battle at Tampico on November 30 with over five hundred casualties, and it was said that when the troops were later mustered under Nicolás Condelle they numbered only about seven hundred men.[23]  Among the captives was Piedras, who was ordered to be shot on December 7.[24] 

Canalizo collected his demoralized troops at Altamira, seven leagues from Tampico, and while the government planned to send a stronger expedition against Tampico under General Gabriel Valencia, it ordered Canalizo to proceed northward to take command of Matamoros from Filisola and to check the spread of the Federalist movement in the north. When he sought to move northward, he found he lacked sufficient strength; so he ordered Filisola to send him two divisions of troops to enable him to move from the vicinity of Tampico. The request was complied with, and the troops, numbering 282, were sent from Matamoros on December 27 under Colonel Francisco Garay and Pedro Lemus;[25]  but they had scarcely left the city before they deserted with their men to the Federalist party recently formed under Canales.[26]  In attempting to carry out his orders without assistance, Canalizo was attacked by General Fernández near Santa Teresa and beaten, but succeeded in reaching Matamoros with three hundred men.[27]  Soon Canales, Méndez, and Lemus laid siege to that city with some five hundred men, consisting principally of dragoons, some musketeers, and swordsmen; and were intercepting all communications with the interior.[28]  Although Filisola's garrison numbered only eight hundred, the assailants were without artillery and were unable to take the city. Later in the spring Canales informed the American consul at Matamoros that he intended to collect one-half of the internal duties on all goods destined from Matamoros to the interior of the country,[29]