GARRISON LIFE

On their arrival at Camp Robinson, the post commander, Colonel Bradley, refused to hold a council with Crazy Horse despite Lee’s efforts to arrange one. Bradley’s orders gave him no alternative except to imprison Crazy Horse, and an effort was made to put him in the guardhouse. When he saw the cells inside Crazy Horse drew a knife and attempted to free himself but he was bayoneted by one of the guards during the struggle. Little Big Man was injured while trying to restrain Crazy Horse. Both friendly and hostile Indians were in the excited crowd of witnesses, and the friendly Indians prevented Crazy Horse’s friends from firing at the guard. When another attempt to put the mortally wounded warrior into the guardhouse was made, the Indians seemed so close to an outbreak that Colonel Bradley reluctantly agreed to Surgeon McGillycuddy’s suggested compromise and Crazy Horse was taken next door to the adjutant’s office where he died shortly before midnight on September 5, 1877.[25]

Great excitement developed among the Indians around Camp Robinson as a result of the killing of Crazy Horse and serious trouble was threatened, but the efforts of Indian leaders prevented a violent outbreak. In a report of the incident Lt. W. P. Clarke listed the Arapaho, Black Coal and Sharp Nose, and the Sioux leaders Red Cloud, Young Man Afraid of His Horses, American Horse, Yellow Bear, Little Big Man, Big Road, No Water, Three Bears, and No Flesh as the men who prevented an outbreak by controlling their people. That so important a man as Crazy Horse could be killed in such a way without any more serious consequences than a few days uproar was an indication that the war with the Sioux was about over.

After Crazy Horse was killed the plan to relocate Red Cloud Agency on the Missouri River went ahead rapidly. On October 25, 1877 the move was begun, with troops from Camp Robinson escorting the Red Cloud Indians and thosefrom Camp Sheridan escorting the Spotted Tail Indians and the hostiles of the late Crazy Horse’s camp. Although seemingly subdued, the hostiles still managed to embarrass the soldiers. Before the two columns had proceeded very far the northern Indians broke away from the Spotted Tail column and joined the Red Cloud group. Then they broke away from that column, and, carrying Crazy Horse’s bones, fled north to join Sitting Bull in Canada, pausing on the way to raid in the Black Hills and along the Bismarck stage line. The first report was that some 1,700 Indians had escaped, but a recheck cut the figure to 800.

The soldiers from Camp Robinson who escorted the Indians built and formed the garrison of a military post at New Red Cloud Agency,[26]but the new location was used for only a short time. The Oglala refused to go to the new agency site and set up their camp seventy-five miles away. In 1878 the government gave up the Missouri River plan and the agency was moved west again to become the present Pine Ridge Agency about fifty miles northeast of Fort Robinson in South Dakota.

Camp Robinson was renamed Fort Robinson in January 1878. It remained an important post and its garrison was called upon in several Indian emergencies after the death of Crazy Horse.

Garrison life was normal at the post, with the officers’ families joining them as soon as quarters were available. The first women to come to live at Camp Robinson in the winter of 1874-1875 were the wives of Capt. W. H. Jordan, the post commander, and Lt. J. M. Lee, both Ninth Infantry officers.

Social activities included picnics, walks to the nearbybuttes, long horseback rides, visits to Indian camps and dances, and fossil hunting in the nearby Bad Lands. Company dances were held with some regularity and social calling was an important part of the daily routine of officers and their ladies. Not all of the women were well impressed by the post. When Surgeon Valentine T. McGillycuddy’s wife joined him at Camp Robinson on December 13, 1876 she noted in her diary: “Commenced enjoying the camp. Finished.”[27]Mrs. McGillycuddy later tempered this first judgment of the post with diary entries that indicate her enjoyment of horseback rides and social calls by such notables as General Crook. Surgeon McGillycuddy’s wife even went along with her husband and a detachment of troops on an extended stay in the Black Hills in 1877.

The officers often entertained prominent Indian chiefs like Spotted Tail and Red Cloud, inviting such leaders to join them for lunch. Lt. John G. Bourke, General Crook’s aide, spent hours learning Indian languages from his native friends. Bourke once had an amusing contest with the Cheyenne medicine man High Wolf. Lieutenant Bourke used an old static electricity generator to deliver a shock to Indians he tempted to reach into a pail of water. The trap was baited with coins. In imitation of songs sung by Indian medicine men, Bourke sang “Pat Malloy” while operating the generator and acquired a reputation for having powerful “medicine.” A challenge match was arranged to test the relative powers of Bourke and High Wolf. There was a liberal prize and side bets by spectators. High Wolf received such a strong electrical charge on his first attempt that he fell and damaged Bourke’s machine. He shrewdly demanded a second chance and won the contest.

