the next day as the americans moved on, one soldier was lagging behind and attacked by about fifty-five warriors armed with bows and covered in stripes. he was killed and the warriors moved forward to attack sitgreaves' column. when the captain realized he was under attack, skirmishers were deployed and in a short engagement, four mohaves were killed and some others wounded. the only american casualty was the first soldier who was relieved of his musketoon when the mohave retreated. from there the expedition continued on for another week or so until reaching the war zone of fort yuma on november 30, 1851, after nearly starving to death and after losing most of their equipment. at the fort sitgreaves discovered that the outpost was badly in need of provisions also and as a result, the party had to cook and eat all of their mules before making it to san diego.