Chapter II: Part 2

Standards of discipline changed with commanding officers. When he became post commander at Camp Robinson Colonel Mackenzie directed that the officers’ billiard room in the post trader’s store would be closed and no cards or billiards would be played on Sundays. Court-martials of enlisted men were frequent and punishment sometimes went beyond simple hard labor. One thirty day sentence provided that for twelve days the prisoner was to “stand on a barrel from reveille to retreat allowing one half hour for each meal.” Some sentences were for relatively minor infractions. At Camp Sheridan a musician was court-martialed for disobeying an order relative to the key in which he played “First Call.”[30] Men of the garrison worked six days a week, their routine beginning and ending with the rising and setting sun. On Sunday morning there was a full dress parade and inspection.[31]

Beef and bread, supplemented by wild game and vegetables grown by the soldiers in company gardens, were the main items of diet, although the issued foods included pork, bacon, flour, cornmeal, beans, peas, rice, hominy, coffee, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper. Beef was often eaten twice a day; steak for breakfast and roast for lunch, with the evening meal consisting of pancakes or stewed dried apples. Both officers and men could purchase additional foods at the post commissary which carried canned tomatoes, raisins, hams and other items. In addition to post trader Paddock’s store at Camp Robinson, Clay Dear’s store at Camp Canby and J. W. Dear’s at Red Cloud Agency were sources of delicacies. Mrs. McGillycuddy describes her efforts to obtain oysters from these suppliers.

A major problem of the Army during the Indian Wars was desertion. Some men enlisted merely to obtain shelter for the winter or transportation to the West and others became dissatisfied with the rigors of Army life. In contrast were the enlisted men who devoted their lives to the service and formed the noncommissioned core of the Army. Sergeants and corporals often had to back up their commands with more than their chevrons when dealing with unruly members of the ranks. One sergeant of the guard at Fort Robinson so stoutly enforced his commands that the recalcitrant private died of a fractured skull.[32] The sergeant’s action was vindicated by a court inquiry.

The officers were an experienced group and devoted to an Army career. Many had risen, like Guy V. Henry, to the rank of general during the Civil War, only to revert to their regular rank when the Army was reduced to its “peacetime” Indian War size of about 25,000 men. Others came “up from the ranks,” as Emmet Crawford who fought through the War between the States as an enlisted man and noncom and was then commissioned. John G. Bourke graduated from West Point after serving through the Civil War as a private.

Promotion was slow in the small army of the Indian War period. It was not at all unusual to spend a decade or more as a lieutenant, and an equal period faced a new captain before he could hope to become a field officer. The families of officers and enlisted men alike shared the rigors and isolation of frontier service. The years of campaigning against hostile Indians required a devotion to duty of the highest order.

CRUSHING THE LAST INDIAN RESISTANCE

In August 1877 Dull Knife and the Northern Cheyenne who had surrendered at Camp Robinson were taken to Indian Territory. During the next twelve months they suffered greatly from lack of food and from diseases to which they had no natural immunity. The Cheyenne had reluctantly accepted removal to Indian Territory on a trial basis, but when they requested permission to return north it was refused in spite of their hardships. On September 8, 1878 they took matters into their own hands when, led by Dull Knife and Little Wolf, they began their almost unbelievable march back to their northern homeland. Their bid for freedom is one of the epics of the frontier.

Leaving their tipis standing, the Cheyenne slipped away from the troops guarding them near Fort Reno and proceeded to fight their way across Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, pursued by thousands of infantry and cavalry soldiers. The Indians fought several sharp skirmishes with the troops and managed to elude capture, breaking through lines of intercepting troops along the Kansas Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads. General Crook ordered General Bradley at Fort Robinson to form a third line of defense. Along with soldiers from Camp Sheridan and other posts the Fort Robinson garrison patrolled the sandhills area of Nebraska. Finally a group of 149 men, women and children led by Dull Knife were met and taken into custody by Captain Johnson’s Company from Fort Robinson.

The Cheyenne had planned to seek refuge among their Sioux friends at Red Cloud Agency, not knowing that it had been relocated. They did not want to go to Fort Robinson, but when additional troops and artillery were brought up the Cheyenne were convinced that resistance was useless.

The Indians were taken to the post and imprisoned in the log cavalry barracks at the southeast corner of the parade ground. From their capture in October 1878 until January 1879 the Indians lived at the Fort. Little Wolf and the remaining Cheyenne stayed nearby for some time, then completed their escape to the northern Plains. That group did not surrender for several more months.

The Cheyenne held at Fort Robinson were told that they would have to return to Indian Territory to live on the reservation there. Dull Knife, speaking for his people, said they had returned to their homeland and that they would be killed there rather than return south. In January efforts were made to starve them into submission, and a few of the men were taken prisoner during conferences.

The Indians decided to try to escape. On the night of January 9, 1879 the Cheyenne Outbreak began. Using the few guns they had managed to hide when they were disarmed and imprisoned the previous October, the warriors opened fire on the soldiers guarding their barracks prison. The guards were killed or wounded, and their arms and ammunition captured by the Cheyenne. While the women and children fled towards the river the men fought a stiff delaying action against the hastily aroused garrison. Troops sleeping in nearby barracks went into action in the bitter cold clad only in their underclothing, engaging the fleeing Indians until the cavalry could mount and ride to the scene. Many Cheyenne fell between the parade ground and the sawmill by the river, but some escaped to the hills behind the post.

The Fort Robinson soldiers spent the next two weeks pursuing the Cheyenne in the rough butte country west of the post. Each day their quarry eluded capture. Both the Cheyenne and the soldiers suffered additional casualties in these encounters. On January 22 the last of the Indians were killed or captured.

