But in winter, when they were concentrated in camps and their horses were weakened, they were vulnerable in ways they were not in other seasons.

The winter campaign exploited this vulnerability.

What made the strategy specifically unjust as applied in November 1868 was the failure to distinguish between camps associated with raiding and camps that were in the assigned reservation area and had been seeking American protection.

Black Kettle’s camp was the latter category.

Attacking it was not a necessary consequence of the winter campaign strategy — it was a consequence of the failure to gather and use intelligence that would have allowed the Army to target the actual raiders.

Sheridan’s famous remark — “The only good Indian is a dead Indian” — is attributed to him from this period, though the specific origin of the quote is disputed.