Part of our in-depth series exploring the Mountain Pacific Forts
The following is from the book, Indian Wars, by Bill Yenne.
The first major combat in this campaign followed an unusual pattern for engagements in the West. All too often, parleys turned to arguments which turned to firefights. In this case, McGarry attacked a force of about thirty Shoshone led by Bear Hunter in Utah's Cache Valley on November 23. After hours of gunfire and three Shoshone fatalities, Bear Hunter and McGarry agreed to a truce and a parley during which the troops recovered a boy thought to have been captured from a wagon trail two years before. December 1862 found McGarry chasing Shoshone horse thieves southwest of Cache Valley. In this case, he took four Shoshone prisoner and offered to trade them for the purloined livestock. When the animals were not returned, he shot his captives as promised.