The battle began when Mexican insurgents numbering around 5,600 men under the command of José María Morelos y Pavón, Mariano Matamoros y Guridi, Nicolás Bravo, and Hermenegildo Galeana attacked the city of Valladolid at midday on 23 December after the Spanish refused their demands to surrender the city.

The tide of the battle turned when reinforcements arrived from Mexico City sent by the Viceroy of New Spain, Félix María Calleja under the command of Ciriaco del Llano.

Around midnight, the royalist forces succeeded in penetrating the insurgent camp, obliging them to flee the battle in disorder.

After the declaration of Mexican independence triggered war with the Spanish royalists, the priest of Carácuaro, José María Morelos y Pavón met with rebel leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla on 20 October 1810 at Charo, Michoacán de Ocampo where he was commissioned to fight against the Spanish colonial government in the southern area of the viceroyalty with the established goal of capturing Acapulco de Juárez.

In November, the rebel army traveled to the provincial capital of Michoacán de Ocampo, arriving in December.

The Colonel Agustín de Iturbide joined him at Puebla with the general Ciriaco del Llano, incorporating Landázuri's forces into their own on 23 December at Indaparapeo.

[2] On the morning of 23 December, Morelos wrote Landázuri asking him to surrender the city of Valladolid, promising to respect the lives of the commander and the royalist defenders.

With just over 1,000 soldiers, Galeana entered the city from the north and routed the battalions placed there by Landázuri who for a time appeared to have been surrounded.

The rebels camped in a heavily forested area on the outskirts of the Valladolid plains known as the Lomas de Santa María.

Due to concessions granted by members of the Supremo Poder Legislativo, installed by the Congress of Chilpancingo, Morelos decided to retreat with his forces from Valladolid and abandon all attempts to capture the city.