What Happened To The Agencies

The reservation agencies at Fort Sill and Fort Reno that the families “drifted back to” after Palo Duro Canyon were not, by any standard, adequate to the need.

The physical infrastructure at the agencies was limited.

The housing was inadequate.

The rations were inconsistent in both quality and quantity — the contractors and agents who managed the supply of goods to the agencies frequently engaged in fraud, providing less than the contracted amounts and of lower quality than specified, and pocketing the difference.

The population that arrived at the agencies after the Red River War was a traumatized population.