The full picture of what happened in Yellowstone is complicated and the accounts from both sides differ.

What is clear is that the nimíipuu were not a military force operating in a vacuum — they were families in motion through a landscape where American civilians had begun to arrive, and the encounters created both tactical and ethical complications.

Looking Glass continued to argue that the Crow would provide sanctuary, and the council directed the route toward Crow territory.

The hope was that old allies would offer shelter and assistance, or at minimum that the Crow would not help the army against them.