About sixty-four Cheyenne died in the outbreak and many others were wounded before being captured. Eleven soldiers were killed and ten wounded along with the Sioux Indian scout, Woman’s Dress. In the medical history Post Surgeon E. B. Mosely wrote:

During this whole period the fighting was of the most desperate
character being from a hand to hand struggle up to a range almost
always inside of fifty yards. The great proportion of fatal wounds is
remarkable and their concentration on the trunk of the body shows a
deliberation and skill in handling the improved breech-loading arms
with which they were liberally supplied, a fact which explains why
this particular tribe enjoyed the reputation of being the best
warriors on the Plains. The conduct of the white troops is worthy of
the greatest praise. Taken by surprise the first night, they rallied
in the most prompt manner and followed the flying enemy even
barefooted in the deep snow with thermometer at 10° F. until ordered
back by their officers.

In the final charge the men advanced under a heavy and fatal fire to
the edge of the hole in which the enemy were hidden and in a few
minutes of short work finished the affair.

By an unfortunate fatality a large number of the killed were of the
very best and most respected men of the command.[33]

In terms of the number of casualties and intensity of the fighting the Cheyenne Outbreak can be regarded as one of the major battles of the Indian Wars,[34] Many of the Cheyenne had been fighting for, rather than against, the Army only two years before. “Among these Indians,” wrote General Crook “were some of the bravest and most efficient of the auxiliaries who have acted under General Mackenzie and myself in the campaign against the hostile Sioux in 1876 and 1877, and I still preserve a grateful remembrance of their distinguished services of which the government seems to have forgotten.”[35]

When the Indians were removed from northwestern Nebraska, ranchers moved in and established big cattle ranches in the desirable lands by 1878. The Graham, Bronson and Newman ranches were some of the first established, but their uncontested hold on the free range was of relatively short duration.

The Freemont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad which reached Fort Robinson in 1886 stimulated settlement. So many homesteaders followed the railroad that the post commander at Fort Robinson was forced to carefully mark the boundaries of the military wood reserve to prevent its settlement. Rancher-homesteader conflicts developed, but the presence of Fort Robinson was a big factor in preventing a large scale range war. The Fort was also a source of assistance to the settlers. For example, “Old Jules” Sandoz was treated in the post hospital by the Surgeon, Walter Reed. The town of Crawford was founded at the boundary of the Fort Robinson reservation and profited from military business.[36]

A typical “wild-west” town, Crawford and its entertainment facilities caused many a headache for the post commander who was forced to cancel the practice of allowing the cavalrymen to have “mounted” passes during off-duty hours. One Ninth Cavalryman was sentenced to a year at hard labor for riding his horse into a Crawford saloon during a “frolic.” In 1906 a 10th cavalry trooper killed Art Moss, one of the town’s law officers, in a gunfight. During one eighteen month period three soldiers from the post, one a holder of the Congressional Medal of Honor, were murdered in the vicinity. All three crimes went unpunished.[37]

The arrival of the railroad at Fort Robinson not only brought settlers to the area but it brought about the end of a famous military post, Fort Laramie. Fort Robinson was easier to supply by rail and it was closer to the Sioux reservation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. The expansion of Fort Robinson began in 1887 and Fort Laramie was ultimately abandoned in 1890. The expansion of Fort Robinson resulted in a change in its function and it became a regimental headquarters cavalry post.

Actually the summer of 1885 saw the beginning of this change at Fort Robinson, when the first elements of the Ninth Cavalry arrived to garrison the post. The Ninth was one of the Army’s two all-Negro cavalry regiments.[38] The men of the Ninth continued the routine tasks of repairing telegraph lines, patrolling the area, and pursuing stage-coach and train robbers as well as carrying out their usual military training.

1. Lieutenant W. H. Carter.
2. Red Dog.
3. J. Tavernier, artist.

Ladies of the Post.

In August 1889 a Camp of Instruction was held at Fort Robinson. This event attracted a great deal of attention because it involved the assembly at the post of all troops in the Department of the Platte. The vast encampment was organized by General Brooke under the direction of General Crook, then commanding the Military Division of the Missouri. Training for the 102 officers and 2,155 enlisted men began on August 20 and lasted for one month. The fifty-eight participating companies came from eleven different posts in the Department and consisted of the Ninth Cavalry, the Fifth Artillery and the Second, Seventh, Eighth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Twenty-first Infantry regiments. The soldiers lived in a tent camp about a mile from the main post at Fort Robinson, their temporary quarters being named Camp George Crook.

The expansion of Fort Robinson proved to be timely, for 1890-91 brought new Indian troubles and field service for the garrison. Discouraged by reservation life and hoping to bring back their old nomadic ways by supernatural methods, the Sioux took up the Ghost Dance. Ghost Dancers wore cloth shirts which they believed gave them supernatural protection against bullets, and during the course of their dancing they fell in trances and had visions of the spirit world in which they often talked to long dead relatives. Indian agents and civilians nearby became concerned lest the Indian wars begin again.

In October 1890 the post commander Colonel Tilford informed the Indian agent at Pine Ridge, Dr. D. F. Royer, that if troops were needed they would be sent from Fort Robinson, but the Colonel suggested that the Indians should be allowed to dance as long as they harmed no one. A similar opinion was held by the post scout, Little Bat, who believed that the Ghost Dance would eventually die out if left alone.

By November Agent Royer was even more apprehensive about the Ghost Dance and came to Fort Robinson for a conference. In view of the mounting concern, the Ninth Cavalry was given orders to leave, by railroad, for Pine Ridge on November 19. While in the field in connection with the Ghost Dance troubles the Ninth Cavalry was under the command of Major Guy V. Henry, the same officer who, as a company commander in the Third Cavalry, had figured prominently in the history of Camp Robinson during the Indian War days.

Fort Robinson served as a stop en route for recruits sent to join their various regiments in the field at Pine Ridge. Carbines and other supplies were also forwarded from the post when needed.

