In mid-December 1864, Captain N.M. Gillentine and two dozen Texas militiamen discovered an abandoned Indian camp of 92 shelter sites along the Clear Fork of the Brazos River, and, suspecting the site to be evidence of hostile Comanche or Kiowa Indians, called for militia to locate and address the threat. On January 1, 1865, Texas Frontier Battalion troops under the command of Captain Henry Fossett arrived at Fort Chadbourne to await the militia concentration. After two days, Fossett led his two companies in search of the trail and located the natives along the Dove Creek, encamped in timberland.