June 11th. Anniversary of the Battle of Los Pozos
Background
In 1825, the government of the Empire of Brazil, after claiming that the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata supported the landing of the Thirty-Three Orientals, reinforced its troops in the Eastern Province and declared all the ports of the United Provinces blockaded. Consequently, on November 4, 1825, General Juan Gregorio de Las Heras declared diplomatic relations with Brazil broken and immediately afterward the Empire declared war on December 10, 1825, which lasted three years.For its part, the government of Buenos Aires concentrated an army corps on the coast of Uruguay under the orders of General Martín Rodríguez; it had some batteries built on the Paraná under the direction of Major Martiniano Chilavert, and entrusted Colonel Guillermo Brown with the command of a small fleet, which was increased a few months later by a subscription of wealthy citizens. This last measure was all the more urgent because the Empire dominated the rivers of La Plata, Uruguay and Paraná, because it had fortified the Colony and Martín García and because it enforced the blockade with a powerful fleet.
And while attention was focused on the rivers that bordered on the Argentine side what, in all likelihood, would be the theatre of war, the Empire was preparing an invasion on the southern coast of Buenos Aires and working in its favour the spirit of some Indian chieftains who had remained in a war mood since the last expedition of General Rodríguez. Aware of this, the government hastened to combine this double danger that could reduce the territory of Buenos Aires to the most difficult extremes.
The actions
The imperials were not happier on the rivers, even though they claimed to be the owners of the Plata and its tributaries. In the last days of May 1826, the Argentine brig Balcarce, the schooners Sarandí, Pepa and Río, two gunboats and two transports, had made their way to Las Conchillas, where forces from the army of operations were disembarking. To avenge this failure, the imperial squadron, composed of 30 ships, approached Los Pozos at noon on June 11, where part of the Argentine fleet was anchored, namely: four cruise ships and seven gunboats. Admiral Guillermo Brown received them with a well-sustained fire. After fifteen minutes the imperial ships turned south. Ten thousand spectators witnessed this battle from the Buenos Aires harbour, until the afternoon when the ships returning from the Eastern Bank joined Brown and the imperials were out of cannon range.These naval advantages contrasted with the inertia of the imperial army. The same was true of the Argentine army, although this was attributed to the last arrangements made by General Las Heras to go and command it in chief. And perhaps for this reason he resigned from the provisional government he held, and insisted on his resignation, urging Congress to establish a permanent national executive. In the need to replace General Las Heras, Congress created the Executive Power by law of February 6, 1826 and by unanimous vote minus three of its members named Bernardino Rivadavia president of the United Provinces.
Wikipedia