In the first months of 1878, there were some seditious movements in favor of the Lerdista cause and a force led by General Mariano Escobedo appeared on the northern border.

After the reform of the Lerdista cabinet, General Díaz advanced with his army towards the East, when the Iglesista Revolution broke out.

When the news of the defeat reached the capital, panic seized the Government, and on November 20, Lerdo left Mexico City heading for Michoacán, accompanied by his ministers Mariano Escobedo, Romero Rubio, Baz and Mejía, leaving the city in the charge of the head of the garrison, General Francisco Loaeza and Protasio Tagle, a Porfirista supporter.

Escobedo, who had pronounced out in Guerrero, Coahuila, was apprehended on July 29, 1878, in Cuatrociénegas and Díaz spared his life,[4] The Lerdista General Lorenzo Garza was later defeated in Matamoros by the Federal Army.

[5][6] General Palacios, who also rebelled against Porfirio Díaz in favor of the Lerdista cause up in Zacatecas for a short time later,[7] had to surrender, so Escobedo, Palacios and Garza were taken prisoner and taken to Mexico City to be imprisoned in the fortress of Santiago Tlatelolco, from where they were released after a few months.