Flight of the Indians to the mountains delayed, but did not preclude, the final conquest of their domain. They were only reserved for the last roundup. Eventually each tribe was brought to its respective day of reckoning. The government’s policy was not always crystal clear. It fluctuated between the extremes of the “Quaker Peace Policy” and “Fire and the Sword Practice.” However, the goal was the same; “blanket” Indians were to become “farmers,” live in fixed abodes, and “walk the white man’s road.”[172] After the Civil War the execution of this business was taken in hand by resolute fighting men. Hence, the military spirit was hardened toward the red men. Inexorably the race was pressed toward the appointed end. This work was accomplished by a series of military actions during the sixties and seventies. In eastern Idaho Colonel Patrick Connor wrought swift vengeance on the Bannock nation in 1863. More than two hundred Indians were killed, a loss which forever broke down their force and effectiveness. This tribe was guilty of many depredations against migrants, miners, and Mormon settlers. Its forlorn remnants were assigned to the Fort Hall Reservation. The plains tribes went on the war path in 1864. Colonel Chivington’s command surprised and almost annihilated a peaceful band of Arapahos and Cheyennes in the Sand Creek massacre. What Chivington neglected General Custer completed four years later in the destruction of Black Kettle’s village. In frontier parlance there was always battle when the Indians were killed and a massacre when the whites were the victims.[173] In 1871 Generals Sherman and Sheridan projected a plan that eventuated in the complete conquest of the Kiowa and Comanche nations, but the Sioux were the most formidable obstacle to the colonization of Wyoming and Montana. They stood immovable astride the country lying between the headwaters of the Powder and Yellowstone rivers. This was the heart of the Sioux country—their last and favorite retreat. There, grass grew lush, and cool, sweet streams teemed with trout. Wild berries flourished, and a hunter could take his pick of buffalo, bear, elk, deer, antelope, and sheep. The great Sioux Chieftains, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, together with Sitting Bull, the medicine man, protested bitterly in 1864 when John Bozeman, John Jacobs, and others began traveling across these lands.[174]