Unaware of the Spanish advance, he arrived at the town of Yavi (north of Humahuaca) on the 14 November in command of 600 men.

There he was surprised the next day by Marquiegui, who first seized their horses and then attacked the town where the patriots were located from two directions, obtaining an easy victory.

As a result, the northern border of the Argentine territory collapsed and the provinces of Salta and Jujuy were invaded by the Spaniards.

The government in Buenos Aires decided then to continue the fight for independence through the Pacific flank (present-day Chile), under the command of General San Martín, while Salta's caudillo Martín Miguel de Güemes led a guerrilla war to keep at bay the royalist army in the northern provinces.

This campaign is retrospectively known as La Guerra Gaucha ("The Gaucho War") after a 1905 novel by Leopoldo Lugones.