[1]Lt. Gen. P. H. Sheridan to Gen. W. T. Sherman, March 3, 1874, Office of the Adjutant General, Records of the War Department, Document File 563-AGO-1874 (National Archives and Record Service, Record Group 94, Ms., microfilm). Hereafter these documents will be cited as NARS, RG 94.
[2]Located in Wyoming on the Platte River just west of the Nebraska line near the present town of Henry, Nebraska.
[3]During the buffalo hunt the Sioux discovered and defeated a hunting party of their traditional Pawnee enemies on August 5, 1873. The site of the Battle of Massacre Canyon is near the present town of Trenton, Nebraska.
[4]Sitting Bull of the South (or Sitting Bull the Oglala), head soldier of the Kiyuksa Oglala band, is not to be confused with the Sitting Bull (the Hunkpapa) of Custer Battle fame.
[5]Man Afraid of His Horses (the elder) led the Hunkpatila band. Both he and his son were prominent in affairs at Red Cloud Agency. For a detailed discussion of the position of these and other Indian leaders, see George E. Hyde, Red Cloud’s Folk (Norman, Okla., 1937).
[6]J. J. Saville to Gen. J. E. Smith, February 9, 1874, NARS, RG 94.
[7]Omaha Weekly Bee, February 18, 1874.
[8]S. V. Benet, Acting Chief of Ordnance, to Adjutant General, U. S. Army, February 16, 1874, NARS, RG 94.
[9]Companies B and G, Third Cavalry and Companies A, C, E, I, M and K, Second Cavalry, made up the cavalry battalion. Companies B, C, F, H, and K, Eighth Infantry, Companies B and K, Thirteenth Infantry, and Company F, Fourteenth Infantry, composed the infantry battalion.
[10]As a result the expedition returned via a different route. Later the road between Fort Laramie and Red Cloud Agency was partially relocated and necessary bridges built.
[11]Camp Robinson: Company G, Third Cavalry; Company H, Eighth Infantry; Company F, Fourteenth Infantry; Companies B and K, Thirteenth Infantry.
[12]Band chiefs and “soldiers” (camp police) had authority only in their own camp. The four men selected to have supreme authority during the annual tribal encampment were not chiefs but prominent warriors. For a discussion of some of the differences in authority between chiefs and prominent warriors, see Hyde, op. cit., pp. 308-315.
[13]Lt. Gen. P. H. Sheridan to Gen. W. T. Sherman, March 3, 1874, NARS, RG 94.
[14]“Record of the Medical History of Post [Fort Robinson], Medical Department, U. S. Army” (Ms. copy), Tablet No. 31, Ricker Collection, Nebraska State Historical Society.
[15]Hyde, op. cit., pp. 221, 222; J. J. Saville to Hon. E. P. Smith, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, October 24, 1874 and Capt. W. H. Jordan to Gen. George D. Ruggles, October 29, 1874, NARS, RG 94.
[16]General Orders No. 13, February 21, 1876, Fort Robinson, Nebraska Selected Post Orders, 1874-97, U. S. Army Commands, Records of the War Department, NARS, RG 98.
[17]About eight hundred more Sioux were hunting south of the Platte River.
[18]Capt. H. M. Lazelle to Gen. John E. Smith, April 6, 1874, NARS, RG 94.
[19]A. G. Brackett, “The Sioux or Dakota Indians,” Smithsonian Institution, Annual Report, 1876, pp. 466-474.
[20]Interview by Judge E. S. Ricker with George Colhoff, Tablet No. 17, Ms, Ricker Collection, Nebraska State Historical Society.
[21]The names of Camp Robinson and Red Cloud Agency, and Camp Sheridan and Spotted Tail Agency were frequently employed as synonyms because of the proximity of the military posts to the respective agencies; hence a group surrendering at Red Cloud Agency could also be spoken of as surrendering at Camp Robinson.
[22]W. P. Clark, The Indian Sign Language (Philadelphia, 1885), p. 296.
[23]Before becoming a scout for the army Grouard had lived for several years in the camps of the hostiles Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. His later action in leading soldiers in the campaigns was unfavorable to his former friends. It has been suggested that he therefore had reason to fear Crazy Horse.
[24]General Crook to Gen. E. D. Townsend, Adjutant General, September 5, 1877, NARS, RG 94.
[25]The death of Crazy Horse is a complex event and both eyewitness descriptions and reconstructions of it vary in detail. This account is a brief summary rather than an analysis.
[26]In the fall of 1877 New Red Cloud Agency was located on the Missouri River in Dakota Territory at the mouth of Yellow Medicine Creek.
