The Commission’s work at Medicine Lodge was a serious effort to create a lasting framework for the coexistence of plains nations and the expanding American state.

The fundamental problem with the Commission’s work was that it operated in a political system where it did not have the authority to enforce what it negotiated.

The military, under Sheridan’s command, had its own strategy and its own timeline, and Sheridan was not particularly interested in what the civilian peace commissioners thought.

The Commission had negotiated the Medicine Lodge Treaty in October 1867.

By November 1868 — thirteen months later — Custer was attacking Black Kettle’s camp with Sheridan’s authorization.