Red Cloud arrived as one of several influential Oglala leaders.

He was not yet the sole dominant figure in Lakota political life that he would become as a result of the war — that status came later.

But he was influential enough that his position on the trail question mattered significantly to the outcome of the council.

The arrival of Colonel Carrington’s command during the council negotiations was the specific event that crystallized Red Cloud’s position.

The column that arrived at Fort Laramie while the council was meeting was explicitly equipped and organized to march north and build forts.