January 8, 1866, Doctor Whitmore and his herder, Robert McIntire, were
killed in Arizona, four miles north of Pipe Springs by a band of Paiede
Paiutes and Navajos, that drove off horses, sheep and cattle. There was
pursuit from St. George by Col. D. D. McArthur and company.
A tale of the pursuit comes from Anthony W. Ivins, a member of the
company, then a mere boy who went out on a mule with a quilt for a
saddle. The weather was bitterly cold. The bodies were found covered with
snow, which was three feet deep. Each body had many arrow and bullet
wounds. The men had been attacked while riding the range, only McIntire
being armed. A detachment, under Captain James Andrus, found the
murderous Indians in camp and, in a short engagement, killed nine of
them.
The trail to the Hopi towns must have been well known to the Mormon scout
when in October, 1869, again he was detailed to investigate the sources
of raids on the Mormon borders. He had a fairly strong company of forty
men, including twenty Paiutes. The crossing was at the mouth of the
Paria. Apparently all that was accomplished on this trip was to learn
that the Indians intended to make still another raid on the southern
settlements. Hamblin wanted to go back by way of the Ute trail and the
Crossing of the Fathers, but was overruled by his brethren, who preferred
the Paria route. When they returned, it was to learn that the Navajos
already had raided and had driven off more than 1200 head of animals, and
that, if the Mormon company, on returning, had taken the Ute trail, the
raiders would have been met and the animals possibly recovered. The
winter was a hard one for the Mormons who watched the frontier, assisted
by friendly Paiutes. The trouble weighed heavily upon Hamblin's mind and,
in the spring of 1870, at Kanab, he offered himself to President Young
as an ambassador to the Navajo, to prevent, if possible, further shedding
of blood.