fort now at the border between the two empires. In 1801, the Spanish abandoned all their advanced posts, including Fort Santa Tecla, which was, for the second time, demolished. The territory was once again Portuguese. In 1810, some of the Spanish colonies broke free from the motherland. In 1811 the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Diogo de Sousa (later Count of Rio Pardo), concentrated a large force on the borderlands, fearing military action on the part of the newly formed neighboring republics. A camp was set up near "Cerros de Bagé", site where the city of Bagé is now located. On 17 July 1811 Sousa left with his troops to invade the Banda Oriental (present-day Uruguay) to conquer it and annex all the territory leaving the Uruguay River as a new border between Argentina and Brazil, some camp followers who could not keep up with the movement of the troops founded the present-day city. The date for the foundation of Bagé, 17 July 1811, was officially agreed on in 1963. The settlement began to grow spreading out around the square called Praça da Matriz. In 1820 a simple church was built to house the image of the patron saint of the town, Saint Sebastian. Even after the final demarcation of the border the lands of Bagé were the theater of wars and battles. In 1825 Carlos de Alvear invaded the territory from Uruguay and in 1827 the forces of general Juan Antonio Lavalleja conquered the town. In 1828 a treaty brought peace to the borderlands. Brazil accepted Uruguay's independence but in exchange kept some of the borderlands previously disputed for centuries between Spain and Portugal. In 1835 it was the Gauchos who were fighting among each other. This new conflict was due to the ideals of republicans and imperialists. Bagé once again was witness to battles and pillaging. One of the most important, the Battle of Seival, took place between imperialist and republican forces led by Antônio de Souza Netto. The latter was victorious and he proclaimed the República Rio – Grandense. After this Farroupilha Revolution in 1846 Bagé was elevated to the category of "freguesia" and in the same year to "vila". In 1858 it was proclaimed head of the "comarca" and in 1859 it became a city. Another revolution broke out in 1893 when the federalists reacted to the coming to power of the republicans. In this