The Santander Campaign was the first major campaign of the Thousand Days' War, fought in what are today the departments of Santander and Norte de Santander. After the Liberal defeat at the Battle of Bucaramanga on 13 November, Rafael Uribe Uribe withdrew his forces, hoping to make it to Cúcuta. This city was held by Benjamín Herrera’s army and close to the Venezuelan border, where the rebels hoped to receive military and economic support from Cipriano Castro. The Conservative government’s response to the victory at Bucaramanga was sluggish; it waited almost a month before it made any serious attempt to pressure the rebels. Conservative general Ramón González Valencia was initially authorized by his superior, Vicente Villamizar, to pursue Uribe’s forces and rout them before they could join up with Herrera’s forces. Villamizar countermanded this order shortly after 27 November, however, ordering González to await the arrival of General Isaías Luján’s I and II Divisions.
