He could reason with him, appeal to his sense of communal responsibility, use whatever social pressure was available.

He could not command.

American treaty negotiators consistently failed to understand this distinction.

When they made agreements with civil chiefs like Black Kettle, they believed — or chose to believe — that those agreements bound the entire Cheyenne nation, including the military societies.

When the military societies then continued raiding, the Americans concluded that the civil chiefs had been duplicitous.

The more accurate conclusion was that the civil chiefs had delivered what they could — their own compliance and the compliance of their followers — but could not deliver compliance from institutions that were not under their authority.

Black Kettle, at Medicine Lodge and in other contexts, tried to explain this distinction to American officials.