An investigation of the conditions at the Red Cloud Agency was ordered.

Some corrupt officials were removed.

The quality of the rations improved somewhat for a period.

But the fundamental dynamic — the United States government managing the Lakota within a system that prioritized American interests and treated treaty commitments as flexible when they conflicted with those interests — did not change.

The Memory That Matters

Red Cloud’s War is not just a historical episode.

It is relevant to understanding the contemporary relationship between the United States and Indigenous nations in specific and important ways.