[1] The abolition of slavery provoked an armed reaction by the large landowners in the south, especially in the Cauca and Pasto Provinces.

The largest number of slaves were in Cauca and the attacks on the Church were especially sensitive in the extreme south.

The war lasted just four months and its epicenters were in Pasto, Cauca, Cali and Antioquia.

In the west, Eusebio Borrero had organized an army of eight hundred men and taken Medellín but was defeated by General Tomás Herrera at Rio Negro.

In Cundinamarca, the Guasca guerrilleros, led by the brothers Pastor and Mariano Ospina Rodríguez, were defeated by General José María Melo.