There he reorganized his forces, obtaining help from Francisco Ocampo (then President of Charcas), and from other provinces of Upper Peru (Cochabamba, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and Chayanta).

They had sought refuge on the Condo-Condo heights, where, being surrounded by hostile populations and still recovering from the casualties suffered at Vilcapugio, they could not readily take the offensive against the Army of the North.

Some officers suggested to Belgrano an early cavalry assault on the enemy troops as these were still negotiating the steep terrain of the mountain slope, but the general opted for a head-on action on the plain.

An hour later, Pezuela had completed his maneuver; instead of pushing a frontal assault, the royalist army outflanked the patriots on their right, crossing a range of hills that hidden them from their enemy and forcing Belgrano to hastily redeploy his troops in that direction.

By a trumpet call and waving the United Provinces flag on the top of a hill, he managed to gather some 500 men, leaving around 300 dead, 200 injured, 600 prisoners and almost all his guns on the battlefield.

[2] Colonel Cornelio Zelaya, one of the best cavalry officers in the Army of the North, along with a few horsemen under his command, fought a rearguard action that allowed the orderly withdrawal of the bulk of Belgrano's forces.