Part 1

FORT ROBINSON OUTPOST ON THE PLAINS

by Roger T. Grange, Jr.

NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Reprint from _Nebraska History_, Volume 39, No. 3, September, 1958. (Copyright, 1958.)

Fourth reprinting, with minor changes and some new illustrations, April, 1978.

FORT ROBINSON OUTPOST ON THE PLAINS

BY ROGER T. GRANGE, JR.

_Roger T. Grange, Jr. was formerly Museum Director of the Nebraska State Historical Society._

As men of the Sioux Expedition marched out of Fort Laramie in the cold March weather of 1874 they probably had more than a few misgivings about the outcome of their adventure. They were headed for one of the hottest spots on the Plains—Red Cloud Indian Agency. General Sheridan hoped that the 949 man expedition was large enough to intimidate the Indians and permit a peaceful occupation of the agency, but it was his belief that “were it any other than this inclement season ... hostilities would have commenced at the crossing of the North Platte River.”[1] Even with the large force and bad weather, open war with the hostile Sioux Indians was a distinct possibility and officers warned their men that straggling in camp or on the march might well be fatal. They kept all Indians away from their camps and marching column and warned their men not to fire at either game or Indians, unless in an unmistakable attack, lest injudicious gunfire needlessly start a battle.

RED CLOUD AGENCY

The treaty of 1868 had guaranteed the Sioux and other tribes food and supplies in exchange for lands ceded to the United States. The annuity goods granted the Oglala Sioux by this treaty were issued at the Red Cloud Agency which was located on the Platte River until 1873.[2]

In June 1873 approximately 13,000 Indians were present at Red Cloud Agency to receive issue goods. There were 1,858 lodges, mostly of the Oglala, Wajaja and other Sioux bands regularly supplied at Red Cloud, but including 168 lodges of Cheyenne, 237 lodges of Arapaho, and another 262 lodges of Miniconjou and other northern Sioux.

Among the Indians living at the agency a small faction was friendly to white men while the majority, depending upon the circumstances, wavered between friendliness and hostility. There was also an openly hostile faction consisting primarily of the northern Sioux, but Oglala warriors, including the already famed Crazy Horse, were among the hostile war parties pursued by cavalry patrols from nearby Fort Laramie.

The Platte River location of Red Cloud Agency was in the unceded hunting territory defined by the treaty of 1868. Although the government desired to relocate the agency on the permanent Dakota reservation, the Oglala stubbornly refused to leave the Platte Valley.

During the summer of 1873, while the more recalcitrant Indians were off on a buffalo hunt,[3] Indian Agent Daniels induced those remaining at the agency to agree to move northward to a new site on the White River. Such leaders as Sitting Bull of the South[4] were incensed at losing the line of the Platte River but were unable to prevent it. The accomplishment earned Daniels a promotion by the Episcopal Church, which nominated agents under the Peace Policy, and Dr. J. J. Saville was appointed as the new agent.

Dr. Saville arrived to assume his duties while the move was in progress. During the summer and fall Saville was busy organizing his agency and staff. He removed Jules Ecoffey as agency trader, giving the appointment to his friend J. W. Dear. Construction contracts for buildings at the new site were given to A. R. Appleton, Saville’s brother-in-law.

The summer and fall were relatively quiet at the agency, but winter brought increasing problems for Saville. He was troubled particularly by the hostile, northern Sioux who came to the agency for the winter. They objected to his efforts to obtain an actual count of Indians present so that issue supplies could be ordered.

On one occasion, when Saville rode out on a counting attempt, a group of northern warriors led by Little Big Man and Pretty Bear surrounded him. They forcibly returned him to his office, and there held an impromptu court-martial which might have cost Saville his life had not Red Cloud intervened. Undaunted by this experience, Saville gave a feast for the Indian leaders at the agency on Christmas Day in another effort to gain assent to the counting. At this meeting he found that not only the northern Indians, but the chiefs he thought of as his supporters all opposed the counting. Saville’s other troubles included the jealousies of various chiefs and the overbearing attitude of the younger warriors who raised trouble during the issue of beef, annoyed agency workmen, and demanded payment for wood cut for use at the agency.

On another occasion a group of about three hundred warriors from Red Cloud Agency threatened a group of cowboys returning to the Platte River country to pick up a herd of cattle to be delivered to the agencies. James H. Cook, one of the cowboy group, turned the potentially violent meeting into a friendly encounter by convincing the war leader that an attack on the cattlemen would have serious results. Such incidents, although causing no direct harm, created tensions around the agency.

