Horses acquired through raids or trade could be used to hunt buffalo, but if the buffalo were not there to hunt, the horses could not produce the returns that had sustained the economy.

The commercial buffalo slaughter and the military campaigns of 1874-1875 were not separate phenomena.

They were complementary pressures that, operating simultaneously, eliminated both the resources and the mobility that off-reservation life required.

Sheridan understood this connection and reportedly supported it explicitly.

The commercial hunters were doing more to end the Southern Plains peoples’ capacity for resistance, Sheridan believed, than any number of military campaigns.

The hunters were welcome in the treaty territory, enforcement of treaty restrictions was not pursued, and the result was the accelerated destruction of the resource base.