A long period of unrest between settlers and Indians in Tulare County erupted into war during the spring of 1856 after untrue reports that five hundred head of cattle had been stolen in Frazier Valley and the burning of the Orson K. Smith sawmill aroused local settlers. Volunteers under Foster DeMasters found more than seven hundred Indians in fortified positions on the cone-shaped mountain in the valley below, but could not break the defenses alone and sent for help. A second company of Tulare County Volunteers under Sheriff W. G. Poindexter, miners from Keysville on the Kern River, settlers from as far north as Merced and Mariposa, and Army detachments from Fort Tejon and Fort Miller joined them. Captain Livingston of Fort Miller took overall command of a combined force estimated at three to four hundred men. Faced with this assault and an Army howitzer, the Indians withdrew into the pine forest above. Reports indicated that three settlers were wounded and several Indians were killed.