The Ghost Dance troubles culminated in the Battle of Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890. Casualties in this battle were quite heavy, both among the troopers of the Seventh Cavalry and the Indian men, women and children of Big Foot’s band. Fort Robinson’s post scout, Little Bat, acted as an interpreter and helped to disarm the Indians when the well known battle began.

Under Major Henry’s leadership the Ninth Cavalry made several long forced marches at the height of the troubles and although they did not see action in the battle of Wounded Knee they did fight a skirmish a few days later when, in classic movie style, they arrived on the scene in time to save elements of another regiment which were surrounded and under attack. The Ghost Dance trouble was the last bloody chapter in the wars with the Sioux.

FORT ROBINSON SINCE 1890

After the Battle of Wounded Knee the Ghost Dance trouble ended, and garrison life at Fort Robinson settled back to training, garden tending, and policing the post, with few breaks in the routine.

In 1892 the Ninth Cavalry, accompanied by post scouts Little Bat Garnier, Woman’s Dress, Yankton Charlie, White Antelope, and Joe Mosseau, spent the months from June until October in the field at Camp Bettens, Wyoming.

In 1897 an interesting report on recent minor tactical maneuvers at Fort Robinson was submitted. It described the mounting of Lt. M. A. Batson and two enlisted men on high wheel Columbia bicycles and the results of a rugged test of their ability to keep pace with mounted troops in the field. The bicycle-mounted men had “great difficulty” in keeping up with cavalry in rough terrain but over rolling ground were able to outdistance the horsemen. However, the report concluded that day in and day out the bicycle men would not be able to perform as required. One of the Columbia wheels was wrecked during the test. Lt. Batson later used another of the bicycles to good effect while mapping parts of the military reservation. Despite its humorous aspect, this test foreshadowed the eventual replacement of cavalry by mechanized troops.[39]

The war with Spain brought orders on April 16, 1898 for the Ninth Cavalry to move to Chicamauga Park, Georgia; it later went to Cuba and then on to the Philippine Islands. In a flurry of activity Fort Robinson was stripped, not only of troops, but of artillery and other needed war material, and the garrison was reduced to a minimum.

After the war the Tenth, Eighth, and Twelfth Cavalry regiments, in that order, followed the Ninth as the Fort Robinson garrison. On December 16, 1900, Little Bat Garnier, the post scout who had served the Army so well since 1876, was shot and killed by a barkeeper in Crawford. He was buried in the post cemetery at Fort Robinson.[40]

In 1906 Fort Robinson was once again involved in Indian trouble. Col. J. A. Augur, regimental commander of the Tenth Cavalry, had to order troops from the garrison to take the field when three hundred Ute Indians fled their reservation in an effort to relocate themselves in the Big Horn country of Montana. The Fort Robinson troops intercepted the Ute and escorted them to Fort Meade, South Dakota.

During World War I activity at Fort Robinson was reduced. A Signal Corps Training Center was planned for the Fort, but the war ended before it could be established.

After the war, in 1919, the post became a Quartermaster Remount Depot. It eventually developed into the world’s largest remount station, with thousands of horses and mules. At the Remount Depot horses were received, conditioned, and issued to Army units and civilian breeders. Some breeding of horses was also carried on at the post as a breeder’s demonstration as well as to prove certain stallions. Many famous race horses were at the depot after their racing careers ended and the 1936 U. S. Olympic Equestrian team trained at the Fort Robinson Remount Depot.

Officers of the Remount service belonged to the Soldier Creek Hunt Club and hunted coyotes with their pack of Welch, English and French stag hounds. The men of the post during this period were proud of their extensive swine and dairy herds and flocks of poultry maintained to add variety to their regular rations, just as the troops of the garrison during the Indian wars raised much of their own food.

The Fourth Field Artillery battalion joined the Remount Service at Fort Robinson from 1928 until 1932. The artillery men made extensive tests of pack artillery organization and equipment such as the Phillips pack saddle. One such test was a five hundred mile march to the Black Hills and return, during which they hauled a mountain howitzer to the top of Harney Peak.

In World War II Fort Robinson’s remount activities were continued and expanded, and thousands of horses and mules were conditioned for military service. The post made other contributions to the war effort as well. The Fort Robinson War Dog Reception and Training Center was activated on October 3, 1942, and on March 15, 1943 a Prisoner of War Camp was added.

There were kennels for 2,000 dogs and over 6,000 canine patients were treated in the special dog hospital before the installation was closed in September 1946. War dogs were trained for several types of duty, including sentry, trail, tactical, sledge, pack and hospital service. The internment camp had space for 3,000 German prisoners of war. Only one prisoner escaped from the camp, and he was recaptured in York, Nebraska.

BUILDING FORT ROBINSON

Several building periods can be identified in the development of Fort Robinson. The following description of the old post was written when it was under construction in 1874.

The camp is 160 yards square. Officers’ quarters are on the north,
infantry barracks on the east and west and cavalry barracks, guard
house and storehouse on the south sides. The barracks are built of
logs, in panels of 15 feet each. For the infantry they are two in
number, each 150 by 24 feet by 9 feet high to the eaves, divided in
the center to accommodate two companies. They have a shed extension at
the rear, 12 feet wide, the length of the building, partitioned off
for mess-rooms, kitchens and wash rooms. The cavalry barrack is built
in the same way, but only 90 feet long, for the accommodation of one
company with mess-room and kitchen like the others. These buildings
are unceiled, have shingle roofs, log walls, window sashes and are
floored. One building 142 by 24 feet, 8¼ feet to eaves, and from eaves
to ridge 7½ feet, is built of logs, with shingle roof, and divided
into twelve sets of two rooms each, and occupied as quarters for
married soldiers and laundresses.

