Shortly after the Battle of Ocotal, an expedition of seventy-eight American Marines and thirty-seven Nicaraguan Provisional Guardsmen led by Major Oliver Floyd were sent hunting for rebel leader Augusto César Sandino.

One of their destinations was the town of San Fernando, where Sandino had about forty men waiting for the Marines and their Nicaraguan allies.

He placed a sentry outside the village to alert his men of the Marines and Provisional Guard's arrival, but the watchman abandoned his post to be alone with an Indian girl in a nearby shack.

[3]: 315–316  The Marines and Nicaraguan government troops marched into San Fernando at 3:00, finding it largely deserted.

[2] The battle convinced Major Floyd that he would “have to wage a real blood and thunder campaign” and be involved “in a real small war.”[2] Major Floyd's Marine and Provisional Guard expedition would continue their advance into northern Nicaragua and be ambushed again by Sandinistas at the Battle of Santa Clara on July 27, 1927.