In another sense, it is evidence that the violence did not need to be lethal to be effective.

The strategic destruction was complete enough that the physical survival of the people did not translate into the survival of the way of life those people had been defending.

The four dead at Palo Duro Canyon and the approximately 1,000 horses shot on the plains to the south are not separate statistics.

They are two measures of the same event, and understanding the event requires holding both numbers at once.

The Final Accounting