His decision to work within American political structures, to travel to Washington, to engage with American officials, was seen by some as accommodation or even collaboration.

Sitting Bull, who took a more consistently confrontational stance toward American authority, represented a different position.

The tension between these approaches — between working within the system and refusing to recognize its legitimacy — was never fully resolved.

Red Cloud lost his status as a formal chief in 1881 when the federal Indian agent on the Pine Ridge Reservation removed him, declaring that he was no longer the legitimate spokesman for his people.

The agent — who had both the authority under American law and the military force to back it — replaced him with a more compliant figure.