On the night of August 8, 1828, Arthur Black arrived at the gate of Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) post at Fort Vancouver, badly wounded and almost destitute of clothing. He believed himself to be the only survivor of the men at camp but did not know of the fate of Smith and the two others. Chief Factor John McLoughlin, superintendent at the fort, sent out word to the local tribes that they would be rewarded if they brought Smith and his men to the fort unharmed, and began organizing a search party for them. Smith and the two others, having been alerted to the attack, had climbed a hill above the camp and witnessed the massacre; they arrived at the fort two days after Black. In 1824, Governor-in-Chief of the HBC, George Simpson, had put McLoughlin in charge of building and operating Fort Vancouver. Smith and his party represented American interests in the fur trade.