at the end of the civil war, the u.s. attempted to persuade the plains indians to live on reservations. a number of simultaneous military expeditions were launched in pursuit of this policy under the overall control of general grant. general winfield scott hancock commanded one such enterprise in west kansas. its chief, but not only, target was the southern cheyenne in the smoky hills region. in april 1867, hancock moved a large force to fort larned and demanded that indian leaders meet him there. the idea was to intimidate the indians with a show of force. he was warned by edward w. wynkoop, the indian agent for the southern cheyenne and arapaho, that this would be seen by the indians as an aggressive act and was inappropriate for peace negotiations. hancock ignored this advice.