The elder women who had spent decades processing buffalo hides, who had made the lodges that were now burning, who had accumulated the skills and knowledge of the material culture of the Southern Plains — they were among the “families” who escaped.

Their survival was the point.

The warriors’ delaying action bought the survival of these people.

The four recorded dead bought the survival of hundreds.

But surviving September 28 was not the same as surviving the winter.

The military history records the battle.

The human history includes what came after: the winter, the slow coming-in, the arrival at the agencies, the beginning of the reservation period.

What The Reservation System Meant In 1875