They had in charge an enormous train of wagons on the way to New Mexico.

On the morning after the encampment of Carson near them, the Indians made an attack upon the volunteers, capturing all their cattle and more than twenty horses.

The mountaineer and his men dashed to the rescue, recaptured all the cattle, but were unable to retake the horses.
Shortly after, Carson and his company reached Santa Fe.

There he parted from the volunteers and hired sixteen others with which he continued the journey, thereby obeying the instructions received at Fort Leavenworth.
Pursuing the even tenor of his way, he arrived at a tributary of the Virgin River, when he abruptly came upon an encampment of several hundred Comanches, who, as Carson happened to know, had massacred a number of settlers only a short time before.

Understanding as thoroughly as he did the treacherous nature of these people, he made a bold front, and, when they attempted to visit his camp, peremptorily ordered them to keep away.
He added that he knew all about them, and the first one who moved closer would be shot.