NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/846037
28 NEBRASKAland • JULY 2017 on Sept. 5. The Sioux leader had been falsely accused of threatening to kill an army general, and a cavalry soldier fatally stabbed him with a bayonet as he resisted arrest. Fort Robinson would later become the home of the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, the all-black regiments dubbed "buffalo soldiers" by the Plains Indians. Between 1885 and 1907, most of the soldiers at the fort were African-American. As time went on, the United States' conflicts shifted to enemies outside its borders and fewer troops were needed on the Plains. The fort shifted gears again and became a quartermaster remount depot, charged with training and breeding horses and mules for the military. The fort gained a reputation as the nation's largest and best such facility, and the soldiers there boasted of being the world's finest horsemen. In the 1930s, the U.S. Olympic equestrian team even trained at the fort. Its final significant roles with the military came during World War II as a training center for the U.S. K-9 corps, which readied dogs for use in battle, and a German prisoner of war camp. The K-9 training area housed 1,800 dogs as they became guards, scouts, messengers and sled-pullers. About 5,000 dogs, half the number used during WWII, received training there. The POW camp was designed to hold 3,000 men, and its population primarily consisted of German soldiers in the Afrika Korps. The prisoners worked on area farms, earning a wage set by the Geneva Convention. Some even stayed in the area after the war was over. In 1947, the U.S. military abandoned the fort. It was later transferred to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for use as a beef research station. In 1953, 90 buildings were considered dilapidated beyond repair, labeled surplus and demolished. The research station later moved to the old Naval Ammunition Depot at Hastings, making way for the fort's present role. The fort's latest chapter began in the early 1960s when the Nebraska Game, Forestation and Parks Commission – one of the Game and Parks Commission's previous names – obtained a 75-acre parcel of land within the current park's boundaries. The federal government deeded over much of the fort's land to the Commission in 1964, and the addition of the James Ranch in 1972 created the park's expansive 22,000-acre complex. The park rodeo, which features park employees and others from the surrounding community, entertains visitors each Thursday night during the summer. A dancer's headwear stands out against the sunset during the Fort Robinson Intertribal Powwow.