the skirmish began when a detachment of general josé castro’s alta california army forces from the presidio of monterey, under the command of joaquín de la torre, headed north in reaction to the declaration of an independent california republic in sonoma ten days earlier. near olómpali (north of present-day novato) they met up with a militia group that had set out from sonoma in hopes of rescuing two rebels who had been captured and, as they had learned the previous day, killed.