So far there had not been the slightest hitch, and the Spaniards promised themselves an easy victory.
It had been arranged that the first brigade should wait, about a mile from the entrance to the valley until Estero opened fire, and then advance and occupy the outlet.

Therefore, when we reached the point in question a halt was called, and we all listened eagerly for the preconcerted signal.
And then occurred one of those accidents which so often mar the best laid plans.

After we had waited a full hour, and just as day began to break, the rattle of musketry was heard on the heights, whereupon Griscelli, keenly alive to the fact that every moment of delay impaired his chances of success, ordered his men to fall in and march at the double.

But, unfortunately for the Spaniards, the shots we had heard were fired too soon.

The way through the woods was long and difficult, Estero's men got out of hand; some of them, in their excitement, fired too soon, with the result that, when the first division appeared in the valley, the patriots, rudely awakened from their fancied security, were getting under arms, and Mejia saw at a glance into what a terrible predicament his overconfidence had led him.