Battle of Salta

Battle of Salta
Part of Argentine War of Independence
Battle of Salta
Date February 20, 1813 Location Salta, Salta Province, Argentina 24°43′53.01″S 65°23′46.08″W / 24.7313917°S 65.3961333°W / -24.7313917; -65.3961333Coordinates: 24°43′53.01″S 65°23′46.08″W / 24.7313917°S 65.3961333°W / -24.7313917; -65.3961333 Result Decisive United Provinces victory
Belligerents
United Provinces of South America	Spanish Empire Viceroyalty of Peru
Commanders and leaders
Manuel Belgrano	Juan Pío de Tristán
Strength
3.000 soldiers 12 cannons	3.400 soldiers 10 cannons
Casualties and losses
103 dead 433 injured	481 dead 114 injured 2,776 prisoners 10 cannons 2,118 muskets
Location within Argentina

The Battle of Salta took place on February 20, 1813 on the plains of Castañares, north of the present-day Argentina city of Salta, during the Argentine War of Independence. The Army of the North, under the command of general Manuel Belgrano, defeated for the second time the royalist troops of general Pío de Tristán, after their victory in the previous September at the Battle of Tucumán. The unconditional surrender of the royalist troops ensured Argentine control over most of the northern territories of the former Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

Belgrano had taken advantage of the victory at Tucumán to reinforce his army. In four months he improved the discipline of his troops, improved training and recruited sufficient men so as to duplicate their numbers. The artillery abandoned by Tristán in the previous battle helped Belgrano to fill his lack of equipment. At the beginning of January, he started a slow march towards Salta. On February 11, on the banks of the Juramento River, the army swore an oath of loyalty to the Asamblea del Año XIII which had started sessions in Buenos Aires a few days before, and to the national flag.

Tristán, in the meantime, had taken the time to fortify Portezuelo pass, the only access to the city through the hills from the southeast, a tactical advantage that supposedly would make the attempt impossible, except for the local area knowledge that the new conscripts brought to the rebels. Captain Apolinario Saravia, a local from Salta, offered to guide the army through a high path that led to Chachapoyas, which would allow them to connect with the north road that went to Jujuy, in an area where there were no similar fortifications. Under cover of rain the rebel army made a slow march through the rough terrain, hindered by the difficulty off moving equipment and artillery. On February 18 they reached a field where they encamped, while the captain, disguised as a native wrangler guided a mule train loaded with firewood to the city, with the intention of reconnoitering the positions taken by Tristán's army.