"The stone monument at this location is one of Nebraska's original bench marks.
Surveyors use bench marks to determine elevations. This one was placed by the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey in 1902. It was part of a larger project in which a sea-level based elevation was carried by surveyors from coast to coast. This established the state's first precise levels.
Today this marker, designated "H 4," is approximately 3,786 feet above mean sea level."
]]>Just before 10 P.M. on January 9, 1879, the 130 Cheyennes held in the cavalry barracks made their desperate bid for freedom. After disabling the soldier guards, they fled across this ground to the White River beyond. Under heavy fire from pursuing troops, they followed the river and climbed the high buttes several miles to the west. During this initial fighting, twenty -seven Cheyennes and five soldiers were killed. The Cheyennes were buried in a mass grave near the post sawmill.
]]>Black soldiers of the Ninth and Tenth cavalry regiments (called "buffalo soldiers" by the Plains Indians) garrisoned Fort Robinson for eighteen years and played an important role in northwestern Nebraska's history. Organized in 1866, the regiments first served in the Southwest. In 1885 the Ninth Cavalry arrived at Fort Robinson, which was regimental headquarters from 1887 to 1898. The black troopers helped build the new post during the fort's 1887 expansion and were the first cavalrymen sent to the Pine Ridge Reservation during the Ghost Dance trouble of 1890. Lt. John Alexander, the second African American graduate of West Point, and Henry Plummer, the first black chaplain in the regular army, served here. So did ten buffalo soldier Medal of Honor men. In 1902 the men of the "Fighting Tenth" Cavalry, veterans of the Battle of San Juan Hill, made their headquarters here. Four years later the Tenth helped capture Ute Indians who had fled their Utah reservation, the last military action against Indians on the northern Plains. In 1907 the regiment left for duty in the Philippines.
]]>In January 20, 1885, Congress granted the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad a right-of-way through the Fort Robinson Military Reservation. Later this line was acquired by the Chicago and North Western. With direct rail access in 1886, the fort continued to expand its regional importance, and its military use was assured well into the twentieth century. The railroad's arrival also spurred settlement with the founding of the town of Crawford in 1886.
]]>During the 1887 expansion of Fort Robinson 6 adobe barracks were built on the south side of the parade ground. Later 2 frame barracks were added. Each building had a dormitory area 170 by 30 feet, a kitchen wing 70 by 30 feet, and housed a single troop, usually 50 to 75 soldiers. Cavalry troops occupied this row until 1916. New brick construction in the twentieth century replaced 3 barracks. The 5 remaining barracks were demolished in 1923.
]]>This flagstaff, 105 feet high, is constructed of metal pipe with a ladder and crow's nest for buglers. It was originally on the other side of the 1905 headquarters near the highway, having replaced an earlier flagstaff blown down by an 1889 windstorm. In 1930, after runaway mules felled the flagpole, the commanding officer ordered it relocated here. Sergeant John Kailey, with the longest service record at the garrison, hoisted the flag for the first time, on Washington's birthday, 1876.
]]>The first recorded interment in the Fort Robinson Cemetery was James Brogan, July 2, 1875; the last was Fred Lester, June 13, 1945. Among the 258 interments listed in the cemetery records are two officers, Markland Williamson and James A. Swift; two Army scouts, Moses "California Joe" Milner (Custer's favorite scout) and Baptiste "Little Bat" Garnier; ten men killed in the January 1879 Cheyenne Outbreak; two Medal of Honor recipients, Emanuel Stance and George Jordon; and about 140 women and children, dependents of service personnel.
Its location at the confluence of Soldier Creek and the White River made the Fort Robinson Cemetery subject to frequent flooding. In 1926 E.A. Brininstool, chronicler of the West, was shocked to find the cemetery overrun with weeds and underbrush. Later, caretakers were appointed, and the cemetery was well maintained until the post closed.
Shortly before the army abandoned Fort Robinson in 1948, most of the remaining graves, 23 listed as unknown, were moved to Fort McPherson National Cemetery near Maxwell, Nebraska.
]]>The Post Headquarters was constructed in 1905. The Post Commander's office was located here, along with other administrative offices, post office, and the Fort's telephone exchange. An ornate auditorium on the second floor was often used for parties such as the masquerade ball held on January 2nd, 1906. During World War II this room was partitioned into additional administrative offices. The Nebraska State Historical Society opened the Fort Robinson Museum in June, 1956, as part of the effort to preserve Fort Robinson's heritage.
]]>In March, 1874, the U.S. Government authorized the establishment of a military camp at the Red Cloud Agency on the White River. Home of some 13,000 Indians, many of whom were hostile, the Agency was one of the most troublesome spots on the Plains. The camp was named Camp Robinson in honor of Lt. Levi H. Robinson, who had been killed by Indians the previous month. In May, the camp was re-located on this site, and in January, 1878, was officially designated Fort Robinson. Fort Robinson played an important role in the Indian wars from 1876 to 1890. Crazy Horse surrendered here on May 6, 1877, and was mortally wounded that September while resisting imprisonment. In January, 1879, the Fort was the scene of a major battle as the result of the Cheyenne Outbreak led by Chief Dull Knife. In the 20th Century, Fort Robinson became the world's largest military remount depot, and during the second World War, was the site of a K-9 corps training center, and German prisoner-of-war camp. The Fort's deactivation following the war, marked the end of more than 70 years of service as Nebraska's "outpost on the plains."
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]]>Following the 1874 establishment of military posts near the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies for the Oglala and Brule Sioux, the army laid out a forty-two-mile road to transport military and Indian supplies between the agencies and posts. Oglala leader Crazy Horse traveled the road on his final journey, when an army officer and Indian scouts escorted him from Camp Sheridan to Camp (later Fort) Robinson on September 5, 1877. Crazy Horse was killed that night while resisting imprisonment and his father returned his body to Camp Sheridan the next day. After Red Cloud Agency was relocated to Dakota Territory in 1878 and renamed Pine Ridge Agency, the road was extended there. By 1881 a telegraph line paralleled the road. With the coming of settlers in the late 1870s, civilian stagecoaches and wagons traveled the road. The government continued to use it to deliver Indian agency supplies into the 1880s. Completion of the Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley Railroad through northwestern Nebraska in 1885-86 relegated the road to local use.
]]>In September 1942 the Fort Robinson War Dog Training Center was established. Barracks, classrooms, administrative offices, and other support buildings were located west and north of here. To the east and north was a sprawling kennel area housing 1,800 dogs. The dogs were trained as guard, scout, messenger, and sled dogs. Training normally lasted 8 to 12 weeks. Nearly 5,000 dogs, half the number used by the Army in World War II, were trained here. The center was deactivated in June 1946.
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