[1] Tristán wrote to his superior, Perú's viceroy, José Manuel de Goyeneche: Belgrano cannot be forgiven ...[2]On orders from the Triumvirate, the Army of the North had to create a stronghold in Córdoba.

Arriving in Tucumán on 13 September, Belgrano met Balcarce with 400 men – without uniforms and with only lances for weapons, but well organized – and the city ready to support them.

Others say that in the village of Los Pocitos he found burning fields set by dragoons' Lieutenant Lamadrid, who counted on the fierceness of the fire and the wind to dislodge the Spanish column.

A good portion of the gaucho cavalry broke formation to capture the mules loaded with supplies, including coins and precious metals from the royalist army.

Even though the strength of the central column allowed the rebels to regain terrain and release Superí, the unequal advances fractured the front, creating a confused battle.

Along with a troop of infantry of Eustaquio Díaz Vélez,[3] they recovered thirty nine wagons loaded with arms and ammunition which were taken to the city, along with the cannon they could push.

Balcarce joined them a while later, being the first to be bold and qualify the battle as a victory, judging by the body-covered field and Spanish equipment remains, even though they did not yet know the fate of the main infantry regiments and what was happening inside the city.

At the same time, Tristán was evaluating the loss of his ammunition, most of his artillery and supplies; he ordered the rest of his army, which had lost more than a thousand men between dead and wounded, to form and advance on the city and demand their surrender under threat of burning it.

"Even though the victory at Tucumán", writes Mitre, "was the result of unforeseen circumstances", it earns Belgrano "the glory of having won a battle against all probabilities and against the wishes of his own government."

On 27 October they celebrated a thanksgiving mass; in the procession that carried the statue of the Virgen de las Mercedes (Our Lady of Mercy), Belgrano deposited his command baton, proclaiming the saint as General of his Army.

Moldes and Holmberg would leave the army, but Belgrano would gain Juan Antonio Álvarez de Arenales, with whom he would start on 12 January the march towards Salta, where the royalists had entrenched.

If the patriot army would have retreated as ordered, the North Provinces would have been lost to the enemy whom, controlling a vast territory, would have reached Córdoba, where it would have been easier to receive the help from the royalists at the Banda Oriental (today's Uruguay) and the Portuguese troops from Brazil.

The victory also had important political consequences, as Belgrano – who had allies in the Logia Lautaro — had defeated the invader against orders from his government and vindicated the requests of the opposition, when they asked for help to be sent to the Army of the North.