Yrigoyen and his political brother Aristóbulo del Valle believed the UCR should take power through provincial rebellions, as opposed to a coup d'état of the national government.

After several days of bloody fighting, the revolutionaries, led by Lisandro de la Torre and others, defeated the provincial government, headed by Juan Manuel Cafferata—one of the few PAN members who had assumed power legitimately.

First, del Valle (supported by Yrigoyen) refused to depose Sáenz Peña in a coup, as demanded by Alem and most of the other radical leaders.

On August 11, Pellegrini and Julio Argentino Roca took the opportunity to go to the Congress and win support for the suppression of the insurrections in Buenos Aires, San Luis and Santa Fe, all held by revolutionary governments.

On August 25 the State Committee of the Radical Civic Union decided to surrender their weapons and the revolution effectively stopped.

Alem arrived the same day in Rosario, having hidden in a cargo ship, to great acclaim, with a popular assembly declaring him president of the nation and an army of 6,000 being raised.

On September 26, the crew of the El Plata-class monitor ARA Los Andes, en route from Tigre to Santa Fe with arms to support the government troops, mutinied, led by frigate lieutenant Gerardo Valotta.

Manuel García Mansilla, commanding the torpedo ship ARA Espora, engaged the Los Andes in the Battle of El Espinillo on September 29, on the Paraná River north of Rosario.

The riverine battleship ARA Independencia under the command of Edelmiro Correa joined the battle, soon hitting Los Andes and forcing the crippled ship to limp into the harbor.