On July 5, 1857, Company G of the U.S. 2nd Cavalry left Fort Mason under Lt. John Bell Hood in pursuit of Comanche Indians in the area. Traveling northwest, the unit found a fresh trail leading south toward Mexico. On July 20, after crossing bluffs near the Devils River, the men came upon an Indian camp on a ridge about two miles from the stream, marked by a white flag. Suspecting an ambush, Hood advanced cautiously. A small band of Indians came forward, then dropped the flag as a signal to concealed allies, and nearly 100 Comanches and Lipan Apaches attacked. Outnumbered and hindered by brush fires set by Indian women, the soldiers were forced into fierce hand-to-hand combat. With a force at least three times his size outflanking him and fire and smoke hemming him in to the front, Hood relied on superior marksmanship and discipline. The company fell back to reload, then heard the cries of Comanche women through the smoke and dust, signaling an Indian retreat. Two cavalrymen, William Barry and Thomas Ryan, were killed, and five others, including Hood, were wounded. A relief unit from Camp Hudson arrived the next day, rendering medical aid and helping bury the dead. Pvt. Ryan was buried at the site, and Pvt. Barry's body was never found. Later reports said that nineteen Indians were killed and many more wounded. Hood and his men were later cited for valor in Army reports. During the Civil War, Hood became a general in the Confederate States Army.