The American army officer Major John Greiner blamed Velasquez for attacks on two settler wagon trains.
[3] On two occasions Velasquez's band was tracked by American Major Benjamin Lloyd Beall and his scout Kit Carson, though he was not brought to battle.
Meriwether agreed and thought he would have to kill Velasquez and hunt down his "daring band which has infested our borders for a long time".
On March 5, 1854, the same day Lobo Blanco was killed leading a band of Jicarilla in battle against US Dragoons, Velasquez returned 200 cattle that had been stolen from Fort Union.
He was rewarded with a gray coat with red and yellow braid, given to him at an October 1854 meeting with the Indian Superintendent at Abiquiú.
[7] The Abiquiú incident was likely unintentional but the surviving Utes thought they had been targeted and war-minded leaders held sway.
The smallpox led to starvation and the Utes turned to cattle raiding; one American trader was killed near Apache Creek.