Fuerte San Miguel (Uruguay)

Fuerte de San Miguel is a military fortification in the small town of Dieciocho de Julio in the Rocha Department of eastern Uruguay. It was erected in 1737 by the Portuguese, having abandoned the attempt at building a fort in Maldonado. It was constructed of large, heavy stones to create the tall towers (four bastions), thick walls and sturdy ramparts to withstand the onslaught of wars fought against the Spanish invaders which was instrumental in Uruguay evolving as an independent nation.

The fort is located on Route 19, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of the Laguna Merin, and 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of Chuy. Visible after passing Paso de Punta Segra, it is situated on top of the Sierra de San Miguel, thirty-five metres high, in an area of mostly large and extensive valleys. At the foot of the mountain runs the San Miguel River, though it is out of sight of the fortress. In the distance are mountains forming the boundary with Brazil.

With a garrison of 100 men, the fort was used by the Portuguese as an observation post of the movements of the Spanish forces. Article XVIII of the Treaty of Madrid (1750) decided that Portugal would keep the line of Castillos Grande, and could strengthen it. Before the signing of the Treaty of El Pardo (1761), the governor and captain-general of the captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, Gomes Freire de Andrade, anticipated the consequences for the South and ordered the governor of the Colony of Rio Grande de São Pedro, Colonel Elói Madureira, to immediately dispatch troops to the Laguna region. The Portuguese strategy was to quickly build a fortified defensive line, south of Fort San Miguel, to stop the Spanish invasion in progress, after the conquest of Colonia del Sacramento in October 1762 by Governor Pedro de Cevallos of Buenos Aires.

In October 1762, construction of the Fortaleza de Santa Teresa began nearby to surpass San Miguel as the main Portuguese stronghold. In April 1763, Ceballos took San Miguel and the Spanish improved it considerably into a fully functioning fort. In 1775 engineer Bernardo Lecocq made reinforcement works to the structure of the fort, with a British invasion imminent. With the Treaty of San Ildefonso (1777), the Spanish were legally confirmed as being in possession of the fort. In 1797, the fort reached its peak as a stronghold when it was strengthened further, again in anticipation of war.

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Wikipedia