This was not a preferred outcome, but it was a recognized option.

What Mackenzie took from the camps in Palo Duro Canyon, and then destroyed on the plains to the south, was the mobility, the hunting capacity, the military capability, the wealth, and the escape mechanism of an entire population.

The Texas Historical Commission marker describes the outcome with characteristic economy: the people had “lost half their horses as well as all their supplies and shelter.”

Half their horses.