José María Cabal

José María Cabal (Guadalajara de Buga, 25 May 1769 – Popayán, 19 August 1816) was a Neogranadine military and political leader during the Colombian War of Independence.

José María Cabal
Portrait of Cabal by José María Espinosa
President of the Confederated Cities of the Cauca Valley
In office June 10, 1812 – 1816
Preceded by	Joaquín Cayzedo
Succeeded by	None
Personal details
Born	(1769-05-25)May 25, 1769 Guadalajara de Buga, Viceroyalty of New Granada
Died	August 19, 1816(1816-08-19) (aged 47) Popayán, Viceroyalty of New Granada
Spouse	Sophie Leclair
Military service
Allegiance	New Granada
Rank	Brigadier General
Battles/wars	Colombian War of Independence Nariño's Southern Campaign Battle of the Palo River Battle of Cuchilla del Tambo

Early years

José María Cabal was born on May 25, 1769 in the Hacienda "La Concepción del Alisal" near the town of Guadalajara de Buga in the Viceroyalty of New Granada in the Spanish Empire. He was the son of José Cayetano Cabal and María Teresa Barona, Cabal was baptized in the chapel of the hacienda where he was born and would spend his formative years there.

In 1785, Cabal traveled to the city of Popayán to study at the Colegio Seminario de Popayán. During the next five years he studied philosophy and grammar, he was reportedly and excellent student and was heavily influenced by his teacher José Félix de Restrepo, among his classmates were other notable neogranadines, such as Camilo Torres, Francisco José de Caldas, and Francisco Antonio Zea who would later become important figures in the struggle for independence of Colombia.

In 1792 Cabal applied and was accepted to study at the Colegio Real y Seminario de San Bartolomé in the viceregal capital of Santa Fe de Bogotá. There he began his studies in law and would also form a close relation with his classmate Francisco Antonio Zea.

The relationship between the two was very close, with Cabal writing in a letter to his father "I must tell you that I owe a part of my intelligence due to Zea...". Through Zea, Cabal became involved in literary circles in the city whose members were prominent creoles who followed the ideas of the enlightenment.

Arrest and exile

In 1794, Cabal was arrested when members of his literary circle where found with translated copies of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen which had been translated by Antonio Nariño. Along with Nariño and Cabal other members were also arrested such as Zea and Luis De Rieux. The accused where then promptly sentenced to exile for their crimes.

Cabal was the transported to Spain where in Cádiz he awaited a decision on his case by judicial authorities. He was then subsequently absolved of his crime, after this decision Cabal traveled to Madrid where he began his studies in natural history and botanical studies which soon became his life long passion. In 1801 he received news of the death of his father, the following year he traveled to Paris, France.

Cabal remained in the French capital for next seven years, where he continued his studies he had begun in Spain as well as learning mineralogy with aims of returning to Spain and New Granada as part of the Spanish Royal Mining company. During his time there he met with other important Latin American figures who resided in the French capital some of whom later became influential figures in the struggle for Spanish American independence those being a young Simón Bolívar as well as Francisco de Miranda. In 1804, he married a French woman, Sophie Leclair, with whom he had a son named Augusto Maria. In 1809 Cabal decided to return to New Granada as a result of the start of French invasion of Spain, but was unable to take his family with him as Spanish law saw their marriage as not valid as the French Republic had suspended Catholic marriages and was an atheist state, as a result under Spanish law Cabal was considered an adulterer.

After a long journey, Cabal returned to New Granada after being 14 years abroad, arriving in April 1809 in Santa Marta, he then traveled to the capital of Santa Fe where he met with his former classmate Francisco Jose de Caldas, where he presented him with some new plants he had brought from Jamaica. He did not stay long in the capital, and returned to his family's hacienda in the Cauca Valley after having left 17 years ago.

As result of his travels, Cabal had collected a large number of new plants that he introduced to New Granada, and dedicated himself to agricultural work and scientific studies for the time being. This would change soon after as revolution swept New Granada Independence revolution in 1810, in which he participated as a deputy for Caloto, Cauca in the Provisional Government Board of the Confederated Cities of Valle del Cauca.

