The U.S. press called the event the "Grattan Massacre." Accounts generally ignored the US soldiers' instigation of the event by their failure first, to leave it up to the Indian agent to settle, as called for in the treaty, and second, shooting chief Conquering Bear in the back. When news of the fight reached the War Department, officials started planning retaliation to punish the Sioux. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis characterized the incident as "the result of a deliberately formed plan."