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in 1874 to provide security for the
Red Cloud Agency. The agency was
one in a series of such sites the U.S.
Government established to distribute
materials promised to displaced Native
Americans by treaty. In 1878, the name
changed to Fort Robinson, signifying
a more permanent existence. The U.S.
military retained a presence there
throughout World War II, using the site
for an evolving set of roles.
Certainly, history has not looked
favorably on all of Fort Robinson's
years – most notably the early conflicts
between the cavalry and the Indians.
The most notorious event to happen
at Fort Robinson was the Cheyenne
Outbreak. During that episode of
almost three months in 1878-1879, the
army captured a band of 149 Northern
Cheyenne Indians led by Chief Dull
Knife south of Chadron and detained
them in barracks at the fort. The group
had escaped reservation lands in
present-day Oklahoma and was enroute
to their homeland on the northern
Plains. The situation became dire as
officials in Washington insisted that the
group return south, as the Indians were
just as insistent on moving north. In an
act of persuasion, the army barred the
windows of the barracks and refused
the Cheyennes food and fuel. On a
freezing January night, the Cheyennes
shot the guards with weapons they had
hidden and escaped from the barracks.
Several conflicts ensued in the buttes
and grasslands west and north of the
fort, resulting in the death of 64 of the
Indians and 11 soldiers. Most of the
surviving Indians were recaptured.
Camp Robinson was also the site
of the 1877 killing of Oglala Sioux
leader Crazy Horse. He surrendered
to U.S. troops in May 1877 at the end
of the Great Sioux War and was killed
Carter P. Johnson Lake often attracts anglers and other visitors with small watercraft.
Fort Robinson
State Park
Located near Crawford with 22,000 acres
straddling the border of Dawes and Sioux
counties, Fort Robinson is Nebraska's
largest and westernmost state park.