War of Independence

Despite dedicating his time to tending to his hacienda as well as his studies in botany and mineralogy, Cabal soon became entangled in the unstable political situation that was developing in New Granada. In early 1810 the Spanish authorities had attempted to name him as mayor of the city of Buga, a position he refused to accept. That same year various cities in New Granada rose up in revolt and deposed the Spanish authorities in charge of them and replaced them with governing juntas that demanded more autonomy within the Spanish Empire. In the capital Santa Fe on July 20, 1810 a popular revolt ended up deposing Viceroy Antonio Amar y Borbón and replaced him with a governing junta. In the city of Cali a provisional junta was also established that was meant to represent all of the cities within the province of Popayán. Various delegates were sent to Cali to represent their respective cities, Cabal was chosen as a delegate representing the city of Caloto, where his family owned a large amount of land. This provisional junta would eventually form the Confederated Cities of the Cauca Valley, Cabal along with other delegates signed the act of its creation in 1811.

The confederation attempted to have Popayán join as well, however its Spanish governor Miguel Tacón y Rosique considered the junta illegal and after various months of threats, deployed troops to put down the junta. This action led the confederation to ask the Supreme Junta Santafe for military assistance, who subsequently deployed 150 troops under the command of Colonel Antonio Baraya to assist them. These troops joined forces with those from the confederation and defeated the royalist troops near Popayán at the Battle of Bajo Palacé on March 28, 1811, amongst the patriot casualties of the battle were Cabal's cousin Miguel Cabal whose death was a heavy blow for him. This victory forced Tacón and the royalists to retreat south and abandon Popayán to the victorious Patriot forces who entered the city on April 1. The junta then moved from Cali to Popayán where they delegated on choosing the president and vice president of the junta. On June 26, 1811 Joaquin Caycedo y Cuero was elected president and Jose Maria Cabal as vice president.

The junta soon began a military campaign to liberate the southern cities of Pasto and Quito, and deployed forces to secure the Pacific coast of the province fearing that a royalist threat from the south could jeopardize their existence. President Caycedo would lead this southern campaign himself, and departed with the Patriot troops on July 22, leaving Cabal in charge in his absence as well as assuming military control of Popayán. Alongside Cabal was an American adventurer Alexander Macaulay who was commissioned into the patriot army and who would assist him.

Caycedo and his forces eventually took the city of Pasto after lengthy negotiations, and marched south hoping to reach the Quito province in order assist the patriots of that province. Patriot forces were also deployed to the Pacific Coast under the command of Captain Jose Ignacio Rodriguez who defeated a small Spanish flotilla at the Battle of Iscuande in January of 1812.

Defense of Popayán

In April of 1812, large numbers of royalist guerrillas rose up in response to the patriot offensives, and with knowledge that Popayán's defenses were weakened as a result of Colonel Baraya's return with his troops to Santafé, marched on Popayán. These royalist irregulars were commanded by Antonio Tenorio and José Joaquín de la Paz who had managed to gather around 1,500 guerrilla fighters. As most of the patriot troops had been deployed to support President Caycedo's offensive in the south, there were only 300 troops defending the city made up of regulars, militias, and even students under the command of Colonel Cabal along with other officers.

Given Cabal's inexperience in commanding troops he allowed Alexander Macaulay, a former medical officer in the US army, who had been traveling from Santafe to Quito unaware of the situation in the country and who offered his services to the patriot government, to take command despite being his superior. On April 26, Tenorio's troops arrived on the western outskirts of the city and entered into street-to-street combat with the defenders of the city. During the battle Cabal placed a cannon on one of the main streets of the city and fired it himself clearing the Santo Domingo street of enemy troops. The patriots mounted an effective defensive by placing barricades with artillery behind them as well shooting from windows that kept the enemy at bay. Later on Cabal and Macaulay launched a counterattack that drove the royalists out of the city in what would be known as the Battle of La Ladera and forced them to retreat south to Pasto. On April 29, Cabal and Macaulay gathered around 600 troops to chase after the royalists.

The city had been defended successfully, however president Caycedo and his army in Pasto had been unaware of the events in Popayán and on May 20, were caught by surprise when the royalists assaulted Pasto. Outnumbered Caycedo and his troops were forced to surrender and were held captive in the city. While Cabal and Macaulay had left Popayán enough time to have been able to catch the royalists before they attacked Caycedo, they becamne delayed when during their march a lieutenant captured a royalist priest by the name of Morcillo. The government in Popayán had previously placed an order for his arrest because of his ardent support for the royalists. The secretary of government Francisco Antonio Ulloa in Popayán, then informed Cabal that the government had decided to order Morcillo's execution. Colonel Cabal disagreed with this sentence and informed the government of this, Ulloa responded to this notification angrily stating "that the government had seen this action as disgraceful, as it was officer's duty to obey a direct order." Cabal then begrudgingly obeyed and ordered the execution of the priest. This event had cost the expeditionary force 10 days, and although Macaulay ordered his troops to march at double pace they only arrived near Pasto in an area called Meneses on May 26. It would be at Meneses that Cabal and his officers learned of the patriot defeat and the capture of President Caycedo and his army. Upon receiving this news, Cabal and Macaulay convened a meeting with the all the officers of the expeditionary force, they agreed to withdraw to Popayán as they did not have the sufficient manpower to take the city and rescue President Caycedo.