Despite the efforts of the post surgeon, medical care was sometimes inadequate to cope with the hazards of thefrontier; an August whooping cough epidemic in 1876 claimed the lives of two children at Camp Robinson and was much more severe in the nearby Indian camps. The post surgeon noted in his medical history that “among the remedies employed vaccination has seemed to be very serviceable.”[28]

Some deaths at Fort Robinson were due to disease or natural causes, while others were the result of violence. The first burial at Camp Robinson, on July 3, 1875, was that of Pvt. James Brogan, Company A, Ninth Infantry, who died of “congestion of the brain.” Several victims of gunfights were also buried in the post cemetery. In 1876 “California Joe” (Moses Milner), a civilian hired as a scout for the Mackenzie expedition, was shot and killed by Tom Newcomb. The killing was the result of the scout’s efforts to publicly blame Newcomb for a murder he himself had probably committed. Sgt. Frank Owens, Ninth Infantry, killed Pvt. Eugene Carlton of his company while at a ranch nearby, and Surgeon McGillycuddy was unable to save the life of a Sergeant Casey mortally wounded by a trooper at Camp Canby.

The main center of entertainment for the men of the garrison was the post trader’s store and saloon. When the Sioux Expedition first established Camp Robinson, Mr. John T. Collins, post trader at Fort Laramie, was appointed acting trader by the expedition commander Col. John Smith. Later Major Paddock became post trader at Camp Robinson and held the position until the 1890’s. In efforts to control the results of drinking sprees which accounted for most of the courtmartial offenses, the post trader at Camp Robinson was required to keep a list of men buying drinks. Enlisted men were allowed only two drinks a day and those were to be three hours apart. Unauthorized sources of whiskey and entertainment, available just off the military reservation, made enforcement of this rule difficult. Holidays were marked by excesses among officers as well asenlisted men; Mrs. McGillycuddy’s diary records, in connection with the New Year period in 1876, “Outfit all drunk.”[29]

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 withunruly 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.

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, 1878they 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.

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 boundaryof 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.

Red Cloud Agency on Issue Day. ca. 1875.

Pencil sketch of Camp Robinson at Red Cloud Agency by Lieutenant W. H. Carter, 1874.

Camp Robinson from the diary of Captain John G. Bourke. ca. 1876. Courtesy of West Point Military Academy.

Soldiers and Indians at Red Cloud Agency, 1874.

Post Sutler’s Store, Fort Robinson. Courtesy of Denver Public Library Western Collection.

Saloon at Fort Robinson. Courtesy of Denver Public Library Western Collection.

(Seated, from left) Chief Red Cloud, Baptiste Garnier or Little Bat; (Standing, from left) Chief Knife and Jack Red Cloud....

Chief Dull Knife, leader of the imprisoned Cheyenne at Fort Robinson.

Camp of Young Man Afraid of His Horses, Oglala Sioux Leader.

Baptiste Garnier (Little Bat), half breed scout, and his family at Fort Robinson. Little Bat is third from left. Edward Hatch, on horseback, left. Colonel Edward Hatch, Post Commander, on horseback extreme right.

Lieutenant Levi H. Robinson, soldier for whom the post was named.

Captain Wm. H. Jordan, 1874 Commanding Officer in charge of construction of the Post.

Captain Emmet Crawford.

Captain Guy V. Henry.

Troop I, 6th Cavalry, 1897, near Saddle Rock and Lovers’ Leap.

Old Parade Grounds, 1897: buildings left to right include 1874 Adjutant’s Office where Crazy Horse died, 1884 Guardhouse, and 1874 Guardhouse where Crazy Horse was wounded.

Commanding Officer’s Quarters, constructed in 1884. Early 1890’s home of Col. Adna R. Chaffee.

Retreat—evening gun, fired by 10th Cavalry (Negro) troopers, 1907.

Infantry Company in front of 1887 barracks ca. 1898.

Interior of 1887 barracks at Fort Robinson. Courtesy Fort Laramie National Historic Site.

Celebration in front of Post Headquarters on Red Cloud’s last visit, 1906.

Field Music at Fort Robinson ca. 1900. Courtesy Fort Laramie National Historic Site.

Kate C. Hamilton, daughter of Col. A. R. Chaffee.

Lady and escort out for a ride on Christmas, 1896.

Escort wagon train, Fort Robinson.

Guardhouse prisoners work detail, March 1898.

Social calls were important. On porch of officers’ quarters are: Commanding Officer, Colonel James Biddle, far left. Captain Philip Pendleton Powell, right, standing.

A mock battle formation, 10th U. S. Cavalry (Negro).

Yearlings at the Fort Robinson Remount Depot, September 20, 1932.

Master Sergeant Wm. C. Meyers taking a jump at the Fort Robinson Remount Depot.

Mixed team of officers and enlisted men fighting it out on the polo field after hours.

Field Artillery with model 1897 French 75 mm. field piece.

Review parade at Fort Robinson German Prisoner of War Camp, World War II.

Troops crawling under machine gun fire during training, World War II.

Training the K-9 (Dog) Corps, World War II. Courtesy of U.S. Army.

Glen Field. Troops prepare to leave Fort Robinson, World War II.

More than 2,000 students and adults attended the first annual Fort Robinson School Field Day, April 26, 1974.

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.

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 Indiantrouble. 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 activitieswere 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.

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 companyofficers. 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 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 companyofficers. 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 foruse 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.

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 buildingsand 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.

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