August 16, 1869: The Battle of Acosta Ñu

August 16, 1869: The Battle of Acosta Ñu is fought in Eusebio Ayala, Paraguay. It is a disaster for the host nation.

The Treaty of the Triple Alliance was signed on May 1, 1865, by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, against Paraguay. Brazil and Paraguay had gone to war over territory the year before, and Brazil, then an Empire under Emperor Pedro II, was able to build alliances, while Paraguay was not.

By the Summer of 1869, the Paraguayan capital of Asunción was occupied, and the Paraguayan Army was in full retreat. President Francisco Solano López refused to surrender, and retreated to the hills. A battle was set up at Acosta Ñu (meaning "Acosta's Field"), but, as has happened so often when an army is near defeat, the country was desperate, taking whatever it could get, including children. The 3,500 poorly armed Paraguayans, mostly boys between nine and 15 years old, old men and wounded combatants, confronted 20,000 Brazilian and Argentine veteran soldiers.

It was a wipeout. Children were said to cling to the legs of Brazilian soldiers amidst the raging battle, pleading for mercy, only to be decapitated without hesitation. Once all flanks collapsed, the wounded children tried to flee the battlefield alongside their relatives. Yet the Brazilian commander ordered his cavalry to cut the retreat and set the battlefield ablaze, including the field hospital. Large numbers of children died because of these actions.

The war lost, Paraguay was left to try a drawn-out guerrilla resistance. Much of the civilian population died due to battle, hunger, and disease. Left to lead troops personally, Solano López was killed in the Battle of Cerro Corá on March 1, 1870. Argentine and Brazilian troops occupied Paraguay until 1876.

After the defeat of Paraguay in 1870, Brazil and Argentina, who were traditional enemies, hovered on the brink of mutual warfare for six years because of disputes and misunderstandings about the treaty.

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August 16, 1869 was a Monday. This was the 1st year of open professional sports in America, as the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the 1st baseball club to publicly admit that its players were being paid. On this day, they beat the Eckford club of Brooklyn, 38-0 at the Union Grounds in Brooklyn.