After a difficult march the patriot troops finally reached Popayán on June 10, 1812. To their fortune, during the following days they received reinforcements from the capital under the command of Colonel Antonio Villavicencio who brought with him 200 troops along with 100 rifles and other supplies.

President of the Junta

With the capture of Caycedo, the government named Colonel Cabal as President of the junta. Cabal then took the task of organizing a new expedition to take Pasto and rescue Caycedo, and if possible continue on south to Quito to assist the patriots there that were under the threat of Spanish forces led by Colonels Toribio Montes, Juan de Sámano, and Melchor Aymerich.

This new expedition which departed the city at the beginning of July under the command of Macaulay who had been given the rank of Colonel with Cabal acting as his second in command. As they advanced south they were met by a set royalist fortifications placed near the Juanambú river. The patriots after 2 days and 1 night of combat were able to force their way across the river, forcing the royalists to retreat to Buesaco. Towards the end of July the patriots were on the northern outskirts of Pasto, they were also assisted by an army of patriots from the Quito province under the command of Joaquín Sanchez de Arellana who placed his forces to the south of the city. With Pasto surrounded, the royalists officials fearing the destruction of the city, entered into lengthy negotiations with the city. On July 26, with the intervention of Cayacedo, the royalists signed a negotiated surrender of the city with various stipulations. The royalists completed their part of the agreement by releasing Caycedo and the patriot prisoners. After this the agreement stipulated that Colonel Macaulay withdraw his forces from the city and return to Popayán, which Macaulay did not do. Instead of completing his part of the agreement, he issued an ultimatum on August 11 to the city, this time far harsher than the one sent before. The city council rejected this ultimatum almost immediately and hostilities commenced once again.

On the morning of August 13, Colonel Macaulay and his troops attempted to conduct a surprise maneuver when they were attacked by the royalist troops near Catambuco. The Battle of Catambuco was total defeat for the patriots, they lost 600 men; with 200 killed or wounded and 400 captured including almost all of their officers. The only troops who were able to escape the disaster were Colonel Cabal and a column of 117 soldiers along with Captain Pedro Murgeitio, Majors José María Quijano, Mariano Matute and Rafael Cuervo.

Amongst the prisoners taken at the Battle of Catamabuco were Colonel Macaulay and Caycedo. Five months later on January 26, 1813 they were executed in the main plaza of Pasto by order of Governor Toribio Montes in Quito along with 10 other officers. The other prisoners were forced to march to Quito or were killed.

The news of the distaster at Catambuco reached Popayán shortly after, the government fearing a renewed royalist offensive to take the city decided to retreat north to Quilichao. As a result Cabal was given full command of the army of the south. In September, the royalists once again attacked the Popayán and took it as it had been abandoned. Cabal along with Colonel Ignacio Rodriguez organized a force and was able to retake city on October 9. After this victory Popayán remained under patriot control until mid-1813 when the Spanish launched another far stronger offensive.

In early 1813 news reached Popayán of the defeat of the patriots of Quito at the Battle of Ibarra fought between November 27 to December 1 of 1812. With this defeat, everything south of Popayán was now once again under Spanish control by the Governor and President of the Real Audiencia of Quito - Toribio Montes. Montes who had received support from Spanish troops sent from the Viceroyalty of Peru and Spain, and with Quito province and the city Pasto firmly under control looked towards New Granada which had been under patriot control since 1810. He gathered 2,000 troops and placed them under the command of Colonel Juan de Samano to prepare for an offensive on New Granada.

