Others were caught.

The army had instructed Assiniboine and Gros Ventre warriors to seek out and kill returning nimíipuu.

Some returning refugees were killed in these encounters.

The border offered protection from the American army on one side; crossing it to try to go home exposed the returnees to a different set of dangers.

This aspect of the aftermath is less often told than either the surrender speech or the exile, but it was the lived reality of many nimíipuu for years after Bear Paw.

The choice was not between safety and exile.