During the Guarani War, the governor of Rio de la Plata, Jos� de Andonaegui, and the Marquis of Valdelirios asked and pleaded with Governor Jos� Joaqu�n de Viana to move north with an army 400 men and resulted in the conclusion of the Treaty of Madrid. In October of 1756 Viana built several houses for his army located in the area who had to survive on hunting and fishing. The sheds he built were called San Antonio del Salto Chico. Thus, the short-lived first settlement in the present city of Salto dates from 8 November 1756, which remains as its date of foundation. Some people say it was "by chance", such as the writer Francisco Bauzain his book Dominaci�n espa�ola en Uruguay. In 1757, Viana and superior Governor of Buenos Aires, Pedro de Cevallos, built a strong fort called San Antonio. The fort had a chapel, which was under the patronage of San Antonio de Padua. Also in that period, Spanish troops helped to end one of the sites of the Portuguese in Colonia del Sacramento who used its facilities for seven years before being abandoned in 1763.
On 16 June 1768, the buildings in Salto were occupied by Francisco de Paula Bucareli with 1,500 soldiers to ratify the expulsion of the Jesuits from all Spanish territory including Cuba, ordered by Carlos III. The fort of San Antonio served to deposit arms and later as a prison for most of the priests, which were later taken to Buenos Aires or deported overseas. While the Jesuits were captured, Lieutenant Nicol�s Garc�a took care of the fort and three boats. A big flood of the Yapey� River caused considerable damage and it was rebuilt at a nearby site, but this time the western side of the Uruguay River, in the current Concordia area, for it to act as a river-road junction. In early 1782 the settlement already had permanent residents.
On 12 February 1811, Francisco Javier de El�o declared war on the Board of Buenos Aires and Montevideo was besieged after the command of Jos� Rondeau and Jos� Gervasio Artigas, so
