In March 1864, there was little indication that an Indian War in Colorado was about to begin. The U.S. army was planning to withdraw many of its units from the Great Plains to fight the Confederacy in the Civil War. On April 9, however, Colonel John Chivington, commander of the Colorado volunteers, reported that Indians had stolen 175 head of cattle from whites. The Cheyenne later stated that they found cattle wandering freely on the plains and took them to their camps. Lt. George Eayre with soldiers and a howitzer was despatched to recover the cattle. On April 12, Eayre encountered a band of Cheyenne. A fight ensued in which a soldier was killed. Eayre burned the seventy tipis of a nearby encampment and returned to Denver with 20 head of cattle. This fight took place near the headwaters of the Republican River.