In March 1914, several Utes accused Tse-ne-gat (also known as Everett Hatch), the son of the Paiute Chief Narraguinnep ("Polk"), of murdering a shepherd named Juan Chacon.

When a posse attempted to arrest Tse-ne-gat in February 1915, the Paiute and Ute bands headed by Polk and Posey resisted and several people on both sides were killed or wounded.

In the early 20th century the rugged desert country north of the San Juan River in southeastern Utah was occupied by several bands of Ute and Paiute Indians.

They were among the last Native American people in the continental United States to roam freely, unconfined by an Indian Reservation.

Their hunting and gathering livelihood, however, was under threat because of the migration of Mormon cattle ranchers and sheep-herding Navajos into their territory.

In September, a deputy U.S. Marshall confronted Tse-ne-gat in Bluff, Utah, but didn't arrest him, fearing violence from the Utes in the area if he did so.

Polk's band probably had about 25 adult men and they were camped along the San Juan River on the outskirts of the town of Bluff.

[6][7] On the early morning of 20 February 1915, Nebeker and his posse of 26 "cowboys" encircled Poke's camp where Tse-ne-gat was present.

Navajo policemen attempted to escort the Utes to the reservation in Colorado, but they refused to go and threatened instead to join Poke's band.

[8] Although the shooting had ceased, Nebeker requested help from the towns of Grayson (Blanding) and Monticello and 46 armed men arrived in Bluff to join his posse.

Creel described Nebeker's posse as "a bunch of greenhorns" and said they and the citizens of Bluff "did not seem able to draw the line between combatant and peaceful Indians."

On 1 March, Nebeker said his posse, now numbering more than 70, faced 50 Utes and Paiutes of which fifteen to twenty men were combatants.

Another 165 Indians in the area were peaceful [9] Upon receiving orders from Washington, General Hugh L. Scott traveled from his post in Virginia City to Bluff, to negotiate an end to the war.

Prior to Scott's arrival, a delegation of Indians, including "Old Polk," Tse-ne-gat's father, had visited John and Louisa Wade Wetherill, proprietors of the Navajo trading post at Kayenta, and asked them to mediate the conflict.

On March 11, 1915 Scott left Bluff with Wetherill, several Navajos and his aides, to meet Polk and Posey at Mexican Hat.

The next day, Polk and Hatch [Tse-ne-gat] and about 25 others came to see me...I said that I didn't think they would like to have their children chased by soldiers and cowboys all over the mountains and killed and that I wanted to help them.

[14] Louisa Wade Wetherill, the Kayenta trader, journeyed more than 50 miles (80 km) by wagon to find character witnesses for Tse-ne-gat and secured the testimony of several Utes and Anglos, including two Mormons, in his defense.

Well-wishers, mostly women, gave Tse-ne-gat many gifts and he was given a "dramatic farewell" when he departed Denver by train the following day.