The Last Stages
		By beginning 1869, the Paraguayan Army had been largely eclipsed by the overwhelming Triple Alliance forces. Lopez tried to assemble a new force to confound the enemy, but he could merely have at disposal some 13,000 men, women and children to march in that somber time.
In fact only one-third of Lopez units, at best, were actually fighting force. Knowing that the Triple Alliance forces were closing in on him from all sides and that he could not stand a frontal battle against them, he decided to seek a secure refugee in the countryside on the Azcurra heights while his men would launch guerrillas attacks to fustigate the enemy supplies and small detachments. By that time, Peribibuy, a small village at the heights,  was chosen as the new capital.
Meantime, Gastão de Orleans, known as Count D'Eu (husband of the Imperial Princess), was appointed as new commander of the Brazilian forces at the age of 26 on March 22, 1869. He assumed command on April 14. His first initiative was to strength the army to keep an ocupation force in Paraguay and to give chase of Lopez vanquished army. By ending May, D'Eu had completed the reorganization of the Imperial Army with a mix of battle-hardened veterans and new units brought from the empire, making a 27,000 strong force ready for combat. The Argentineans had some 4,000 men at disposal while the Uruguayans mounted up to some 200. The grand total of the Triple Alliance Army were some 32,000 soldiers and officers.
During 1869, Assuncion witnessed the return of many Paraguayans politicians, who where Lopez antagonists in political affairs. Among them were Cirilo Rivarola, Carlos Loizaga and José Diaz de Bedoya who formed a provisional government. These persons were in the uncorfortable position of dealing with the occupation army and the needs of Assuncions's residents.
By June, D'Eu received intelligence of Lopez attempt of gathering a new army. He assembled a council of war on July 7 to dsiscuss strategy. Confident that one single battle would settle the fate of the Paraguayan forces, he expected to envelop  Lopez' army in the heights of Azcurra with a strong flanking maneuver on his left led by the 1st Cavalry Division of General João Manuel Mena Barreto. The 1st and 2nd Corps would be stationed in foward positions to bring the Paraguayan attention upon them. On August 1 the envelopment began. Paraguayan small forces were dispersed by the 1st Division and on the 11th the division reached the vicinity of Peribibuy. Meantime, the 1st and 2nd Corps advanced with little opposition as if Lopez planned to make a full-resistance around Peribibuy. In fact, he ordered the fortification of that small town with stronghold artillery positions and trenches. Nevertheless, when the Allied Army surrounded the town, only part of the trenches were ready.
Just before daylight of the 12th the incoming salvos of Brazilian artillery announced the beggining of the offensive. The I and II Corps had together 47 guns skillfully brought from the rear on the previous day and put in conditions of backing the attack. D'Eu deployed his force in three columns with a manpower of 20,000. They woul attack as soon as the artillery fire was lifted. The I Corps, making the left wing of the army, would be commanded by General Osório, now recovered from the wound he received in the Battle of Avahy. On the right, D'Eu would have the 1st and 4th brigades along with some Argentinean units under General Carlos Resin. On the center, the II Corps led by Field- Marshall Vitorino José Carneiro Monteiro.
The Paraguayans could oppose only 1,900 ill-equipped men and children to that force. They also had 18 light-guns and scarce ammunition. Major Pablo Caballero was in command of this pitted force with no hope of reinforcement.
At 8 o'clock the Allied force marched toward Peribibuy. What happened next can hardly be described as a battle between two armies. The determined Caballero's men stand along Peribibuy entered into the mythology as a sterling example of Paraguayan fortitude. They resisted for four hours against the enemy. When ammunition ran over, they began lobbing stones onto the heads of the assailants, causing many casualties among them. Nevertheless, the overwhelming attack sealed the Paraguayans doom. When Peribibuy was finally held by D'Eu, some 700 Paraguayans were dead, including Major Caballero. The Allied force had 53 killed and 446 wounded. Brigadier General Mena Barreto, commander of Brazilian 1st Cavalry Division was killed in action.
In Peribibuy the sense of tragedy that had befallen Paraguay touched the Allies for the first time: many of the dead and wounded on the Paraguayan side were children who hardly had age enough to know what was going on. Those children, however, bought Lopez time enough to evacuate his Azcurra camps, moving northeastward toward Campo Grande.
Knowing that Lopez was fleeing to the Bolivian-Paraguayan boundaries, D'Eu ordered an immediate, full-scale pursuit of Lopez vanquished forces. On the 16th, the Triple Alliance Army surrounded the rear of the Paraguayan forces under General Bernardino Caballero at Campo Grande.
The II Corps took the vanguard of the assault. At first they found stiff resistance of the Paraguayan infantry. When the I Corps joined the action, however, Caballero's men were subdued by  Brazilian Cavalry. At the end, Lopez rear force suffered nearly 2,000 dead and the same amount were captured. The Allies had 46 dead as well as  431 wounded. The poorly-equipped Paraguayans were no match for an overwhelming enemy.
From this point, Lopez started fleeing from the enemy until the final blow at Cerro-Corá on March 1, 1870, when he was killed in the last action of the war. His eldest son, Colonel of the Paraguayan Army was also killed. Only then, the Imperial authorities claimed the end of the conflict.
			Aftermath