White River War The White River War , also known as the Ute War , or the Ute Campaign , was fought between the White River Utes and the United States Army in 1879 , resulting in the forced removal of the White River Utes and the Uncompahgre Utes from Colorado , and the reduction in the Southern Utes ' land holdings within Colorado . The war signalled the final defeat of the Utes and opened millions of new acreage to settlement . War . The conflict began when Major Thomas T . Thornburgh led a command of 153 soldier s , and twenty - five militia men , to the White River Agency , in response to a request for assistance by the Indian Agent Nathan C . Meeker . Meeker had been attempting to convert the White River Utes to agriculture and Christianity , and had angered the Utes by plowing a field they used to graze and race horses . After an altercation with some Utes , Meeker had sent to the army for assistance . The main incidents of the war took place on September 29 , 1879 . Major Thornburgh advanced with his command across Milk Creek onto the White River Ute land , despite assuring several Utes on previous days that the main body of his command would remain off the reservation . A Ute force , led by Captain Jack , were hidden on high ground prepared to defend their territory . The competing armed forces signalled each other , with both sides meaning to meet with each other peacefully , when an errant shot began what came to be known as the Battle of Milk Creek . The Utes , although outnumbered , held the strategic high ground , and managed to hold the American army forces at bay , and inflict significant losses , including the death of Major Thornburgh and thirteen others , wounding more than forty . Meanwhile , a separate group of Utes , descended upon the White River Agency and killed ten male employees and Nathan Meeker . They also took three women and two children captive in what became known as the Meeker Massacre . The United States Cavalry remaining at Milk Creek were in disarray , corralled with most of their animals dead and being used as defensive barricades . They were under the command of Captain J . Scott Payne , who sent out messengers for reinforcements . The troops held out for two days until the arrival of Captain Frances Dodge and his company of Buffalo Soldiers from Fort Lewis in southern Colorado . These reinforcements helped the army hold their position until Colonel Wesley Merritt arrived with close to 450 troops , this led to the Utes ' withdrawing from the battle after six days of fighting . The army suffered thirteen casualties , including ten soldiers and three militiamen killed , and forty - four wounded , five of whom were of the militia . The Utes had suffered a total of thirty - seven fatalities , in both the battle and the massacre . Aftermath . After the Milk Creek and White River incidents , there was intense hostility toward the Utes , both within Colorado and the American army , and mounting pressure to drive them entirely from the state , or to exterminate them altogether . There had already been a desire to move the Utes off their land prior to the outbreak of the war so the fighting added fuel to the fire . The treaty negotiations were the result of the intercession of Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz , who stopped any movement of forces against the Ute until such time as the hostages were safely released . Former Indian agent Charles Adams , who had previously served at White River , managed to secure the hostages ' release by the White River Utes . Schurz was accompanied during his trip to Colorado for those negotiations by a young German diplomat named August von Dönhoff , the father of Marion Gräfin Dönhoff , a well known German journaliat and Anti - Nazi resistance fighter . The official ceding of Ute land occurred after negotiations that began in November 1879 with a Peace Commission at the Los Pinos Agency . After this commission failed to produce results , Congress summoned the participants to Washington in 1880 . A treaty was agreed upon where the White River Utes agreed to be removed to Uintah Reservation in Utah , and the Uncompahgre Utes , who had not participated in the uprising , were to remain in Colorado , but on a smaller parcel of land . Later this plan was changed , and the Uncompahgre Utes too were removed to Utah . The Southern Ute were also to be moved , although it proved difficult to find them land in neighboring states . Ultimately they remained on a reservation along the border of Colorado and New Mexico . After removal the Uncompahgre Utes named their new land reserve Ouray Reservation after the late Chief Ouray , who died in August 1880 , occurred on August 28 , 1881 . The Uncompahgres were moved under the accompaniment of the army , commanded by Colonel Ranald MacKenzie . The army was used to force the Utes to move , but it also served to protect the Utes from the wrath of the settlers who followed the exodus of the Uncompahgres . The White River Utes were more difficult to move . The Indian Bureau lured them to the Uintah Reservation by sending their rations and land compensation payments there . The White River Utes remained largely nomadic , and remained a threat to return to Colorado . For that reason , the army , with the aid of the Interior Department , planned a military post next to the Utah reservations . When the Captain Jack and the White River Utes fled back to Colorado , the army tracked down located them on April 28 , 1882 . Soldiers killed him while he was trying to avoid capture and being forced to return to Uintah Reservation . The removal of the Utes from most of their lands in Colorado effectively marked the end of the White River War .