Sitting Bull and his followers crossed the Medicine Line in 1876, and the American army had to stop at the border.

The pursuit could not continue.

General Terry, who crossed briefly into Canada for a meeting with Sitting Bull, was received by the Canadian authorities with a clear message: this is not American jurisdiction, you have no authority here.

The nimíipuu knew about the Medicine Line.

The flight toward Canada was explicitly directed at reaching it.

Looking Glass, in the weeks before Bear Paw, had been orienting the march north specifically because the border offered a specific legal protection that no other available geography could.

The tragedy at Bear Paw was not that the nimíipuu didn’t know where to go.