The officer’s quarters are to be all alike, six sets being authorized
each 38 feet long by 32 feet wide and 10 feet high, one for the
commanding officer and five for company officers. They have stone
foundations,[41] walls of adobe [bricks] and are to be ceiled by
boards and plastered. In each building there are to be four rooms, 15
feet square, with a central hall, four feet wide. The dining rooms and
kitchens in the rear are to be made of lumber.[42]

The warehouses, stables, and other buildings of the early post were constructed of logs, log slabs, or boards. The first post hospital, a log building, was not completed until November 1875, tents and dugouts being used to house the sick and the post surgeon until that time. In addition to the military buildings there was a post trader’s residence and store-saloon, and next to it a small log building housing a photographer’s studio.

The beginning of the new decade in the 1880’s saw some expansion of the post with the construction of another log barracks, an adobe barracks for the band, and a residence for the band leader. The replacement of the log hospital by a concrete structure and other additions were all made before 1886. In 1887 expansion of Fort Robinson, connected with projected reduction of Fort Laramie, took place on a newly established parade ground, northwest of the original one, along the north side of which was constructed a series of duplex adobe brick officers’ quarters, six in number. On the opposite side, adobe brick barracks were built, and beyond them new frame cavalry stables. The post commander, Col. Edward Hatch, wanted to use fired brick for the new quarters but was overruled despite the equality of cost and the superior quality of fired brick. Only a year later a forty hour storm caused the unprotected walls of some of the adobe houses to collapse. However, once repaired, they proved durable and are still in use today.

In the early 1890’s Fort Robinson was further expanded with the construction of additional officers’ quarters in 1891, and the following year more storehouses and a much needed replacement for the old guardhouse were added. New gun sheds, quartermaster stables, wheelwright and blacksmith shops also were built in the 1890’s.

During this period there were so many families of Ninth Cavalrymen at the post that the old log barracks buildings as well as the original laundresses’ quarters were being used as dwellings for enlisted men’s families. Some new quarters for noncommissioned officers’ families were also in use by this time, and the original 1874 officers’ adobes eventually became noncom headquarters.

Construction and improvement continued in the early 1900’s with the 1904 addition of a post gymnasium, and in 1905 a frame headquarters building was built. Today the headquarters structure is the Fort Robinson Museum, a branch of the Nebraska State Historical Society.

In 1901 a brick hospital building was erected, and the old concrete structure became the Post Exchange. Before the hospital was even completed the surgeon asked for an additional wing, which was immediately added, as well as a large annex at the rear to accommodate the increasing garrison. Brick buildings built in 1906-1912 included stables, stable guard quarters, blacksmith shops, fire station, bakery, company barracks buildings, bachelor officers’ quarters and officers’ residences. At one time an elaborate plan to convert the entire post to the new brick style was drawn up but was never carried out. Needless to say, along with construction came the destruction of old and outmoded buildings which were replaced. The only remnants of the original post of the 1870’s standing today are the six adobe officers’ quarters.

In 1927 the Remount Service began new major construction, building several elaborate horse stables. All buildings were repaired and several recreational facilities were built by the CCC during the 1930’s. Expansion during World War II included a large number of temporary buildings for use by the War Dog Training Center and the Prisoner of War Camp.

The temporary buildings were sold as surplus and removed after the war, and more unused residences and other buildings were torn down in 1956. There remains today an example of each major building period at the post, although some types of structures and materials used are no longer to be seen.

FORT ROBINSON TODAY

World War II marked the end of extensive use of horses in military service. Fort Robinson was declared surplus by the War Department and turned over to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. On April 29, 1949, the Bureau of Animal Industry, U.S.D.A., in co-operation with the University of Nebraska, established the Fort Robinson Beef Cattle Research Station. Major research emphasis was on beef breeding investigations before this service was phased out and moved to Clay Center, Nebraska, toward the end of 1971.

The US. Department of Agriculture operated a Soil Conservation Service Training Center at Fort Robinson from October, 1954, until January 6, 1964. Men from the great plains states and foreign countries were trained at the center located in Comanche Hall, the former Bachelor Officers’ Quarters.

Today Fort Robinson is operated under a cooperative agreement between state agencies. The University of Nebraska Department of Geology and State Museum have used the post as a base for paleontological field parties, and the Museum operates a branch, the Trailside Museum, at Fort Robinson.

The Nebraska State Game and Parks Commission has operated the Fort Robinson State Park facilities since 1956 with emphasis on recreation. The majority of the buildings and most of the land is devoted to this purpose. Some of the special buildings or areas are the lodge, restaurant, campgrounds, and tourist cabins. Under construction by the commission in 1978 is a swimming pool. A conference center and golf course are projected by the commission for the future.

Beginning in 1967, Chadron State College converted the 1892 Quartermaster Stores Building into the Post Playhouse. The college also produced pageants based on Fort Robinson historical events.

Since the opening of the Fort Robinson Branch Museum of the Nebraska State Historical Society on June 3, 1956, the Society has carried out a number of projects to preserve and interpret the history of the historic post. Starting in 1958 the Society restored the Blacksmith and Harness Repair shops. In 1966 archeological excavations began at the site of the Guardhouse, Adjutant’s Office and Cavalry Barracks, all dating from 1874. The remains of the 1884 Guardhouse were also uncovered.

These excavations provided information for the reconstruction of the 1874 Guardhouse and Adjutant’s Office. The 1884 Wheelwright Shop, the oldest wooden structure on the post, has also been restored. Restoration work has also been carried out on the 1909 Veterinarian Hospital Building and an 1887 Adobe Officers’ Quarters and the 1905 Post Headquarters, which is utilized as a museum. The Post Cemetery, the 1895 Granary, and the 1886 Bandleader’s Quarters are also in the process of restoration. Earlier the Society had carried out limited archeological investigation at the site of the Red Cloud Agency.

Today the staff of the Fort Robinson Museum provides guided tours to historically significant areas of the post and, as part of the interpretive program, presents evening programs during the tourist season. The Society has also undertaken a program of historic markers at Fort Robinson and Red Cloud Agency, which have been designated a Registered National Historic Landmark. Much of the restoration work has been funded in part by grants from the National Park Service.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Listed below are the sources found most useful in preparing this account.

