[1][2] The ceasefire situation which presided between the Kabylia and the French colonial power in Algiers after the invasion of the troupes coloniales in 1830 suddenly changed when the Kabyle marabouts of the Rahmaniyya Sufi brotherhood rallied to Emir Abdelkader in early 1837.

[11] The march of the French column began on the evening of 27 May from the Boudouaou encampment to the coastal town of Dellys which was previously impregnable because of the long ceasefire that had been maintained with the Kabyles since the fall of Algiers in 1830.

[12] While General Perrégaux took the old Ottoman paved path which leads from Boudouaou to the Col des Beni Aïcha via the valley of Oued Meraldene, Colonel Schauenburg meanwhile took a coastal path by the coast of Boudouaou El Bahri to Zemmouri El Bahri, so that the two contingents meet in the Legata region in front of the mouth of Oued Isser to attack rebellious villagers from all sides.

[13] When they met near Legata on 28 May, the soldiers of the two contingents crossed the bed of the river to mark their massive presence in the Issers valley, which had until then been a forbidden zone for colonial troops.

[15] In the morning of 29 May 1837, a deputation of important sheikhs and marabouts from the Zawiyet Sidi Amar Cherif came to General Perregaux to implore him for the clemency of the victor and to ask to be spared in order to preserve the lives of the villagers and the Kabyle warriors captured in this ultimate showdown.