Battle of Cepeda (1859)
Moreover, Urquiza's policy of seduction towards the rebel Province had failed, and the secessionist state elected as its governor the radical autonomist and Unitarian Valentín Alsina in 1857.On April 1, 1859, following the assassination of former San Juan Province Governor Nazareno Benavídez by a presumed Buenos Aires agent, the Confederation Congress passed a law by which the President Justo José de Urquiza was obliged to "peacefully reincorporate the dissident province of Buenos Aires", but if that was not possible, he was allowed to use the national army to accomplish that purpose.Colonel Bartolomé Mitre, in charge of Buenos Aires troops, was ordered to attack Santa Fe Province, and the navy was sent to blockade Paraná, the capital of the Confederation.By dusk, Mitre knew that his forces were defeated and so the bonaerense army retired towards San Nicolás de los Arroyos from where they embarked back to Buenos Aires.Urquiza did not enter Buenos Aires City but camped at the neighboring town of San José de Flores to carry on with the negotiations.