The government in Popayán worried about this possible offensive decided to send Colonel Cabal to the capital Santafé, to request military assistance. Cabal departed for the capital in early 1813 arriving there in April. The situation in central New Granada since 1812 had been of civil war as the patriots began to fight amongst themselves over the system of governance that the republic should follow, federalism or centralism. The centralists were led by Antonio Nariño in Santafé who had created the Free and Independent State of Cundinamarca while the federalists led by Camilo Torres in Tunja had established a federal congress where the delegates of 5 provinces joined together to form the United Provinces of New Granada. The two fought a brief civil war that had been going in favor of the federalists, however they were defeated when they attempted to capture Santafé at the Battle of San Victorino on January 9, 1813. The two sides then signed an armistice and agreed to join forces as Cabal had informed them of the royalist threat in the south, as well as another royalist threat of invasion in the north from royalist controlled Venezuela.

Nariño's southern campaign

Lt. General Antonio Nariño by José María Espinosa

President Nariño offered to command the army to liberate the south, an offer that both the electoral college of Cundinamarca and the federal congress of the United Provinces agreed upon, and as a result on June 28, 1813 Nariño was given the rank of Lieutenant general and named commander-in-chief of the Army of the Union that would liberate the south from the Spanish royalists. This army would be made up of units from Cundinamarca's provincial army and the federal congress's forces. Nariño then chose the officers that would command the army, Brigadier Jose de Leyva was chosen as second-in-command, Colonel Cabal as commander of the army's vanguard, and Nariño's son Lt. Colonel Antonio Nariño Ortega was placed in command of the army's cavalry. Cabal was one of the first officers to depart the capital, doing so on July 22 with around 200 men in the direction of Ibague as Nariño had given him orders to secure the vital Quindio Road, the main route to enter central New Granada from the south.

While this was happening, back in June, Colonel Samano had launched his offensive on southern New Granada, he managed to capture Popayán on July 1 as the city's small garrsion under Colonel Rodriguez had withdrawn north to the Cauca Valley. Samano continued his offensive into the valley in pursuit of Rodriguez's forces, on July 18, he captured Cali and made his way up to the town of Cartago where a small force 150 patriot troops under the command of french cavalry officer Lt. Colonel Manuel de Serviez attempted to stop him. On August 5, Samano's forces defeated Serviez at the Battle of Las Cañas, forcing the patriots to retreat to Ibague via the Quindio Road, meanwhile Samano halted his offensive and withdrew to Popayán.

When Cabal arrived in Ibague, he received the battered survivors that had been under Serviez's command and incorporated them into the army's vanguard. Whilst there he recruited troops, deployed spies over the Central Andes Mountain Range to inform the army of Samano's movements, and also ordered Serviez to create a new cavalry unit that would be incorporated into the army. General Nariño departed the capital on September 23, Nariño and the bulk of the army would march to the town of La Plata arriving there on October 25, this town was selected as the staging area for the army before the start of the offensive on Popayán. After completing his orders in Ibague, Cabal marched to La Plata along with his vanguard and joined up with Nariño's forces. The army remained in the town for the next two months as they trained and prepared themselves for the difficult crossing across the Andes via the Guanacas road that would allow them to approach Popayán from the east. During this time a group of foreign officers Campomanes, Serviez, and Shambourg who had been implementing and teaching the French manual of arms to the patriot army, were accused of conspiring against Nariño. Cabal interceded on their behalf and recommended Nariño to send them back to Santafé to face a military tribunal there where they were more likely to receive a fair trial.

Battle of Alto Palacé

Soon after the incident, the army was ready to depart, Nariño's plan consisted of crossing the Andes through the Guanacas pass and approaching Popayán from the east, while at the same time Colonel Rodriguez would march from Ibague along with Colonel Guiterrez's troops marching down south from Antioquia and invade the Cauca Valley and approach Popayán from the north. On December 20 1813, Nariño at the head of his 2,000 strong army began their crossing of the Andes, with Rodriguez and Guitierrez also starting their march as well. Samano soon received information of his enemy's movements and decided to split his army in two sending 1,000 men north to the town of Quilichao under the command of Lt. Colonel Ignacio Asín to defend Popayán from the north while he would block Nariño from the east at the bridge over the Palacé river with 600 troops. There Sámano placed his troops in three areas, one on the heights observing the bridge in battle formation with infantry and cavalry along with two artillery pieces, another group of troops were placed on the bridge itself, and a third group placed in the forest around the main road.

