When all was quiet the whites gathered together and found that none was injured. Two Indians who had escaped came out on a hill some distance away where they felt safe and slapped their seats in derision and yelled “Squaw! Squaw!” in defiance. A man named Warren, from Pine Valley, who had an extra long range breechloading gun took a chance shot and brought one of them down. The other fled.
Of the thirteen Indians, four were killed, seven wounded and two escaped, only one on horseback. Three horses were lost, but the balance and the thirteen cattle were recovered and brought back. Copelan’s party returned on January 1, 1867 but Pearce and Andrus tarried two or three days longer. General Snow was in Salt Lake City at the time and his responsibility fell largely upon Captain J. D. L. Pearce and Adjutant Henry Eyring, his assistant.
The concentration in the larger towns and the military control of the movements of people in the region tended to reduce the danger to the settlers. Tension with the local Paiute Indians was gradually eased, although the Navajo raids continued for several years. Jacob Hamblin, Utah’s “Leatherstocking,” played an important role in quieting the Paiutes. In the fall of 1867, he was instructed to keep in touch with the Indians and do his best to pacify them. He went to Kanab, where he helped them plant corn and vegetables and had peace parleys with them, urging the Paiutes to cooperate in preventing Navajo raids by watching the fords of the Colorado and the trails leading to the settlements.
In November, 1868, a band of about thirty Navajos crossed the river on foot on a marauding expedition. They divided into squads of two or three and worked at night in different quarters so rapidly as to baffle the pickets. They got away with some stock, although twenty-seven horses were recovered from them on the 25th at Black Canyon, by Andrus and his command.
Notice of their presence came on November 22 from Henry Jennings to Erastus Snow at St. George. The next day local Indians reported tracks around St. George, and General Snow ordered the livestock along the Virgin gathered together and herded under armed guard. He placed pickets along the river for fifteen miles and sent Col. J. D. L. Pearce with a company of cavalry to guard the rough country passes from Black Rock Canyon (25 miles southeast of St. George) to Pipe Springs. Two days later, word came from Washington that the Navajos had made off with a band of horses via Black Rock Canyon. On the night of the 26th, a party of these Indians with about twenty horses eluded the guards not far from Pipe Springs and made their way eastward. A detachment under Captain Willis Copelan started in pursuit. He chased the Navajos and was about to overtake them, but before he attacked, some friendly Paiutes encountered the Navajos, gave battle and killed two. They recovered the horses and willingly turned them over to Copelan on his arrival. The Paiutes were rewarded with suitable presents.
By December 1, 1868 Pearce concluded that the Navajos had decamped, and started home, moving from Pipe Springs to Cedar Ridge. On that same day, however, Erastus Snow received word from J. W. Young on the Muddy River in Nevada, sixty miles below St. George, that the Navajos had run off with eighteen horses and mules. Snow sent word to Pearce to be on his guard. A posse of whites and Paiutes set out in pursuit from Mesquite. The Indians overtook the Navajos and recovered eleven of the horses.
The messenger carrying this news reached Col. Pearce at Cedar Ridge at 4 a.m., December 2, and at daybreak scouts were sent out. Captain Freeman found their trail and started after them with several men, being joined by Captain Copelan. They sighted the Navajos’ dust, but could not overtake them and the chase had to be abandoned.
A raid in February 1869 caused such concern that another expedition (February 25 to March 12) of thirty-six men, under the leadership of Captain Willis Copelan was sent out to deal with it.[75] As usual, the Navajos struck swiftly and fled before the expedition arrived. At Pipe Springs, Copelan watched the passes, hunted the surrounding region for the raiders and found they had gone east. On March 1, with twenty men he started in pursuit of the raiders. About eight miles out he struck a trail where the Indians had been driving about fifty head of cattle. During the next five days he followed the trail around the north end of Buckskin Mountain (Kaibab) across Paria and Warm Springs Creek to the old Ute ford on the Colorado River. Finding the quarry had escaped, he returned home, arriving at St. George March 12.
During the fall, fresh raids by the Navajos created yet another scare. A band raided settlements north of St. George and drove off stock. This time Colonel James Andrus was detailed to lead a foray against the marauders. He started up the Virgin River gathering fourteen recruits. Then he went to Pipe Springs where he received word that another band of Navajos had raided near Pinto. He hastened toward Pinto to intercept them, passing via Kanab and Scutumpah. Near Paria, he found a trail where some Navajos had escaped with an estimated eighty head of livestock. Here Andrus learned that the Paiutes had attacked and wounded a Navajo in a running fight, and that other raiders were on the way back from Pinto.
Andrus and his men waited until November 10 and finding no signs of the Indians, started home. The detachment had not gone far when they encountered a fresh Navajo trail made by an estimated twelve horses and two men. They caught up with the Indians early the next day just as they were passing into a narrow gorge of the Paria canyon. There were actually eight Indians with twelve horses, traveling leisurely. Under the detachment’s fire, two Navajos fell; the rest disappeared into the narrows. A few minutes later they re-appeared on the canyon cliffs on both sides of Andrus’ force. Bullets from the Indian rifles soon convinced Andrus that discretion was the better part of valor and he retired.