General Joseph Lane was put in command of a force of 250 Texas Rangers under Colonel Hays, 130 3rd Dragoons and Mounted Rifles under Major Polk, and Dominguez' Spy Company tasked with scouring that region of guerillas.

Among these guerrillas Padre Jarauta was the most daring and influential of their leaders, having originally harassed the Americans on the roads between Vera Cruz and Jalapa.

Lane marched eastward on the road toward Puebla then doubled back and turned north towards Tulancingo, where spies told him he could find Generals Paredes, Almonte and Padre Jarauta with a considerable force of guerillas.

Soon afterward Lane received word that Jarauta's force had retreated seventy five miles north from Tulancingo to Zacualtipan, (American reports at the time called it Sequalteplan).

Col. Hays with the larger portion of his Rangers attacked a strong detachment of lancers and infantry emerging from a cuartel on a street to their left.

General Lane continued forward beyond the plaza with the rest of the force to attack another detachment of Jarauta's men in another street.

Hays in pursuit of scattered fugitives, met Major Polk with two companies of the 3rd U.S. Dragoons, when they arrived in the suburbs of the town.

However some of the guerrillas, including Jarauta, actively and stridently opposed the treaty and so continued their hostilities, making the roads dangerous.