Some have said that Spotted Tail's daughter was one of the potent factors that made him incline to peace, but that is open to question. One time for instance, the great chief was so incensed with his daughter, because she wanted him to get her a white general or officer for a husband, that he upbraided her for her foolishness and ambition, and knocked her down.
After the conferences, while there was no treaty signed, Spotted Tail and Bad Wound, and their band drew away from the bad influence of the Arapahoes and Cheyennes.
white father has given us is not enough, and the agents cheat us. The army officers treat us well, but the agents cheat us, and we do not want to treat with anyone but army officers. We will not give up the Platte valley until there is a treaty, and we have all agreed to it. If we give you this, then you will want another and another. Before we agree to anything, you must stop the surveyors who now, at this very time, are going west on the Niobrara."
While we all know that the traders were of a class that took advantage of the untutored savage, we wonder if the soldiers were any better, and we also wonder if this interpretation was not construed to mean something that was not really said, with the view of centering in the military the power and profit which the government had given to civil authority. If so. it fell short of its purpose.