March 13, 1849; Cerro, New Mexico: Until 1849, the Utes had remained generally peaceful with the white trappers and traders in what is now northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Early that year the Arapahos defeated the Utes in a devastating battle on the plains, destroying many of their livestock. To recoup their losses, the Utes began stealing stock from Mexican settlements in the Taos area. In March Lt. Joseph H. Whittlesey, stationed in Santa Fe, was ordered to chastise the guilty Utes.
Whittlesey gathered fifty-seven men from Companies G and I of the First Dragoons and marched north, guided by frontiersmen Bill Williams, Charles Autobees, Asa Estes, and others. A short distance from Santa Fe, the scouts located a fifty-lodge Ute village near the 9,475-foot peak known as Cerro de la Olla, ten miles west of present Cerro, New Mexico. Whittlesey attacked the village, killing ten warriors, capturing three women and children, and destroying the lodges and supplies. Two dragoons were killed in the fight.
The defeated village was left even more destitute than before. The Indians claimed they would make a reparation for the stolen stock at some point in the future. Later that month, the Utes exacted some revenge by killing "Old Bill" Williams in the Colorado Rockies."
