The Battle of Rodeo del Medio was fought in 1841 during the Argentine Civil War between Federalist forces led by Ángel Pacheco and Unitarian forces led by Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid. Pacheco had double the men of Lamadrid and won in the end, but not before both sides lost hundreds of lives. The defeated Unitarian forces then had to return home across the Andes before the weather would allow for such a passage and more than a hundred died. Rawson painted this picture showing his friend and fellow artist Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (in the red cape) dishing out bread to the weary soldiers crossing the mountain range. Rawson’s history painting is invented history though; Sarmiento was never involved.
