Episode 3 of 3

First Battle of Cancha Rayada

When: 29 March 1814
Where: Cancha Rayada, Chile
Part of: Chilean War of Independence: rebel victories at El Quilo and Membrillar and the royalist riposte at Cancha Rayada

Royalist forces defeated Patriot troops at Cancha Rayada, known as the 'Disaster' or 'Surprise'.

The First Battle of Cancha Rayada took place on 29 March 1814. A patriotic force under Manuel Blanco Encalada advanced towards Talca, held by the guerrilla leader Ángel Calvo. Calvo, a former patriot who had switched sides to the Royalists during the Siege of Chillán, defended the town, resulting in a Royalist victory.

Sources

Battle of Cancha Rayada (1814) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-21

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.