He rejoined the army in 1845 and was posted to command of a battalion of black soldiers from the city and its outskirts. He was promoted to the rank of colonel, and as such he participated in the Battle of Caseros, in which he was seriously injured. His life was saved only by chance, because the victorious army's doctors (almost all from the Rosas Army were killed) cared for non-white injured soldiers only after white soldiers had been cared for.