On Francia's death, the garrison commanders took over and created a Junta, arresting Patinó, Francia's much hated secretary. However, a coup was mounted in 1841 by the sergeants of the infantry in favour of a Congress, an idea suggested by the able Don Carlos Antonio Lopez, a lawyer of ability who had been keeping his head well down in Francia's reign, as Francia became ever more suspicious of those of ability. Lopez was named as one of the two consuls elected by the Congress which was called, and he was to serve for three years.

Like Francia, he was to become indispensable because of his ability and effectively became dictator, albeit a rather more benign one than Francia. On his death, his son Francisco Solano Lopez was to succeed to the presidency.

A new congress in 1842 laid down the coat of arms and flag for the Republic. A census was ordered in 1845 and carried out in 1846 and gives a fascinating picture of Paraguay before the devastation of the War of the Triple Alliance. Not entirely complete, it nevertheless gave a total of 238,862 persons, plus around another 20,000 nomad Indians. Whole areas were either under populated or deserted. 17,181 were black, 7,866 of them slaves.

The army was modernised in the l840's and also expanded marauding Indians were causing much trouble and forts and guide posts were established, the militia better trained and equipment improved.

Retaliatory campaigns began, all Southern pueblos being ordered to have a force of "ready" militia to pursue raiders. This was effective and only in the Rio Apa area was there to continue to be trouble as the Brazilians encouraged Indian raids. Smallpox epidemics were to hit this threat particularly hard and as a result the Chaco became open to settlement and military posts and army estancias expanded into this area. Larger outposts were established and the river patrolled by canoes while cannon were placed in the garrisons.

In the capital a battalion-sized police was established with army wages, by 1849 it counted three companies of infantry, 194 officers and men, and 195 cavalry with four officers. Similar companies were established in the rest of the country. A National Guard was set up in 1845, a semi-professional militia that in theory enlisted all between 16 and 55, divided on paper into battalions of infantry and regiments of cavalry, but in reality counting only one infantry battalion of 407 officers and men in the capital. Lopez' eldest and second eldest son were company commanders.

In 1845 Argentina was in a state of civil war as the dictator Rosas invaded Uruguay and the state of Corrientes under General José María Paz became effectively independent. A treaty with Corrientes recognised Paraguay and several thousand infantry and cavalry were sent under the command of Francisco Solano Lopez, second son of Carlos, to assist the Corrientinos. Lopes was, at 18, a brigadier-general, and was assisted by the Hungarian cavalry Lieutenant-Colonel Francisco Wisner de Morgenstern, commanding a Paraguayan river flotilla, and acting as chief of staff.

The Paraguayan troops were described as in poor condition, Paz writing that they were "an unformed mass without instruction, without organisation, without discipline, and ignorant of the first rudiments of war." The infantry were described as so rustic that it didn't know how to load or fire its weapons. Of the cavalry, Paz wrote that they were "so badly mounted, not through not having been given horses, but because they did not care for them and destroyed them in few days." Paz also protested at the lack of officers. Of Lopez he said that he was "adorned with lovely personal qualities but he has no military knowledge and, what is more, not the slightest idea of war and how to wage it." The force did not take part in any actions and retreated across the river while its allies were destroyed and Paz fled to Paraguay.

By the end of 1847 Rosas was in control of Argentina and Paraguay was in fear of an attack. New military units were raised, militia embodied, a big military camp set up new the main ford at Paso de Patria and picked units of 50 cavalry ordered to be stationed at all the pueblos along the Alto Paraná, ready for action. Wisner was ordered to take 600 cavalry and 1000 infantry into Candelaría, along with an artillery battery, establish garrisons and patrol up to the river Uruguay, and also arrange to buy 2000 muskets from Brazil. It was an effective operation and reinforcements were sent in 1849. A cavalry regiment, a company of artillery and an infantry battalion were stationed at San Miguel with another artillery company, several warships and 3 infantry battalions, together with parts of two cavalry regiments and other smaller units at Tranquera. Altogether some 2,656 well armed men with 117 officers were established in the area. Further campaigns in 1850 and 1851 across into Corrientes by Lopez were not successful.

