for Monterey. The Federalists hastily withdrew from before Matamoros westward through Norias and Cayetano toward the Zacate Pass on the Río de San Juan (now called the Pesquería), remaining at the pass several days. From thence they went up the valley of the eastern tributary of the San Juan River, now known by that name, through China toward Cadereyta. The delay of the Federalists at the Zacate Pass proved of great benefit to General Mariano Arista who had been sent hurriedly north from Mexico City on November 17 with a small escort to organize and command an Auxiliary Division of the North.[159]  Arista reached San Luis Potosí on November 26, and while he tarried to permit his men and horses some respite from their arduous march north from the capital, he collected re-enforcements. On the 1st of December he resumed his march and reached Saltillo on the 11th, where he was joined by the First Brigade of the Army of the North under General Isidro Reyes. Here on the 12th Arista issued a proclamation to the inhabitants of the Departments of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León in which he levied a vigorous attack upon the "traitor Canales," declaring him and his followers not Federalists, but robbers, barbarians, criminals, and worse. Arista called urgently upon the loyal citizens in the northern departments to rally to the support of the troops under his command to suppress the revolt along the Río Grande and expel the foreign revolutionists.[160]  Nine days later, while he was still at Saltillo, the Second Brigade under Colonel José C. Montoya joined him. The following day, December 22, Arista and the First Brigade left for Monterey; they spent the night of the 23rd at Rinconada and reached Monterey on the 24th, where the Second Brigade joined them two days later. Arista found that the defenses of the city had been well arranged by Colonel José María Ortega.

In the meantime, Cadereyta was occupied by the Federalists on December 22, where the Texans and Mexicans secured provisions and each soldier was paid five dollars out of the resources of the community. The next day Canales pushed on at a leisurely pace toward Monterey, twenty-five miles away, crossing the Sierra de la Silla to the village of Guadalupe, where he halted, claiming that he had learned that the