Câmara’s troops surprise the Paraguayans on March…

Câmara’s troops surprise the Paraguayans on March 1, 1870, surrounding and defeating them in the ensuing battle, during which López separated from the remainder of his army.

Wounded with a spear in the stomach and hit with a sword in the side of his head and so too weak to walk by himself, he is escorted by his aide and a pair of officers, who lead him to the banks of the Aquidaban-Nigui stream.

According to one account, the officers leave López and his aide there while they look for reinforcements, but while they wait for the men's return, General Câmara arrives with a small number of soldiers.

Offering to permit López to surrender and guaranteeing his life, he refuses and, shouts "¡Muero con mi patria!" ("I die with my fatherland!") as he tries to attack Câmara with his sword.

López is quickly killed by Câmara's men, thereby bringing a final end to the long conflict.

According to another account, López, surprised by Brazilian troops at the edge of the Aquidaban-Nigui stream, is killed by Brazilian Imperial Army Grenadier Corporal José Francisco Lacerda, better known as Chico Diabo, as he attempts to swim to safety across the stream.

In any case, after the Brazilian forces kill López, they head towards the civilians in order to capture them.

López and Eliza Lynch's eldest son Juan Francisco, fifteen years old, who had been promoted to Colonel during the war, is with his mother.

The Brazilian officers tell him to surrender, and upon replying "Un coronel Paraguayo nunca se rinde" ("A Paraguayan Colonel never surrenders") he is shot and killed by the allied soldiers.

At this, Lynch, after jumping and covering her son's body, exclaims "Esta es la civilizacion que han prometido?" ("Is this the civilization you have promised?"), making a reference to the allies' claim that they intend to free Paraguay from a tyrant and deliver freedom and civilization to the nation.

She then buries both López and her son with her bare hands before being taken as prisoner.

There is today a debate within Paraguay as to whether López was a fearless leader who led his troops to the end, or whether he foolishly led Paraguay into a war which it could never possibly win, and which nearly eliminated the country from the map.

Conversely, he is considered by some Latin Americans as a champion for the rights of smaller nations against the imperialism of more powerful neighbors.