American assurances of safety were not reliable.

American officials who promised protection could not be trusted to deliver it, and could not be held accountable when they failed.

The 1866 Fort Laramie council occurred less than two years after Sand Creek.

The 1868 treaty negotiations were ongoing even as the Army was still managing the aftermath of the Fetterman disaster.

In this context, Red Cloud’s insistence on verification — on seeing the forts abandoned as a precondition for signing — was not paranoia or obstinacy.

It was a reasonable response to a well-documented pattern of American promise and American betrayal.