[27]Notebook kept by Dr. V. T. McGillycuddy, M.D., while a member of the Yellowstone and Big Horn Expedition May 26 to December 13, 1876 and notes kept by his wife Fanny at Camp Robinson December 13, 1876-February 22, 1877 and with the army on an expedition to the Black Hills, February 23-April 11, 1877, typed copy, Nebraska State Historical Society. See entry for December 13, 1876.
[28]“Record of the Medical History of Post,” op. cit.I. Hereafter the calls of this post will be sounded as follows: | First Call | 15 minutes before sunrise |
| March | 10 minutes before sunrise |
| Reveille and Assembly | Sunrise |
| Breakfast Call | Immediately after reveille |
| Sick Call | 7:30 | A.M. |
| Fatigue Call | 7:45 | A.M. |
| Guard Mounting Assembly of Trumpeters | 9:00 | A.M. |
| Guard Mounting Assembly of Details | 9:05 | A.M. |
| Guard Mounting Adjutants Calls | 9:10 | A.M. |
| School Call (for children) | 9:00 | A.M. |
| Drill Call Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays | 9:30 | A.M. |
| Water Call | 9:45 | A.M. |
| Recall from Drill | 10:30 | A.M. |
| Recall from Fatigue | 11:45 | A.M. |
| 1st Sergeants Call | 11:45 | A.M. |
| Dinner Call | 12:00 | M |
| Fatigue and School Call (School call for children) | 1:00 | P.M. |
| Drill Call | 1:30 | P.M. |
| Recall from Drill | 3:00 | P.M. |
| Water Call (which shall be recall for cavalry from fatigue) | 3:30 | P.M. |
| Stable Call | 3:45 | P.M. |
| Recall from Fatigue | 5:00 | P.M. |
| Retreat First Call | 5 minutes before sunset |
| Retreat Assembly | Sunset |
| Tatoo First Call | 8:45 | P.M. |
| Tatoo March | 8:55 | P.M. |
| Tatoo and Assembly | 9:00 | P.M. |
| Taps | 9:30 | P.M. |
| Dress Parade | 15 minutes before sunset |
| Dress Parade, Assembly | 5 minutes after sunset |
| School Call for Soldiers (Saturday and Sunday excepted) | 7:00 | P.M. |
| School Call for Officers Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday | 1:00 | P.M. |
| School Call for non-com Officers Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday | 10:45 | A.M. |
| Sunday Morning Inspection | 9:00 | A.M. |
| Sunday Morning Assembly | 9:00 | A.M. |
| Signal Instruction Wednesday from 2:30 to | 3:30 | P.M. |
[32]Telegram, Lt. Biddle to Assistant Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, October 16, 1891, NARS, RG 98. Artificer Cornelius Donovan died of a fractured skull inflicted by Sergeant of the Guard Jackson.
[33]“Record of the Medical History of Post,” op. cit.
[34]This brief summary of the Cheyenne Outbreak is not detailed; there are numerous longer descriptions and eyewitness accounts.
[35]Martin F. Schmitt, ed., General George Crook, His Autobiography (Norman, Okla., 1946), p. 226.
[36]Crawford was named for Capt. Emmet Crawford, Third Cavalry, who played a prominent role in the history of Fort Robinson. He was killed in Mexico in January 1886 while pursuing hostile Apache Indians.
[37]Col. Edward Hatch to Adjutant General, U. S. Army, April 20, 1888; Lt. A. R. Egbert to the Coroner of Dawes County, Chadron, Nebr., August 31, 1886; Endorsement, Proceedings of a Board of Survey, September 23, 1886; Major A. S. Burt to the Hon. Judge Dundy, U. S. Circuit Court, Omaha, Nebr., January 4, 1888; Fort Robinson, Nebraska, Selected Letters Sent, 1884-1900, NARS, RG 98.
[38]Veteran white officers commanded the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry regiments. Both regiments served at Fort Robinson, the Ninth during the 1880’s and 1890’s and the Tenth in the early 1900’s. Both regiments won renown during the Indian Wars.
[39]Col. D. Perry to Adjutant General, Department of the Platte, Omaha, Nebraska, April 2, 1897, NARS, RG 98.
[40]All graves in the post cemetery were removed to Fort McPherson National Cemetery, Nebraska, when the Army turned the post over to the United States Department of Agriculture.
[41]When Capt. Anson Mills directed construction of new buildings at Camp Sheridan in 1875 Spotted Tail told him he knew troops were to be permanently stationed at his agency because “when they put rocks under their houses they are going to stay.” (Anson Mills, My Story [Washington, 1918], p. 163.)
[42]“Camp Robinson, Nebraska,” Report on the Hygiene of the United States Army (Washington, 1875), Surgeon-General’s Office, Circular No. 8, pp. 366-367.
