Following the death of the prominent Yavapai leader Anasa in April 1865, the natives began raiding American settlements which provoked a response by the United States Army forces stationed in the area.

In 1857 Edward Fitzgerald Beale carved a road through Hualapai territory, leading to Needles, California, and in 1863, gold was discovered in the Prescott Valley.

The gold rush brought a steady flow of miners and other settlers to the area so in 1864 Captain William Hardy built a toll road through Hualapai territory between Prescott and Bull Head City, which was then known as Hardyville.

Relations with the natives were generally peaceful and Hardy was able to acquire a fortune by building a ferry across the Colorado River and by taxing the settlers who used his road.

[4] In all there were about 250 Hualapai warriors, and an unknown number of Yavapai and Apache allies, facing hundreds of United States Army troops and militia.

[5] The actual fighting took the form of guerrilla warfare, in which small bands of natives cut off Hardy's road and raided using hit and run tactics.