Battle of Rivas
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Battle of Rivas sometimes known as the Second Battle of Rivas occurred on 11 April 1856 between Costa Rican militia under General Mora and the Nicaraguan forces of William Walker. The lesser known First Battle of Rivas took place on 29 June 1855 between Walker's forces and the forces of the Chamorra government of Nicaragua.
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[edit] First Battle of Rivas
Walker had arrived in Nicaragua in June of 1855 in support of the Democratic government of General Castellon in the Nicaraguan civil war.
[edit] Second Battle of Rivas
After Costa Rican forces ousted the mercenary army led by William Walker from Guanacaste's Hacienda Santa Rosa on 20 March 1856, the filibusters were chased back across the border into Nicaragua, where the Costa Ricans clashed again with the mercenaries in a decisive battle in the town of Rivas on on the San Juan River in 11 April 1856.
It was this encounter that produced Costa Rica's national war heros. Juan Santamaría, (the only Costa Rican to have a national holiday declared in his honor), gained his martyrdom, and Pancha Carrasco became Costa Rica's first woman soldier. Santamaría, a drummer boy from the town of Alajuela, had volunteered for his country's impromptu militia; his moment of bravery came when the commanding officer asked for a volunteer to set fire to El Mesón de Guerra — the building the filibusters had made their stronghold. Santamaría, torch in hand, fulfilled his patriotic duty, but it cost him his life. Carrasco who was serving the militia as a cook and impromptu medic, filled her apron pockets with bullets, grabbed a discarded rifle and shamed some of the retreating Costa Ricans forestalling what might have become a rout.
[edit] References
- Jamison, James Carson (1909) "First Battle of Rivas" With Walker in Nicaragua: Or, Reminiscences of an Officer of the American Phalanx E.W. Stephens Publishing Co., Columbia, MO, pp. 70-89, OCLC 1711985
- Jamison, James Carson (1909) "Second Battle of Rivas" With Walker in Nicaragua: Or, Reminiscences of an Officer of the American Phalanx E.W. Stephens Publishing Co., Columbia, MO, pp. 70-89, OCLC 1711985
- Boles, Janet K. and Hoeveler, Diane Long (2004) "Carrasco, Pancha (Francisca) 1826-1890" Historical Dictionary of Feminism (2nd ed.) Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Md., p. 70, ISBN 0-8108-4946-1
