Fort Robinson is a former

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

fort and now a major feature of Fort Robinson State Park, a public recreation and historic preservation area located west of Crawford on

U.S. Route 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. S ...

in the Pine Ridge region of northwest

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

. The fort was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1960 and is part of the Fort Robinson and Red Cloud Agency historic district. This includes Fort Robinson and the site of the second

Red Cloud Agency The Red Cloud Agency was an Indian agency for the Oglala Lakota as well as the Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho, from 1871 to 1878. It was located at three different sites in Wyoming Territory and Nebraska before being moved to South Dakota. It w ...

(about to the east). The district also includes the Camp Camby site and the 1886 Percy Homestead. The fort is managed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, with some individual buildings operated by the History Nebraska and the University of Nebraska.

History

In August 1873, the

was moved from the North Platte River to the White River, near what is now Crawford, Nebraska, in the northwest corner of the state. The following March, the U. S. Government authorized the establishment of a military camp at the agency site. Some 13,000

Lakota Lakota may refer to: * Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: * Lakota, Iowa * Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County * La ...

had been subject to resettlement. The camp was named Camp Robinson in honor of Lt. Levi H. Robinson, who had been killed by Indians while on Indian land in February. In May, the military camp was moved west of the agency to its present location; the camp was renamed Fort Robinson in January 1878. Fort Robinson was a base of US military forces and played a major role in the Sioux Wars from 1876 to 1890. The Battle of Warbonnet Creek took place nearby in July 1876. The war chief Crazy Horse surrendered here with his defenders on May 6, 1877. On September 5 that year, he was killed while resisting imprisonment. A historic plaque marks the site of his death. In January 1879, Chief Morning Star (also known as Dull Knife) led the Northern Cheyenne in an outbreak from the Agency. Because the Cheyenne had refused to return to Indian Territory, where they believed conditions were too adverse for them to survive, the army had been holding and starving them of food, water and heat during the severe winter. This campaign of torture and neglect was a tactic to try to force them into submission. U.S. soldiers hunted down the escapees, killing men, women, and children in the

Fort Robinson massacre The Fort Robinson breakout or Fort Robinson massacre was the attempted escape of Cheyenne captives from the U.S. army during the winter of 1878-1879 at Fort Robinson in northwestern Nebraska. In 1877, the Cheyenne had been forced to relocate fr ...

. The U.S. Supreme Court described it as a "shocking story", "one of the most melancholy of Indian tragedies". The event marked the end of the Sioux and Cheyenne wars in Nebraska. In 1885, the

9th Cavalry Regiment The 9th Cavalry Regiment is a parent cavalry regiment of the United States Army. It is not related to the 9th Kansas Cavalry Regiment of the Union Army. Historically, it was one of the Army's four segregated African-American regiments and was pa ...

, nicknamed the

Buffalo Soldier Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This nickname was given to the Black Cavalry by Native American tribes who fought in th ...

s by Native Americans, was stationed at Fort Robinson. During the next several years, the fort was enlarged, and military training was a major activity. From 1889-1890, Second Lieutenant Charles Young served here and later was reassigned to the regiment. A black pioneer officer who had graduated from

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

, he was the highest-ranking black person in the US Army throughout his career and achieved the rank of colonel. From 1887-1898, the fort served as regimental headquarters. The post gymnasium and theatre, built in 1904, provided entertainment for the soldiers. In 1919 at the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Fort Robinson became the world's largest quartermaster remount depot. It was used as a breeding and training center for horses and mules for the military. In addition, stallions owned by the military were used to breed with local stock to improve it. During the Great Depression, a hobo was murdered on a Chicago & Northwestern freight train within the fort. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the fort was the site of a K-9 corps training center and a German prisoner-of-war camp. ;Closing The U.S. Army decided to abandon Fort Robinson in 1947; in the following year, it transferred the property to the

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...

(USDA), for its Beef Cattle Research Station. After some buildings were demolished in the mid-1950s, efforts were made to preserve the fort as a historic site. In 1955, History Nebraska, formally the Nebraska State Historical Society, began to acquire property on the fort; in 1956, they opened a museum on the site. The USDA closed its operation in 1971, and transferred the property to the state of Nebraska. ;State park The Fort Robinson State Park was established in 1956 following the purchase of a parcel of land by the Nebraska Game, Forestation and Parks Commission in 1955. The park was expanded after much of the site was deeded over from the Federal government in 1964. It reached its full size with Nebraska's purchase of the adjoining James Arthur Ranch in 1972.

Features

The fort's historic buildings and sites include the 1904 blacksmith shop, the 1908

veterinary Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

hospital, the 1887 officers' quarters, the 1875 guardhouse and adjutant's office, and the post cemetery. There is also a library with materials about Fort Robinson and military and western history available for research. A quartermaster's stores building is now used as a playhouse. The Fort Robinson Museum is located in the 1905 post headquarters building. Exhibits focus on the fort's history, including its role guarding the

from 1874 to 1877, up through the housing of

German POWs from 1943 to 1946. The Trailside Museum of Natural History, operated by the

University of Nebraska State Museum The University of Nebraska State Museum, also known as Morrill Hall, founded in 1871, is a natural history museum featuring Nebraska biodiversity, paleontology, and cultural diversity, located on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln City Campus nea ...

, is located in the historic Army Theatre building. Fort Robinson is also home to The Post Playhouse, a professional theatre company that produces live theatre during summer months with creative teams of actors, musicians, and directors assembled from across the United States and nearby.

References

External links

Fort Robinson State Park
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Fort Robinson Park Map
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Fort Robinson History Center
History Nebraska
Trailside Museum of Natural History at Fort Robinson
University of Nebraska {{authority control African-American history of Nebraska 1874 establishments in Nebraska 1948 disestablishments in Nebraska Great Sioux War of 1876 Former American Indian reservations in Nebraska

Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960 ...

Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska Military sites of the wars between the United States and Native Americans Military and war museums in Nebraska Museums in Dawes County, Nebraska Museums in Sioux County, Nebraska National Historic Landmarks in Nebraska Native American museums in Nebraska Native American history of Nebraska State parks of Nebraska World War II prisoner of war camps in the United States Protected areas of Dawes County, Nebraska Protected areas of Sioux County, Nebraska

National Register of Historic Places in Dawes County, Nebraska National Register of Historic Places in Sioux County, Nebraska Protected areas established in 1956 History Nebraska Theatres in Nebraska

History

Features

Further reading

See also

References

External links