It was between different kinds of danger, different kinds of uncertainty, different kinds of loss.

The people who had surrendered at Bear Paw were in Fort Leavenworth through the winter of 1877-1878, then in Indian Territory.

The people who had escaped to Canada were dispersed among the Lakota, trying to survive on declining game in an unfamiliar landscape.

And the people who tried to return quietly from Canada were sometimes killed on the way.

There was no good option.

There had not been one since June 1877.