On December 30, Nariño spotted the royalists in the heights above the bridge and ordered Cabal to take the vanguard of the army (some 300 troops) and force their way across the bridge. This would mark the beginning of the Battle of Alto Palacé. Cabal and his troops descended from the mountain towards the bridge where they were fired upon by the royalists, despite the heavy fire from the hidden royalist units, Cabal persisted and continued on with the attack and his troops were able to force their way across the bridge over Palacé River. The patriots troops were also able to prevent the royalists from blowing up the bridge after they had cleared of it of enemy troops, sustaining few casualties in the process. The defeat at Alto Palacé forced Sámano to retreat to the town of El Tambo, just west of Popayán. The victory allowed the Patriots to capture the city, however Nariño was worried about the possibilty of Asin's forces joining up with Samano's to conduct a counter attack. After entering the city and finding it clear of troops, Nariño left the city and placed his camp near at the Bajo Palacé field which lay north of the city along the main road that led from the Cauca Valley to the city. There he remained for the next few days as he attempted to block Asin who was marching south from Quilichiao being pursued by Rodriguez's troops. Nariño then ordered Cabal to conduct reconnaissance on Samano's forces that had marched from El Tambo and made camp at the Calibio Hacienda. Despite the patriot's efforts on the night of January 8, 1814, Asin managed to arrive at the Calibio Hacienda using a series of alternatives roads to avoid the patriots. Cabal who was near the area conducting reconnaissance on his foe informed Nariño of this and requested permission to attack confident of its success, this request was denied and Nariño ordered Cabal to withdraw to the main patriot camp as he wished to present battle with Samano at full strength as Colonel Rodriguez's troops marching down south had still not arrived.

Battle of Calibio

On January 13, Rodriguez and his troops finally arrived, Nariño was now ready to do battle with Samano at the Calibio Hacienda which lay some 8 km from his camp at Bajo Palacé. The patriot army had at its disposal some 2,000 troops with ample artillery, while the Royalist Army had a similar number of troops with ample artillery as well. At 6 am on January 15, Nariño gave the order to march towards the hacienda, the march took some 4 hours to complete.

The Battle of Calibio by José María Espinosa. Cabal is in the center, to the right.

After the patriots arrived to the hacienda they quickly took to battle formation forming into three columns; the left column was made up of the Socorro battalion under the command of Sergeant Major Pedro Monsalve along with the troops of Colonel Rodríguez, the center column was where the bulk of the army was located along with the artillery which was under the command of Nariño and Brigadier Leyva. Colonel Cabal commanded the right column which was placed in a small depression where it could not be seen by the enemy, and waited there for the right opportunity to launch an attack.

The battle began with both sides exchanging heavy volley and artillery fire all along the middle, half an hour after the battle had begun, Cabal received the order from Nariño to advance on the enemy's left. Cabal's column advanced and appeared before their enemy at a distance of less than rifle shot from the royalist left flank, at that very moment Cabal ordered his column to charge with bayonets. Cabal's attack surprised Sámano who did not expect to be attacked on his left, and frantically deployed a detachment of 50 troops and an artillery piece to stop the attack. This attack combined with the attack by the Cundinamarca Grenadiers battalion from the center column managed to break the royalist lines and capture their artillery, opening a gap which the patriot cavalry took advantage of and attacked the royalist center. The bloody three-hour-long battle ended in a complete defeat for the royalists who lost 400 dead and wounded as well as the loss of almost all of their weapons and the capture of 300 men, then they undertook a disastrous retreat to Pasto. The Battle of Calibío was the most important battle of all those fought in the Southern Campaign, Cabal's actions during the battle contributed greatly to the victory as his attack had surprised the royalists and caused definitive imbalance on their left flank, from which they could not recover.

After the victory, the patriot army marched triumphantly into Popayán. Nariño then made Cabal Chief of Staff of the army, as Brigadier Leyva was tasked with governing Popayán.

