October 28, 1846; Isleta New Mexico: In the summer of 1846, at the start of the Mexican War, Gen. Stephen W. Kearny left Santa Fe and marched to California. Following in October was Capt. Philip St. George Cooke and his Mormon Battalion. On 25 October at Valencia on the Rio Grande, Navajo raiders killed two shepherds and ran off more than 5,000 sheep from the ranch of Don Antonio Jose Otero. The next day, Cooke, camped at Los Lunas, across the river from Valencia, learned of the depredation. Unable to chase the marauders himself, Cooke sent word to Capt. John Henry K. Burgwin, First Dragoons, who was camped near Albuquerque. Burgwin and a detachment of two companies had been sent out to escort some American traders to Chihuahua. After the raid, most of the Pueblo Indians in the area were already out looking for the Navajos, so Burgwin and his poorly mounted dragoons went to help protect the people of Los Lunas and Valencia.
Meanwhile, the Navajos returned to make another raid, this time taking livestock and capturing a woman and five children at Isleta Pueblo, about six miles upriver from Los Lunas. Burgwin sent Capt. William N. Grier and Lt. Clarendon Wilson, with portions of Companies D and G, to pursue the raiders. The troops, only partially mounted, chased the Indians west for sixteen miles, recovering some straggling stock on the way. Most of the men, on exhausted mounts, eventually dropped back. By day's end, only Grier, Wilson, and two soldiers were still on the chase.
When the four dragoons saw four Navajos enter a ravine ahead, they spurred on to catch the Indians before nightfall. Suddenly, the four Navajos became fifty, and the Indians turned to attack. Grier, who was in the lead, stopped and fired, killing two Navajos. He kept up a fighting retreat until the rest of the dragoons caught up with him. The soldiers killed one more Navajo and wounded several, with one dragoon getting slightly wounded in the process. When the dragoons advanced, the Navajos fled. Grier's men rescued the captives and recovered some of the stock. They scalped the three dead Navajos and later presented the scalps to the Pueblo Indians of Isleta. A few nights later, the Pueblos held a celebratory dance with the three scalps.
