From Wikipedia: "Augustin Mottin de La Balme (French pronunciation: [oɡystɛ̃ mɔtɛ̃ də la balm]; 28 August 1733 – 5 November 1780) was a French soldier who served in Europe during the Seven Years' War and in the North America during the American Revolutionary War. His attempt to capture Fort Detroit in 1780 ended in defeat when he was ambushed by forces under Chief Little Turtle. [...] Chief Little Turtle, who lived in a village along the Eel River, received permission from the Kekionga Miami to lead an attack. He gathered available warriors and attacked La Balme in camp at dawn on 5 November before he reached the Eel River trading post and just 3 miles from Little Turtle's village. La Balme and his men fortified themselves on the banks of the river but were only able to fire one volley before being overwhelmed. The ensuing battle was entirely one-sided; only a few survivors managed to escape. Augustin de La Balme died in the battle known as La Balme's Defeat."

The Spanish had established a mission in the area in 1769 after the Portola expedition, leading to degradation of the local ecology due to grazing and purposeful cutting of oak trees which provided an important acorn crop to local the Kumeyaay people. In addition to rapes of Native women (recorded in Spanish records), the Spanish also moved the mission closer to Kumeyaay villages for the purpose of exploiting their labor as a part of the forced labor inherent in the mission system. After careful planning and intelligence gathering, hundreds of Kumeyaay people from ~15 villages attacked the mission at San Diego de Alacá and killing head priest Father Luís Jayme. The Kumeyaay say "It was the start of an ongoing campaign of military resistance by the Kumeyaay that lasted for seventy-five years." The attack was a major setback to the already struggling Spanish Mission. Kumeyaay would go on to survive years of enslavement by the Spanish and then a campaign of genocide by the United States via the government of California. Kumeyaay activists of the 1970's were present at the Occupation of Alcatraz and arrested bringing food and medicine to the occupation of Wounded Knee. Modern day struggles against the border wall continue today.