6 April 1850; Rayado, New Mexico: Near Rayado Creek, about 50 miles south of Raton, a band of Jicarilla Apaches stole horses and seriously wounded two Mexican herders. Captain W.N. Grier of the 1st Dragoons sent out Sgt. William Holbrook and ten men of Company I to protect the Rayado settlement. Riding with Holbrook were Christopher "Kit" Carson and two other frontiersmen, William New and Robert Fisher.
They rode to the scene of the attack, then followed the trail 25 miles of to the camp of nine unsuspecting Apaches. At daybreak on 6 April, Holbrook charged in, killed five of the nine, wounded two others, and recaptured the stock. Holbrook returned the next day with five scalps as "vouchers," which he claimed he did not take from the bodies himself; rather, a couple of Mexican herders who came by after the fight did the scalping.
