Battle of Santa Inés

Ezequiel Zamora, winner of Santa Inés

Date	December 9–10, 1859
Location	Santa Inés, Venezuela
Result	Federalist victory

Belligerents

Federal Rebels

Conservative Government

Commanders and leaders

Ezequiel Zamora

Pedro Estanislao Ramos

Strength

3.400 Soldiers

2.300 Soldiers

Casualties and losses

Unknown

The Battle of Santa Inés was a Venezuelan military confrontation which occurred between December 9 and 10, 1859, during the Federal War between the federal forces under General Ezequiel Zamora, and the conservative government of General Pedro Estanislao Ramos, with a victory for the former. It was located about 36 kmsouthwest of Barinas.

Once the forces had been gathered in Guanare in mid-November 1859, Generals Juan Crisóstomo Falcón and Ezequiel Zamora moved to Barinas, followed by the Western Government Army, whose commander, General Pedro Estanislao Ramos, gave the order to chase and beat them. After this retreat movement, the federal army settled in Santa Inés, located about 36 km southwest of the city of Barinas, on the right bank of the Santo Domingo River. The federalist forces' regrouping was completed on December 9.

It was then that General Zamora took a defensive position and formulated a plan that consisted of a withdrawal, executed by the front line troops, to attract the attacker to an area where they would be destroyed by a counterattack. The front line troops, in addition to channeling the action of the attackers, needed to cause as much attrition as possible, by means of using the forces in three successive lines of trenches, having a fourth line which would be the final position and wherein the attacker would receive the maximum firepower and final blow, increased by the reserve forces from the preceding lines.

To comply with the above plan of attack, General Zamora made the following proposals: The advance trench was to be located in the village of La Palmas, and it was to be commanded by Colonels Jesús Hernández Hernández y León Hernández; a bit further back by a mill and a hut, the first line was to beorganized under General Ignacio Antonio Ortiz; the second line to be commanded by General Rafael Petit was about 900 meters back; the third line to be led by General Pedro Aranguren was formed at 800 meters beyond, at a crossroads; finally the fourth line, 800 meters from the crossroads, where the town was, was to be the reserve. According to the plan prepared by Zamora, upon presentation of the attacker in La Palma, the federalist troops would offer little resistance and redeploy to the first position; who would then be delivered to the attacker, after some resistance the defenders would occupy the second position; then they would redeploy to the third just as in the previous line. This would leave the attackers at the mercy of the coup de grace by the reserve. This was the first time that the tactic of digging defensive trenches was performed in Latin America.

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