The Paraguayan army was remodelled by Wisner, a cavalry man and engineer, who arrived in 1845. He was a good drillmaster and twice commanded units in the field. He was also a cartographer and military adviser. He settled in Paraguay, living there for 30 years, marrying a Paraguayan, and greatly influenced the army there, designing the fortress of Humaitá and writing Francia's official biography.

There were too few officers - at the top were a few colonels, who lacked field experience, and there was no one higher in rank at all except for Francisco Solano Lopez himself, who was made a general and later a marshal. In 1864 the officer corps counted 5 colonels, 2 lieutenant-colonels, 10 majors, 51 captains, 22 first lieutenants and several hundred junior officers and nco's. There was no military manual and salaries were low. The equipment was of good quality for the regulars, and the infantry was organised into battalions which at full strength were to number 1000.

The 1st Infantry Battalion at Asunción numbered 977 officers and men, with 4 rifle companies, a grenadier company, a light company, a reserve and two small bands. This was an elite unit and no other battalion was at full strength - the 2nd. Infantry Battalion numbered 483 officers and men, and this was pretty much the norm. Of a supposed 50 battalions, only a few were ever formed. The regulars probably did not number more than 14,000 all ranks.

The infantry carried European muskets, the officers revolvers, while the cavalry used short carbines and sabres and the lancers had only the lance. The cavalry had nominally 3 squadrons to a regiment, each of 2 or 3 companies. There were also several unattached squadrons on service in the frontier and elsewhere. The 1st cavalry Regiment had 2 squadrons of 3 companies each, plus a large staff and numbered 355 officers and men. The others numbered around 200 - 300, some with modern carbines as well as sabres. Each had a rudimentary medical service. There were detached lancer squadrons, artillery units and government escorts, medical companies and the Asunción Police Battalion, 576 strong. The Asunción garrison in December 1864 was made up of the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Infantry Battalions, the Police Battalion, a company of police in Villa Rica, the 1st cavalry regiment, a squadron of Concepción cavalry, a lancer squadron, a composite regiment of dragoons, light infantry and rifles, 3 artillery companies, the Acá Carayá Escort Regiment, several military bands, a 48 man medical corps and Francisco Solano Lopez' personal staff. In all there were about 6,000 regulars.

In Encarnación there were artillery units, the 28th infantry battalion, the 24th cavalry regiment and a lancer squadron. There were infantry battalions at Ypacarí and Villa de Rosario, while at Humaita there were 3 infantry battalions, some marines, an artillery regiment and a cavalry regiment. At Cerro León was a large military camp acting as a training centre for conscripts.

The fleet comprised the flagship, the purpose-built war steamer Tacuarí with 6 guns and several armed merchant steamers of various sizes (17 steamers altogether), plus armed barges and other small boats. Williams gives details of the largest crew, that of the steamer Rio Ygureí, captained by flotilla-commander Pedro Ignacio Meza, with two junior lieutenants, a sergeant, a fifer and drummer, six corporals, two helmsmen and fifty-one others. Most other steamers carried crews of less than fifty, the sailing vessels averaging fifteen, the barges seven.

Once the War of the Triple Alliance began, the regulars were pretty well destroyed in the initial invasion of Corrientes and the militia units of the frontier pueblos were combined, the infantry battalions being given the numbers 31 - 33 and 41 - 43, the cavalry becoming the 26th, 28th, 35th -39th and 46th regiments.

This is a well written book, with wealth of detail drawn from primary sources. As with the book by White, the bibliography is tantalising, mentioning a number of other books which may or may not have more information on the Paraguayan army of this period, and perhaps even uniform details.

One in particular may be worth following up - Luis Vittone, "Las FF AA paraguayas en sus distintas épocas", Asunción, 1970. As with the book I mentioned in the last article, I cannot locate this in any collection in Britain. If anyone has any information and would like to share it with me, my e-mail address is nix@ndore.freeserve.co.uk.

( Thanks Nick for this additional data on Paraguay, TDH )

More Paraguay Military

The Paraguayan Army 1816-1840 Budget and TO&E
The Army in Paraguay 1810-1840 During the Rule of Dr. Francia
The Army of Paraguay From the Colonial Period (Part I)
The Army of Paraguay From the Colonial Period (Part II)