Complex sentence: Lieutenant Colonel Cooke's soldiers had been low on food so the Mexicans and Pimas bartered meat and bread for cloth, buttons and pins, but only a little food was transferred to the Mormons through trade.
Split into simpler sentences: Lieutenant Colonel Cooke's soldiers had been low on food so the Mexicans and Pimas bartered meat and bread for cloth, buttons and pins. Only little food was transferred to the Mormons through trade.