As tensions between the Shoshone and settlers grew, Utah territorial leaders called for Army help, but the Civil War left military resources thin. In 1861, the Third California Volunteer Infantry formed in Stockton under Col. Patrick Edward Connor and, instead of serving in the war, was assigned to protect the Overland Mail Route. In the summer of 1862, the volunteers marched from Stockton, California, to Salt Lake City in the Utah Territory and established Fort Douglas. After reports in early 1863 of horses stolen by the Shoshone and skirmishes between Indians and miners, Col. Connor seized the chance for reprisal. A supply convoy left Salt Lake for the Bear River on January 21, followed three days later by 220 cavalry soldiers. A few days earlier, several bands of Shoshone had gathered there for a Warm Dance, a yearly time of prayer for renewal, fruitful growth, and the return of spring. One Shoshone medicine man foresaw a great battle in which many of his people would be killed, prompting visiting bands to leave for other winter campgrounds. Thus on January 29, only 75 remaining lodges of the Northwest Band under chief Bear Hunter camped below near the bend of the Bear River.