34 Nebraskaland • July 2024
ongtime Fort Robinson Museum curator Tom Buecker used
to say that the most common question he heard was,
"Where's the fort?" Visitors expect to see a stockade,
but like most Great Plains forts of its era, Fort Robinson
was built without outer walls. It started as a tent camp 150
years ago and grew to become one of the largest military
installations on the northern Plains.
The Army sent more than 900 soldiers from Fort Laramie
to northwestern Nebraska in March 1874. Their tent camp
was soon named in honor of Lt. Levi
Robinson, who had been killed earlier
that year by Native Americans from
nearby Red Cloud Agency. The fi rst
post commander was Captain Arthur
MacArthur — the father of Gen. Douglas
MacArthur of World War II fame.
The soldiers had come to protect
Red Cloud Agency, where the U.S.
government distributed annuity goods
to Lakotas in fulfi llment of an earlier treaty. Tensions were
mounting as Lakotas resented continued encroachments
into their territory.
And things were about to get a lot worse. Later that year, Lt.
Col. George Custer led an expedition that confi rmed rumors
of gold in the nearby Black Hills. When the Lakotas refused
to sell the land, the U.S. launched what became known as the
L
Fort Robinson
Turns 150
By David L. Bristow, History Nebraska
Spotted Tail, an important Brule Lakota chief (third from
right) at breakfast in the home of Maj. J.W. Paddock at Camp
Robinson, July 18, 1877. Maj. Paddock is in the center, and
Spotted Tail's wife and daughter are at left.
HISTORY NEBRASKA, RG5899-9-2
LT. LEVI ROBINSON
