This was not consistent with the campaign’s overall strategy, which was to end off-reservation resistance through attrition, not negotiation.

Allowing families to return to the canyon camp would have preserved the material base for continued resistance.

Alternative 3: Burn the camp but release the horses.

This would have eliminated the shelter and food but left the horse herds available for recovery.

The families who had escaped the initial attack would have begun recovering horses within hours of Mackenzie’s departure, and within weeks would have had most of their mobility restored.

Alternative 4: Keep all the horses.