The congressional investigations that followed Sand Creek were scathing in their condemnation — but they did not prevent similar attacks, because they did not change the underlying policy framework.

General Sheridan’s winter campaign strategy that led to the Washita represented a deliberate choice to use violence against all plains camps, without distinguishing between those who were raiding and those who were complying with treaty terms.

This strategy was authorized by the commanding general and implicitly endorsed by the Grant administration.

Custer was an instrument of this strategy, but the strategy itself was the product of decisions made at a much higher level.

The framework that produced Sand Creek and the Washita was a framework in which the promises made to peaceful chiefs like Black Kettle were understood, by many of the American officials who made them, as tactical concessions rather than genuine commitments.