Books

Bourke, John G. _On the Border with Crook._ London: Sampson, Low,
Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1892.

Brady, Cyrus T. _Indian Fights and Fighters._ Garden City: Doubleday,
Page and Co., 1913.

Bronson, Edgar B. _Reminiscences of a Ranchman._ New York: McClure Co.,
1908.

Bruce, Robert. _The Fighting Norths and Pawnee Scouts._ Privately
printed, c. 1932.

Carter, William H. _The History of Fort Robinson._ Crawford, Nebr.:
Northwest Nebraska News, 1942.

Clark, William P. _The Indian Sign Language._ Philadelphia: L. R.
Hamersly, 1885.

DeBarthe, Joseph. _The Life and Adventures of Frank Grouard._ St.
Joseph, Mo.: Combe Printing Co., c. 1894.

Flannery, L. G. (ed.) _Volume I, John Hunton’s Diary, 1873-75._ Lingle,
Wyo.: Guide-Review, c. 1956.

Forrest, Earle R. and Milner, Joe E. _California Joe._ Caldwell, I.:
Caxton Printers, 1935.

Grinnell, George Bird. _The Fighting Cheyennes._ New York: Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1915.

——. _Two Great Scouts and Their Pawnee Battalion._ Cleveland: Arthur H.
Clark Co., 1928.

Hafen, Leroy R. and Young, Francis M. _Fort Laramie and the Pageant of
the West, 1834-1890._ Glendale, Calif.: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1938.

Hyde, George E. _Red Cloud’s Folk, A History of the Oglala Sioux
Indians._ Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1937.

Lawson, Laurin L. _Souvenir History of Fort Robinson._ Crawford, Nebr.:
Northwest Nebraska News, 1930.

McGillycuddy, Julia Blanchard. _McGillicuddy Agent, A Biography of Dr.
Valentine T. McGillicuddy._ Stanford University, Calif: Stanford
University Press, c. 1941.

Mills, Anson. _My Story._ Washington, D. C.: Published by the author,
1918.

Sandoz, Mari. _Cheyenne Autumn._ New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.,
c. 1953.

——. _Crazy Horse, the Strange Man of the Oglalas._ New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1942.

——. _Old Jules._ Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1935.

Schmitt, Martin F. (ed.) _General George Crook, His Autobiography._
Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1946.

Periodicals and Newspapers

_Nebraska History, a Quarterly Magazine._ Lincoln: Nebraska State
Historical Society, 1918——.

Allen, Charles W., “Red Cloud and the U. S. Flag,” XXII, No. 1
(January-March, 1941), 77-88.

Brininstool, E . A., _et al._ “Chief Crazy Horse, His Career and Death,”
XII, No. 1 (January-March, 1929), 4-78.

Burns, Robert H. “The Newman Ranches, Pioneer Cattle Ranches of the
West,” XXXIV, No. 1 (March, 1953), 21-32.

Cook, James H. “Early Days in Ogallala,” XIV, No. 2 (April-June, 1933),
86-99.

Mahnken, Norbert R. “The Sidney-Black Hills Trail,” XXX, No. 3
(September, 1948), 203-225.

Mattison, Ray H. “The Army Post on the Northern Plains, 1865-1885,”
XXXV, No. 1 (March, 1954), 17-43.

——. “The Indian Reservation System on the Upper Missouri, 1865-1890,”
XXXVI, No. 3 (September, 1955), 141-172.

Unthank, O. B. “Red Cloud Agency and Fort Laramie, 1867-1874,” VII, No.
1 (January-March, 1924), 27-29.

Wight, Willard E. (ed.) “A Young Medical Officer’s Letters From Fort
Robinson and Fort Leavenworth, 1906-1907,” XXXVII, No. 2 (June,
1956), 135-147.

Wilson, Everett P. “The Story of the Oglala and Brule Sioux in the Pine
Ridge Country of Northwest Nebraska in the Middle Seventies,”
XXII, No. 1 (January-March, 1941), 15-32.

Bourke, John G. “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes,” _Journal of
the Military Service Institution_, XI, No. 42 (January, 1890),
29-49; No. 43 (March, 1890), 198-221.

_Northwest Nebraska News_ (Crawford, Nebr.), June 18, 1936.

_Omaha Weekly Bee_ (Omaha, Nebr.), 1874-1878.

Documents

Baker, Marvel L., Johnson, Leslie E., and Davis, Russell L., “Beef
Cattle Research at Fort Robinson,” University of Nebraska College
of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station, _Miscellaneous
Publication_ No. 1, April, 1952.

Brackett, Albert G., “The Sioux or Dakota Indians,” Report of the
Smithsonian Institution, 1877, _Senate Miscellaneous Documents_,
No. 46, 44th Congress, 2d. Session.

Report of the Secretary of War (1875), _House Executive Documents_, No.
1, Part 2, 44th Congress, 1st Session.

Report of the Secretary of War for 1879, _House Executive Documents_,
No. 1, Part 2, 46th Congress, 2d. Session.

Reports on Indian Arms, _Annual Report of the Chief of Ordnance for
1879_, Appendix V. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office,
1879.

