Retreat from Laguna

The Invasion of the then province of Mato Grosso by the forces of the Paraguayan Army in December 1864, the war declared, one of the first Brazilian reactions was to send a military land contingent to fight the invaders in Mato Grosso.

In April 1865, a column left Rio de Janeiro, under the command of Colonel Manuel Pedro Drago, receiving reinforcements in Uberaba, in the then Province of Minas Gerais, covering more than two thousand kilometers by land until reaching Coxim, in the Province of Mato Grosso, in December of that same year, which she found abandoned.

The same was repeated when they reached Miranda in September 1866. In January 1867, Colonel Carlos de Morais Camisão assumed command of the column, then reduced to 1,680 men, and decided to invade Paraguayan territory, where he penetrated to Laguna, in April . Too distant from Brazilian lines, and without food for the troops, affected by cholera, typhus, and beriberi, the column of the Brazilian Army was forced to withdraw under the constant attacks of Paraguayan cavalry, portrayed in a reliable manner in the literature viscount of Taunay, inflicting severe losses on Brazilians.