1815 Campaign

After the withdrawal of the Army of the South to the Cauca Valley, Cabal decided to garrison his troops in the town of Palmira, it would be here where he began his plan to reorganize and re-train the army. New training was implemented for the troops, with a focus on physical fitness, every day the troops would begin their day with marching from five in the morning for two hours at double pace. In addition to training a new organizational doctrine was also implemented as Cabal had requested the War Secretariat of New Granada for authorization to adopt the French doctrine regarding divisional commands, which had been translated from French to Spanish. These efforts on the part of Cabal were welcomed by the government of the United Provinces who decided to promote him from the rank of Colonel to the rank of brigadier general of the army of the union and confirm him as commander-in-chief of the Army of the South. After many months of preparation, Cabal managed to reorganize the army of the south, the army now numbered around 1,200 infantrymen composed of five line battalions, these being the Battalions Cundinamarca, Socorro, Antioquia, Popayán and Cauca. In addition to these infantry battalions, Cabal had at his disposal about 150 light cavalry divided into two squadrons along with a squadron of artillery men and their cannons. The government also dispatched some officers to the southern army to assist Cabal in his task, such as Colonel Carlos de Montúfar a native of Quito and two French officers Colonel Manuel Roergas de Serviez and cavalry captain Honorato Dufour. Cabal quickly incorporated these officers into his staff and appointed Montúfar as chief of headquarters and Serviez as his chief of staff. These efforts were necessary actions in order to ensure the defense of the Valle del Cauca from an expected royalist counter-offensive. This counteroffensive would be right around the corner as the governor of Quito Toribio Montes was preparing an army to invade the valley that would be led by Colonel Aparicio Vidauzárraga.

Colonel Vidauzárraga, who had taken control of Popayán after the retreat of the patriot army, after months of preparations and the arrival of reinforcements from Quito and Peru began his counteroffensive to invade the Valley at the end of June 1815 with about 2000 troops along with artillery. Cabal in anticipation of this, ordered the army's vanguard to maintain an advanced position on the banks of the Ovejas River, the vanguard was made up of elements of the Socorro and Antioquia battalions numbering around 300 troops. Along with the advanced positions at Ovejas, Cabal had devised a defensive plan, in case superior forces attacked the advance positions at Ovejas and tried to conduct their offensive into the Valley. The plan consisted of carrying out a dilatory defense by means of successive defense lines, located on the mound of El Pital, in the Alto de Mondomo and at the heights of Tremblera and Cascabel, this would attract the enemy, and cause as much damage as possible, before leading them to the fortified positions at the El Palo field, where Cabal planned to defeat them. Cabal had ordered the fortification of the Palo field towards the end of May, the field was located on the north bank of the Palo River just north of the town Caloto.

This plan went into effect when the patriot vanguard made contact with the royalist vanguard towards the end of June. The patriot vanguard fought with the enemy for two hours until the Socorro battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Monsalve ordered his forces to withdraw to Quilichao. Encouraged by this small victory, the royalists continued their advance northwards and around noon on July 4, 1815, Colonel Vidauzárraga's forces arrived on the opposite side of the Palo River. Although some of his commanders wanted to attack immediately, the Spanish commander decided to take his time to look for some way to cross the river and attack without having to deal with the patriot fortifications. While the Spanish conducted their reconnaissance of the field, that night of July 4, Cabal gathered all his officers to discuss the last details prior to the beginning of the confrontation.

Battle of the Palo River by José María Espinosa.

The Battle of the Palo River began at 5 am on July 5, 1815 when a column of royalist troops crossed the Palo river through a ford below the "Pasó Real" to avoid patriot defenses and attack their right flank. The two patriot units who were placed in advanced positions along the river, the Popayán and Cauca battalions detected this movement and alerted the rest of the troops. The rest of the army quickly assembled and prepared for battle. While the advanced units withdrew from their positions in an organized fashion, Cabal prepared for battle and took command of the Cundinamarca battalion on the left, and ordered Montúfar in the center with the Socorro battalion and the three artillery pieces accompanied them in the center as well, on the right was Serviez with the Antioquia battalion.

With the royalists now on the other side of the river, they immediately engaged the patriots with a cavalry attack on the patriot left flank. Cabal immediately ordered the patriot cavalry to attack from the right, which managed to contain the assault of the royalists and caused panic among their troops. The battle soon concluded with a simultaneous bayonet charge by the three front line battalions Cundinamarca, Socorro and Antioquia supported by artillery which forced the royalist to retreat across the swollen river, where many drowned in the process.

At 8:30 in the morning, the Spanish army was retreating in defeat with the patriots in close pursuit. From the top of the Cascabel hill, he sent a letter to the patriot governor of the province Francisco Cabal who was also his cousin, announcing the victory where he stated the following:

"The arms of the nation have triumphed. Today at five in the morning the enemy presented us with a lot of intrepidity, having passed the river through the steps below. Our officers and soldiers have behaved like Republicans"

The victory had completely destroyed the royalist offensive and thanks to Colonel Serviez's deep pursuit of the fleeing royalists, he was able to recapture Popayán on July 8. The battle had ensured that southern New Granada would remain under patriot control for at least a year.

