The Boundary Between Military History And Human History

Palo Duro Canyon is often categorized as military history — a battle in a war, analyzed in terms of commanders, tactics, objectives, and outcomes.

This categorization is accurate as far as it goes.

It leaves out most of what actually happened.

The families who fled the canyon on September 28, 1874 were not military units.

They were parents and grandparents and children.

They were people who had chosen to remain off the reservation — some because they had decided that resistance was worth the risk, some because they had been unable or unwilling to make the move, some because they were following their leaders’ decisions rather than making independent choices.