On the morning of 6 December 1868, marshal of the Imperial Brazilian Army, Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Marquis (later Duke) of Caxias, moved with 16,999 infantrymen, 926 cavalrymen and 742 artillerymen, to take Villeta, a Paraguayan city, as a plan to make further attacks on the Paraguayan Army rear. Nevertheless, Paraguayan president and commander-in-chief of the army Francisco Solano López was aware of the landing the Allies had made in the rear of his army. Taking advantage of the Allies' slow march, he sent colonel Bernardino Caballero with 5,000 men and 12 guns, to stop the enemy at a narrow passage over a stream called Ytororó. Caballero deployed his troops so that Caxias would have to cross the only passage at disposal (a bridge) under heavy fire. The battle started by late morning and was characterized by attacks and counterattacks for control of the bridge. By nightfall, after a fierce fight, the bridge was taken by Brazilian volunteer battalions led personally by marshal Caxias shouting "Follow me, those of you who are Brazilians", and the Allies could advance towards Villeta. The battle The Imperial Brazilian Army received a new order: the 48th Fatherland Volunteers Corps, under the command of major Secundino Filafiano de Melo Tamborim, passed from the 9th to the 5th Infantry Brigade of colonel Fernando Machado de Sousa. From then on, this detachment had the 1st and 13th Infantry Battalions and the 34th and 48th Volunteer Corps. The brigade of colonel Fernando Machado, who was reunited with the 2nd Infantry Brigade colonel Domingos Rodrigues Seixas, formed the 2nd Infantry Division of colonel Salustiano Jerônimo dos Reis, from the 2nd Army Corps of marshal Alexandre Gomes de Argolo Ferrão Filho, who would be responsible for ensuring security when the army disembarked at Guarda de Santo Antonio, more precisely in the rut of the left margin. On 4 December 1868, the Infantry and Artillery that was camped in the Chaco region embarked. The cavalry, under the command of brigadier José Luís Mena Barreto, followed by land to the border town of Santa Helena, located in the province of Paraná, chosen point for landing on the left bank of the river. The Paraguayan army was commanded by general Bernardino Caballero, with a force of five to six thousand men, divided into sixteen infantry battalions, six cavalry regiments, and twelve guns. In command of the infantry was lieutenant colonel Germano