There was a method behind this madness. Miles’s experience in the Nez Perce War should have taught him some lessons about the tragedies of unnecessary Indian wars, but he had both military and presidential ambitions. He wanted to achieve the old dream of army control over Indian affairs and to stop the drawing down of troops in the West. Suppressing the most serious Indian threat in American history would further all these goals, and it would be particularly easy to do if there were no actual threat.
