forces. He sailed himself with all the artillery to Colonia de Sacramento, where he started the siege on the 23rd of May. The city capitulated on the 3rd of June.

The rest of the fleet was sent to check the fleet of MacDouall, which was still a menace to be counted with. In fact this fleet surprised and captured the lone San Agustín, and renamed the ship Santo Agostinho. The new captain, who also played an important role in capturing the ship was an Englishman in Portuguese service, Arthur Phillip who later founded Port Jackson(Sydney).

After the capture of Sacramento, Cevallos marched his troops towards Rio Grande de São Pedro, joined forces with the troops of Juan José Vertiz which were concentrated in Santa Teresa. Then he was ordered to stop his advance, as peace negotiations were started.

Peace

On the 24th of February 1777 King Joseph I died and his daughter and successor Maria I concluded on the 1st of October the First Treaty of San Ildefonso with Spain.

Spain returned the island of Santa Catarina to Portugal and recognized Rio Grande de São Pedro as Portuguese territory, but kept Colonia del Sacramento, Banda Oriental, and Misiones Orientales.

Aftermath

One of the results of the war was that the Portuguese remained neutral when the American War of Independence became a global war in 1778 with the entry of the French. The Portuguese were bound to the British by treaty but disappointed by the lack of British support against Spain, Portugal did not itself enter the war.

Sources

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