Whether the Army intended those deaths to result from exposure and starvation, or whether it intended only to force surrender and calculated that the deaths were acceptable collateral consequences, is a question that the historical record does not answer with certainty.

What is clear is that the destruction was carried out with the knowledge that winter on the Staked Plains without adequate shelter and food was dangerous, and that the destruction was intended to be severe enough to make continued resistance more costly than surrender.

The Southern Cheyenne At Palo Duro

The Southern Cheyenne were among the nations present at Palo Duro Canyon, and their presence deserves specific acknowledgment.

The Southern Cheyenne had been under pressure since the 1860s.