The Legends of America account says “more than 1,100 horses” slaughtered — a figure that refers only to the animals killed, potentially excluding the approximately 400 horses retained by the army from the count of destroyed animals.

These numbers are not contradictory if understood correctly.

The range of horses captured was somewhere between 1,100 and 1,424, depending on how precisely one counts and whether mules are included.

The number killed was approximately 1,000, excluding those retained for army use.

The Texas Historical Commission marker’s 1,400 captured and 1,000 destroyed represents the official Texas historical assessment of the event.

What is consistent across all sources is the scale: the operation removed somewhere between 1,100 and 1,400 horses and mules from the Southern Plains peoples at Palo Duro Canyon, and approximately 1,000 animals were killed rather than being retained or released.