With Popayán firmly in patriot hands, Cabal began to plan for an offensive to capture Pasto, however an order soon came from the government to halt all planning for this offensive. The republic was now under threat as a Spanish expeditionary army under the command of General Pablo Morillo had landed on the shores of New Granada in August 1815. This Spanish army with around 10,000 expeditionary troops along with 6,000 royalist Venezuelan troops began an invasion of New Granada. By the end of August Morillo laid siege to the port of Cartagena de Indias, and in October Colonel Sebastian de la Calzada with 2,100 troops invaded eastern New Granada from the Llanos of Venezuela. The government in Santafé immediately ordered Cabal to transfer troops and supplies in order to assist the defense of the country's northern provinces. Officers like Colonel Serviez were also ordered ro assist depriving the army of the south of much of its capable officers, troops, and equipment.

Death

By 1816 the situation of the Republic was precarious, General Morillo after a 3 month siege had managed to take the city of Cartagena in December of the previous year. After the victory, he deployed several columns to take the different provinces of the interior of New Granada. Colonel Julian Bayer was delegated to take the province of Chocó and Colonel Francisco Warleta to take the province of Antioquia.

The situation continued to deteriorate, in February Calzada defeated the patriot army of the north at the Battle of Cachirí, leaving the road to the republican capital free of resistance. The remnants of the northern army began a strategic retreat to the eastern plains of New Granada led by the recently promoted General Serviez in April, and in May Santafé fell to the Spanish. That same month, Colonel Julián Bayer managed to take the province of Chocó and Colonel Francisco Warleta defeated the patriot troops in the Antioquía province. These two forces were now heading south along with Colonel Carlos Tolrá who was leading a division from the recently captured Santafe. To the south of Popayán in Quito, Governor Montes working in conjunction with Morillo ordered Brigadier Juan de Sámano at the helm of 2,000 troops to launch an offensive on Popayán, this army left Pasto at the end of May. At the beginning of June he managed to position his troops in a fortified position on the ridge of the Cuchilla del Tambo about 6 leagues from Popayán.

For Cabal the situation was alarming, his army had neither the troops or ammunition to go out and seek a battle with Sámano. He suggested to his officers that the only way to resist the Spanish offensive would be for the troops to be divided into guerrillas and retreat to the Cauca Valley and conduct guerrilla warfare against the enemy.

The officers and soldiers of the southern army were unhappy with the way Cabal was leading the army, and felt he had not been aggressive enough with his strategy to defeat the enemy, Jose Hilario Lopez writing in his memoirs noted that while Cabal was a respected and brave commander, he described his inaction as criminal, and that it had seemed that he had resigned himself to giving up his command. Cabal failed to convince his officers to follow his strategy, and already tired and overwhelmed by so many years of war, decided to resign from his command. Lieutenant Colonel Andrés Rosas decided to convene a board of officers to study General Cabal's decision, the board relieved him of command and subsequently appointed Lieutenant Colonel Liborio Mejía, commander of the Antioquía battalion, as his replacement.

Shortly after, the army of the south would be totally defeated at the Battle of the Blade of El Tambo on June 29, 1816 when they went out and attacked Sámano's fortified positions. The few who were able to escape the disaster joined up with another patriot force in La Plata, but were defeated in the Battle of La Plata on July 10, 1816.

Arrest and Execution

After the painful episode of his resignation from command, Cabal left for his hacienda in the Cauca Valley and hid there in attempt to find some peace before the inevitable. After the arrival of Colonel Warleta and his Spanish troops from Antioquia, he ordered a search for Cabal, during this time he arrested many of Cabal's family members in an attempt to find his whereabouts. His troops eventually arrested the head worker of his hacienda and after repeatedly torturing him, were able to find Cabal's whereabouts.

Cabal was arrested shortly after and taken to Popayán, where he was a given verbal trial by Brigadier Sámano and found guilty of treason, his property was confiscated and was sentenced to death by firing squad. On the afternoon of August 19, 1816, José María Cabal was executed by firing squad in the main square of Popayán, along with Colonels Mariano Matute and José María Quijano, all three were shot at the same time while facing backwards. After the execution, his body was hanged from the gallows for the public to observe for a few hours.

His body was buried in the Church of San Francisco in the city of Popayán. His remains remained there until 1892 when they were transferred in a solemn ceremony to his native Buga.

Sources

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