In 1897, the Mexican Army officer General Lorenzo Torres opened up negotiations with the Yaqui Chief Tetabiate, or Juan Maldonado, who led a band of several hundred people.

In May 1897 they signed a peace treaty at Ortiz which, among other things, called for the Yaqui to abandon their traditional lifestyle and become individual land owners.

Tetabiate and about four hundred of his people surrendered but shortly thereafter they returned to the Sierra del Bacatete, west of Guaymas, to continue raiding.

[2][6] The New York Times issued a newspaper story on February 3, 1900, that said Tetabiate and Santa Teresa were heading to Guaymas, with their band, to capture the port, and they had only gone eight miles before the Mexicans caught up.

One other account puts the Mexicans' losses at fifty-four killed and 125 wounded but this is likely false as it makes no mention of the several dozen men who went missing during the fight.

The battle was mostly fought on foot, both sides used big boulders for cover, and it ended when the Yaquis retreated back to the Sierra del Bacatete.

This was mainly because of how expensive it was to wage war against the Yaquis and due to President Porfirio Diaz's "extermination and deportation" policy.

Evelyn Hu-DeHart, a history professor at Brown University, says that the Yaquis "had become the most widely scattered native people of North America.