Alexander Hatch's Ranch in New Mexico had been leased to the Army in 1859 as a supply stop. Two companies of the 8th Infantry under Lieutenant Lafayette Peck were at the camp when 100 Comanche Indians approached claiming to want to buy supplies and ammunition. Peck refused them but they persisted and a sharp fire fight broke out. The Comanches were driven off with several dead; the infantry suffered no casualties. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Leo E. Oliva, Fort Union and the Frontier Army in the Southwest: A Historic Resource Study (Santa Fe, NM: National Park Service, 1993), 208.