[1] It was the first violent engagement between the settlers who had begun coming to the area two years before, and was in response to reported cattle theft by the group.

The attacked group (led by Kone Roman Nose) was outnumbered, outgunned, and had little defense against the militia that crept in and surrounded their camp before dawn.

[2][3] The massacre had been ordered by Brigham Young, the Utah territory governor and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

Little Chief said that Roman Nose and Blue Shirt were great thieves who had decided to live off of the settlers' cattle all winter.

On March 1 Captain John Scott took fifty militiamen into Utah Valley[5]: 63  to investigate the theft of horses from Brigham Young's herd.

Before morning they received orders from Salt Lake City "stating that as the horses were not stolen ... we need not spend any more time in search of them but to proceed with the Indians for killing cattle as had been directed, so that the nature of our expedition was not in the least changed.

"[6][5]: 63 On March 2 the men continued southward to Willow Creek (now Draper, Utah) and unanimously agreed to kill a cow from a cattle herd they came upon.

Three times the company had now received word that the Indians had not stolen Young's horses, but they were directed to continue the mission to deal with the stolen/killed cattle issue.

The settlement near the site of the March 1849 attack was for years called Battle Creek, until sometime later when the Mormons living there agreed to change the name to Pleasant Grove.