U. S. National Archives, Microfilm, Nebraska State Historical Society

U. S. War Department

Camp Sheridan, Nebraska:

Orders, 1874-1881

Letters Sent, 1874-1875

Letters Received, 1874

Medical History of Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, 1874-1881

Post Returns, Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, January 1876-April 1881

Fort Robinson:

Selected Letters Sent, 1884-1900, Record Group 98

Selected Post Orders, 1874-1897, Record Group 98

Selected Documents from Medical History of Post, Record Group 98

Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, Document File 563-AGO-1874,
Record Group 94

Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, Document File 4163 (Sioux
War)—1876, Record Group 94

Records of U. S. Army Commands, Selected Documents, Sioux Expedition,
1874, Record Group 98

Bureau of Indian Affairs:

Letters Received, Red Cloud Agency, 1871-1880, Record Group 75

Selected Documents, Letters Received, Spotted Tail Agency 1875-1880.
Letters Sent, Spotted Tail Agency, 1865-1881, Record Group 75

Manuscripts

Eli S. Ricker Collection: Interviews, Statements, Letters, Notes, Mss.,
Nebraska State Historical Society

Notebook kept by Dr. V. T. McGillycuddy, M.D., while a member of the
Yellowstone and Big Horn Expedition May 26 to December 13, 1876
and notes kept by his wife Fanny at Camp Robinson December 13,
1876-February 22, 1877 and with the army on an expedition to the
Black Hills, February 23-April 11, 1877, typed copy, Nebraska
State Historical Society.

FOOTNOTES

[1]Lt. Gen. P. H. Sheridan to Gen. W. T. Sherman, March 3, 1874, Office
of the Adjutant General, Records of the War Department, Document
File 563-AGO-1874 (National Archives and Record Service, Record
Group 94, Ms., microfilm). Hereafter these documents will be cited
as NARS, RG 94.

[2]Located in Wyoming on the Platte River just west of the Nebraska line
near the present town of Henry, Nebraska.

[3]During the buffalo hunt the Sioux discovered and defeated a hunting
party of their traditional Pawnee enemies on August 5, 1873. The
site of the Battle of Massacre Canyon is near the present town of
Trenton, Nebraska.

[4]Sitting Bull of the South (or Sitting Bull the Oglala), head soldier
of the Kiyuksa Oglala band, is not to be confused with the Sitting
Bull (the Hunkpapa) of Custer Battle fame.

[5]Man Afraid of His Horses (the elder) led the Hunkpatila band. Both he
and his son were prominent in affairs at Red Cloud Agency. For a
detailed discussion of the position of these and other Indian
leaders, see George E. Hyde, _Red Cloud’s Folk_ (Norman, Okla.,
1937).

[6]J. J. Saville to Gen. J. E. Smith, February 9, 1874, NARS, RG 94.

[7]_Omaha Weekly Bee_, February 18, 1874.

[8]S. V. Benet, Acting Chief of Ordnance, to Adjutant General, U. S.
Army, February 16, 1874, NARS, RG 94.

[9]Companies B and G, Third Cavalry and Companies A, C, E, I, M and K,
Second Cavalry, made up the cavalry battalion. Companies B, C, F, H,
and K, Eighth Infantry, Companies B and K, Thirteenth Infantry, and
Company F, Fourteenth Infantry, composed the infantry battalion.

[10]As a result the expedition returned via a different route. Later the
road between Fort Laramie and Red Cloud Agency was partially
relocated and necessary bridges built.

[11]Camp Robinson: Company G, Third Cavalry; Company H, Eighth Infantry;
Company F, Fourteenth Infantry; Companies B and K, Thirteenth
Infantry.

[12]Band chiefs and “soldiers” (camp police) had authority only in their
own camp. The four men selected to have supreme authority during the
annual tribal encampment were not chiefs but prominent warriors. For
a discussion of some of the differences in authority between chiefs
and prominent warriors, see Hyde, _op. cit._, pp. 308-315.

[13]Lt. Gen. P. H. Sheridan to Gen. W. T. Sherman, March 3, 1874, NARS,
RG 94.

[14]“Record of the Medical History of Post [Fort Robinson], Medical
Department, U. S. Army” (Ms. copy), Tablet No. 31, Ricker
Collection, Nebraska State Historical Society.

[15]Hyde, _op. cit._, pp. 221, 222; J. J. Saville to Hon. E. P. Smith,
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, October 24, 1874 and Capt. W. H.
Jordan to Gen. George D. Ruggles, October 29, 1874, NARS, RG 94.

[16]General Orders No. 13, February 21, 1876, Fort Robinson, Nebraska
Selected Post Orders, 1874-97, U. S. Army Commands, Records of the
War Department, NARS, RG 98.

[17]About eight hundred more Sioux were hunting south of the Platte
River.

[18]Capt. H. M. Lazelle to Gen. John E. Smith, April 6, 1874, NARS, RG
94.

[19]A. G. Brackett, “The Sioux or Dakota Indians,” Smithsonian
Institution, _Annual Report_, 1876, pp. 466-474.

[20]Interview by Judge E. S. Ricker with George Colhoff, Tablet No. 17,
Ms, Ricker Collection, Nebraska State Historical Society.

[21]The names of Camp Robinson and Red Cloud Agency, and Camp Sheridan
and Spotted Tail Agency were frequently employed as synonyms because
of the proximity of the military posts to the respective agencies;
hence a group surrendering at Red Cloud Agency could also be spoken
of as surrendering at Camp Robinson.

[22]W. P. Clark, _The Indian Sign Language_ (Philadelphia, 1885), p.
296.

[23]Before becoming a scout for the army Grouard had lived for several
years in the camps of the hostiles Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. His
later action in leading soldiers in the campaigns was unfavorable to
his former friends. It has been suggested that he therefore had
reason to fear Crazy Horse.

[24]General Crook to Gen. E. D. Townsend, Adjutant General, September 5,
1877, NARS, RG 94.

[25]The death of Crazy Horse is a complex event and both eyewitness
descriptions and reconstructions of it vary in detail. This account
is a brief summary rather than an analysis.

[26]In the fall of 1877 New Red Cloud Agency was located on the Missouri
River in Dakota Territory at the mouth of Yellow Medicine Creek.

[27]Notebook kept by Dr. V. T. McGillycuddy, M.D., while a member of the
Yellowstone and Big Horn Expedition May 26 to December 13, 1876 and
notes kept by his wife Fanny at Camp Robinson December 13,
1876-February 22, 1877 and with the army on an expedition to the
Black Hills, February 23-April 11, 1877, typed copy, Nebraska State
Historical Society. See entry for December 13, 1876.

