Red Cloud’s response was not demoralization.

He arrived in Washington prepared to make his own case.

When he met with President Grant and with government officials, he argued directly and specifically for the fulfillment of treaty promises.

He objected to the conditions at the agency where his people were now living — the inadequate rations, the corrupt agency administration, the failure to provide the promised goods.

He was articulate, precise, and politically effective enough that his statements were reported widely in the eastern press.

He also addressed a large public meeting in New York, at which his speech was translated and reported as one of the most effective statements of Indigenous grievances that had been heard in the eastern United States.