Day 91 - Exploring Fort Robinson

Day 91 - Sunday - Exploring Fort Robinson

We take a one hour horse drawn wagon ride, narrated by the park historian, and learn about the history-changing events that occurred here.  Back in Custer SD we visited the Crazy Horse memorial - the 70 years in the making and still not finished statue of the Lakota leader - and learned there of how he was killed.  Here in Fort Robinson is where it happened, and the story our guide tells, a little different from every other version we've heard, is a sad combination of misunderstandings.

To cut a long story short, after a life of fighting for his people's historic land, Crazy Horse was persuaded to "surrender" at the Red Cloud Agency, close to Fort Robinson.  There he and his people were provided with a place to live in peace, along with supplies.  This caused jealousy among other Native Americans who had been co-operating with the whites, and these latter started spreading (untrue) rumors that Crazy Horse was planning to "escape".

General George Crook, the army man in charge of the area, was persuaded to meet with Crazy Horse to sort things out, and directed that Crazy Horse should be brought to Fort Robinson, where they would meet.  A Lt. Lee spoke with Crazy Horse, convinced him there was nothing to fear, and accompanied him to Fort Robinson.   It appears that Lee, who for the rest of his life was friendly with Crazy Horse's family, honestly believed there was nothing to fear.

The chief was lodged in the adjutant's office at the fort.  Both the commander and the adjutant had retired to their quarters, not wanting to meet with Crazy Horse.  Crook, meanwhile had been  delayed, so the chief was left alone and becoming increasingly restless.  Lee went to the commandant's quarters and asked him to visit Crazy Horse.  The commandant replied that if Crook had not arrived by morning he would do so, and ordered that the chief be given a bed in the guard house overnight.

This was a mistake, since Crazy Horse's reluctance to come to the fort had stemmed from his concern that he would be locked up.  Now it was happening.  What happened inside the guardhouse is not clear but there was certainly a commotion and the chief ran out the door.  A private who was on duty stabbed him in the back with his bayonet.  He was carried to the adjutant's office but died from his wounds that night.

The second tragedy occurred in 1879.  A band of Northern Cheyenne led by chief Dull Knife escaped from the reservation in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) where they had been relocated.  A third of their people had already died as a result of the climate, which they were not used to, and they were desperate.  They managed to evade pursuing cavalry and made it to northern Nebraska.  There they were captured, almost by accident, and taken to Fort Robinson.  They were housed in a barracks, provided food and shelter and allowed to go out during the day as long as they returned at night.

This arrangement worked fine until a Washington DC bureaucrat ruled they had to be returned to Oklahoma.  Dull Knife replied that they would rather die in the traditional homelands than in the south, and refused to go.

The commandant, Captain Wessels, responded by cutting off food, water and heat to them.  (This was in January).  The Cheyenne had concealed some guns when they first arrived, rather cleverly by having the women keep them in baskets and on their persons - the men were searched but the women were not!.  On the night of January 9th a group of young warriors broke out and attacked the sentries while the rest of the tribe left through the back windows.  The army was quickly raised from their sleep and pursued the Cheyenne.  62 of the 149 were captured and returned to the fort, and many others were killed.  Only 10 Cheyenne, including Dull Knife himself, escaped.

Besides these tragedies, Fort Robinson was used over the years as a training center for cavalry remount horses, a German POW camp in World War II, and a training center for War Dogs.  We spend the whole day exploring the buildings and also visit the museum, the stables and the veterinary hospital.  There we learn that it was here that the operating table for large animals was invented.  The table top was rotated to be vertical.  The animal was sedated and strapped to the table.  Then the table was rotated through 90 degrees to become horizontal, allowing the surgeons to operate on the animal.

Don't think Quill would like that!  Cosette neither!

We feel we could easily have spent another day here, but tomorrow we are heading southwest.