[28]“Record of the Medical History of Post,” _op. cit._

[29]McGillicuddy, _op. cit._, entry for December 28-31, 1876.

[30]General Orders No. 23, March 24, 1877, Fort Robinson, Nebraska
Selected Post Orders, 1874-97, NARS, RG 98. General Orders No. 43,
December 29, 1874, Camp Sheridan, Nebraska Orders, 1874-1881, NARS.

[31]General Orders No. 16, Fort Robinson, Nebraska, January 24, 1888
give this routine:

I. Hereafter the calls of this post will be sounded as follows:

First Call 15 minutes before sunrise
March 10 minutes before sunrise
Reveille and Assembly Sunrise
Breakfast Call Immediately after reveille
Sick Call 7:30 A.M.
Fatigue Call 7:45 A.M.
Guard Mounting Assembly of Trumpeters 9:00 A.M.
Guard Mounting Assembly of Details 9:05 A.M.
Guard Mounting Adjutants Calls 9:10 A.M.
School Call (for children) 9:00 A.M.
Drill Call Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays 9:30 A.M.
Water Call 9:45 A.M.
Recall from Drill 10:30 A.M.
Recall from Fatigue 11:45 A.M.
1st Sergeants Call 11:45 A.M.
Dinner Call 12:00 M
Fatigue and School Call (School call for children) 1:00 P.M.
Drill Call 1:30 P.M.
Recall from Drill 3:00 P.M.
Water Call (which shall be recall for cavalry from fatigue) 3:30 P.M.
Stable Call 3:45 P.M.
Recall from Fatigue 5:00 P.M.
Retreat First Call 5 minutes before sunset
Retreat Assembly Sunset
Tatoo First Call 8:45 P.M.
Tatoo March 8:55 P.M.
Tatoo and Assembly 9:00 P.M.
Taps 9:30 P.M.
Dress Parade 15 minutes before sunset
Dress Parade, Assembly 5 minutes after sunset
School Call for Soldiers (Saturday and Sunday excepted) 7:00 P.M.
School Call for Officers Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 1:00 P.M.
School Call for non-com Officers Tuesday, Wednesday and 10:45 A.M.
Thursday
Sunday Morning Inspection 9:00 A.M.
Sunday Morning Assembly 9:00 A.M.
Signal Instruction Wednesday from 2:30 to 3:30 P.M.

[32]Telegram, Lt. Biddle to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of
the Platte, October 16, 1891, NARS, RG 98. Artificer Cornelius
Donovan died of a fractured skull inflicted by Sergeant of the Guard
Jackson.

[33]“Record of the Medical History of Post,” _op. cit._

[34]This brief summary of the Cheyenne Outbreak is not detailed; there
are numerous longer descriptions and eyewitness accounts.

[35]Martin F. Schmitt, ed., _General George Crook, His Autobiography_
(Norman, Okla., 1946), p. 226.

[36]Crawford was named for Capt. Emmet Crawford, Third Cavalry, who
played a prominent role in the history of Fort Robinson. He was
killed in Mexico in January 1886 while pursuing hostile Apache
Indians.

[37]Col. Edward Hatch to Adjutant General, U. S. Army, April 20, 1888;
Lt. A. R. Egbert to the Coroner of Dawes County, Chadron, Nebr.,
August 31, 1886; Endorsement, Proceedings of a Board of Survey,
September 23, 1886; Major A. S. Burt to the Hon. Judge Dundy, U. S.
Circuit Court, Omaha, Nebr., January 4, 1888; Fort Robinson,
Nebraska, Selected Letters Sent, 1884-1900, NARS, RG 98.

[38]Veteran white officers commanded the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry
regiments. Both regiments served at Fort Robinson, the Ninth during
the 1880’s and 1890’s and the Tenth in the early 1900’s. Both
regiments won renown during the Indian Wars.

[39]Col. D. Perry to Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, Omaha,
Nebraska, April 2, 1897, NARS, RG 98.

[40]All graves in the post cemetery were removed to Fort McPherson
National Cemetery, Nebraska, when the Army turned the post over to
the United States Department of Agriculture.

[41]When Capt. Anson Mills directed construction of new buildings at
Camp Sheridan in 1875 Spotted Tail told him he knew troops were to
be permanently stationed at his agency because “when they put rocks
under their houses they are going to stay.” (Anson Mills, _My Story_
[Washington, 1918], p. 163.)

[42]“Camp Robinson, Nebraska,” _Report on the Hygiene of the United
States Army_ (Washington, 1875), Surgeon-General’s Office, Circular
No. 8, pp. 366-367.

This plan shows major buildings constructed. Buildings shown in black are still standing; those in outline are no longer in existence.

