It was fought in January 1811 on the banks of the Calderón River 60 km (37 mi) east of Guadalajara in present-day Zapotlanejo, Jalisco.

Almost 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries contributed to the attack, commanded by Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama and Mariano Abasolo.

Following Hidalgo's failed attempt to take Mexico City in October 1810, insurgent troops retreated toward Guanajuato, pursued by Royalist forces led by General Félix María Calleja.

The insurgent forces were devastated and the events that followed would lead up to the capture and ultimately the executions of Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama and Jiménez.

Allende, Aldama and Jiménez were shot on 26 June, Hidalgo on 30 July and Abasolo was sentenced to life in prison in Cádiz, Spain, where he died in 1816.