1 Bachelor Off. Qtrs. 1909
2, 3, 10, 12, 14 Office Qtrs. 1891
4 Off. Qtrs., Museum 1887
4-9 Office Qtrs. 1887
4C & 7C Garages 1936
11-13 Relocated NCO Qtrs. 1902
15, 16, 19 Office Qtrs 1909
17 Cmdg. Off. Qtrs. 1909
18 Cmdg. Off. Qtrs. 1891
20 Post Hosp. 1910
21 Barracks 1909
22 Cav. Barracks 1891
24-26, 28-30 Cav. Barracks 1887
27 Fire Station 1910
31 Flag Pole Relocation 1930
32 Post Hq., Museum 1905
33 Crazy Horse Monument 1934
34 Flag Staff 1890
35 Levi Robinson Monument 1934
36 Cav. Barracks 1889
37 Post Trader 1874
38 Barracks 1909
39 Admin. Bldg. 1883
40 Comdg. Off. Qtrs. 1884
40A Post Chapel, WWII
41 Comdg. Off. Qtrs. 1875
42, 43 Off. Qtrs. 1874
44-47 Off. Qtrs. 1875
48 CCC Swimming Pool 1935
49 Bandleader’s Qtrs 1886
101 Post Gym., Museum 1904
102 Post Hosp. 1885
103-106 Cav. Stables 1908
108-109 Cav. Stables 1891
109 Animal Handling Chute 1942
110, 111, 113, 118 Cav. Stables 1887
112, 117 Cav. Stables 1895
114 Blacksmith Shop, Museum 1904
115 Blacksmith Shop, Museum 1906
119, 121 Stable Guard 1908
122 Hosp. Stwd. Qtrs 1885
123 Vet. Hosp. Annex 1941
124 Vet. Hosp. Annex 1909
125 Hospital 1875
126 Infantry Barracks 1876
128 Infantry Barracks 1874
129 Infantry Barracks 1882
130 Non-Com Qtrs. 1888
131 Non-Com Qtrs 1890
132, 133 Non-Com Qtrs. 1886
134 Non-Com Qtrs 1902
135 Non-Com Qtrs
136 Tailor-Saddler Shops 1874
137 Cavalry Barracks 1874
138 Adjutant’s Office 1874
139 Guard House 1884
140 Guard House 1874
141 Commissary Stores 1874
142 Laundresses’ Qtrs. 1874
143 Quartermaster Shops 1874
144 Storehouse 1884
145 Bakery 1874
146 Carpt. & Paint Shops 1874
147 Shops 1884
148 RR Station 1886
149, 150 Non-Com. Qtrs. 1897
151, 153, 155 Cavalry Stables 1874
152 Magazine 1874
154 Ordnance Stores 1874
157, 158 Quartermaster Stores 1874
159 Butcher Shop 1874
160 Veterinary Hosp. 1905
161 Ice House
162 QM Lumber Stores 1891
163 QM Corral & Stables
164 Laundry 1907
170, 171 Vet. Wards 1942
172 Tennis Courts 1935
173 Post Office 1943
174 Post Exchange 1942
175 Recreation Hall—WAC
176 Mess Hall—WAC
177 Barracks—WAC
178 Hay & Grain Shed 1933
179 Stallion Stable 1930
201 Magazine 1894
202 QM Wagon Shed 1892
203 QM Stable 1892
204 Water Tanks 1884
205 Post Chapel 1893
206 Gun Shed 1894
207 QM Pack Train Stable 1892
209 QM Wagon Shed 1896
210 QM Shed
211 Packers’ Qtrs. 1895
212 Saddler’s Qtrs. 1887
213 Teamsters’ Qtrs. 1892
214 Wheelwright’s Qtrs. 1895
215 Carpenters’ Qtrs 1909
218 Hay Shed 1906
219 Hay Shed 1897
220 Granary 1895
221 Granary Addition 1941
222 QM Stores 1900
223 QM Stores 1892
224 Guard House 1892
225 Concession (Post-Fort)
226 Comm. Stores 1892
227 Eng. Equip. Shed 194?
227 Site of Coal Shed 1896
228 Blacksmith Shop 1884
229 Wheelwright’s Shop 1884
230 Ord. Stores 1899
231 Lumber Shed 1942
232 Oil House 1900
233 Concession (Post-Fort)
234 Bakery 1906
235 Meat Market 1900
236 Carpenter Shop 1882
237 Electric Shop
238 Saddler & Paint Stables
239 QM Shop 1906 & 1931
240 Paint Storage 1945
241 Wagon Shed 1929
242 Shop 1944
243 Band Barracks 1886
244 Implement Shed 1930
245 Oil Storage 1945
246 Post Garage 1930
247 Transportation Stable 1928
248 Eng. Off. & Warehouse 1942-1943
249 Lumber Sheds 1942-1943
250 Coal Apron 1942
251 10 Unit Kennels 1942
252 80 Unit Kennels 1942
253 Office-Canine
254 School-Canine
255 Hay Shed 1929
256 Saw Mill (Old Pumphouse)
257 Saw Mill
258 Vet. Isolation Hosp. 1928
259 School & Drilling Shed 1942
260 Transformer Sub-Station 1909
261 Mess Hall—Canine
262-264 Barracks-Canine
302 Water Towers 1889, 1903
304 Broodmare & Shipping Stable 1928
305 Sale Barn 1936
307 Sleeping Qtrs.
308 Assembly & Mess Hall 1931
309 NCO Qtrs 1902
310 Pest House 1901
311 Hosp. Stwd. Qtrs. 1910

THE NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

VANCE E. NELSON
Curator, Fort Robinson Museum
Nebraska State Historical Society
Crawford, Nebraska

The Nebraska State Historical Society was founded as the State Historical Society and Library Association in 1867, the year Nebraska was admitted to the Union. It was reorganized as the Nebraska State Historical Society in 1878. It was constituted as a state organization by act of the Nebraska Legislature in 1883, and designated custodian of all public records, documents, and other materials of historical value by legislative act of 1905. It moved into its present air-conditioned, fireproof building in 1953.

The Society was created to collect and preserve the record of Nebraska and its people. It maintains archives, a library, and a museum for use of the public. It is particularly anxious to secure valuable records and materials now in private hands where they cannot be preserved.

In performing its important function, it solicits the support of all public-spirited citizens—support which can best be expressed through membership in the Society. Membership carries with it a voice in the government of the Society, including election of the members of the Executive Board. Members receive, without further payment, NEBRASKA HISTORY, published quarterly; and the HISTORICAL NEWS LETTER, issued monthly. Applicants for membership should address Marvin F. Kivett, Director, Nebraska State Historical Society, 1500 R Street, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68508.

MEMBERSHIP

Annual $ 3.00
Contributing $ 5.00
Supporting $ 25.00
Life $100.00

Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.

End of Project Gutenberg's Fort Robinson, by Roger Tibbetts Grange, Jr.