Saville’s problems were increased by government misunderstanding of the complexities of social organization among the Indians at Red Cloud Agency. Red Cloud, for whom the agency was named, was recognized by the government as its chief, but after the Christmas feast Saville reported to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that Old Man Afraid of His Horses was both the leader of the sincerely peaceful faction and the legitimate head chief recognized by the Oglala. In more than one desperate crisis at the agency Red Cloud either refused to assist the agent or was powerless to act. At such times Saville looked for aid from Old Man Afraid of His Horses, his son Young Man Afraid of His Horses,[5] Sitting Bull of the South, and other friendly Indians. The failure to make more effective use of the political power and social control of the Indian leaders was an important factor in prolonging difficulties at the agency.

Military authorities, aware of the troubles at the agency, discussed stationing troops there as early as mid-January, 1874. General Sheridan opposed the move since he believed such an effort would result in open war. He was also unwilling to dispatch troops until April or May because of the severity of winter weather. Moreover, neither the agent nor the Indian Bureau had yet requested military assistance.

Events in early February made military assistance necessary. A large hostile war party in full regalia rode through the unfinished stockade at Red Cloud Agency, shot out the windows, and left on a raiding expedition. On February 6 teamster Edward Gray, headed for the agency with freight, was killed by Indians on the Running Water (Niobrara River). Three days later, on February 9, while Saville was at nearby Spotted Tail Agency for a conference with Agent Howard regarding the tense situation, Frank Appleton, acting agent at Red Cloud, was shot and killed by a hostile Miniconjou warrior who had entered the agency. On the same night fourteen mules were stolen from a government contractor near the agency. The troubles were not confined to Red Cloud. The Indians at Spotted Tail Agency drove off the beef herders there and did their own issuing. An attempt to shoot Agent Howard was prevented by Black Crow.

Saville reported Frank Appleton’s death and the departure of the large war party to Colonel Smith at Fort Laramie, saying at the same time “I do not anticipate any more trouble.”[6] His employees did not share his optimism as shown by the agency physician, Dr. Grove, who took Appleton’s body to Fort Laramie and declared his lack of desire to return to Red Cloud to be “made a target of.”[7]

On February 9, the same day Frank Appleton was shot, the Army at Fort Laramie experienced losses at the hands of hostiles from Red Cloud Agency when a large war party ambushed Lt. Levi H. Robinson, Corporal Coleman, and Private Noll. The three men had separated themselves from a wood train and were attacked on Little Cottonwood Creek some twelve miles east of Laramie Peak. Lieutenant Robinson and Corporal Coleman were killed, but Private Noll managed to escape from the forty to fifty hostile warriors.

J. W. Dear, the agency trader, reported the situation at the agency to Colonel Smith, commander at Fort Laramie, and to Mr. Unthank, a personal friend and the telegrapher at Fort Laramie. Dear said that the Indians were all going about with guns loaded and bows strung, and even he dared not go outdoors at night. The hostiles had established a war camp called Soldiers Lodge up on the Powder River, and Sioux warriors were reported raiding in every direction. It was clear that Red Cloud Agency had become a virtual powder keg.

While Saville told Colonel Smith that he did not expect any more trouble, he had taken steps to protect the agency. He had his men complete the construction of the stockade and move the steam sawmill inside to prevent its destruction. He also arranged for sufficient arms for his men to protect the agency, and a group of Indian policemen led by Pumpkin Seed was organized to help.

THE SIOUX EXPEDITION

Very shortly after Frank Appleton’s death, Agent Saville requested that troops be sent to Red Cloud Agency, but his communications, sent to Colonel Smith at Fort Laramie, were contradictory ones. He told Colonel Smith that Crazy Horse had declared for war. Saville also told the Colonel that although some of the hostiles were leaving and all was quiet at the agency he wanted to have troops to protect the agency and its personnel because affairs among the Sioux were too complex to trust the Indians for protection. He suggested that because of the departure of the hostiles it was a good time to get troops to the agency without trouble but cautioned the Colonel to send a force sufficient to deal with an estimated 2,000 warriors. The agent detailed a plan of march by which he thought the military column could avoid detection by the Indians. However, he admitted that Indian scouts were stationed all along the Platte.

A request for troops to be stationed at the agency was an admission of the failure of the Peace Policy. Saville’s reluctance to ask for help was apparently overcome by his alarm over the serious troubles at the agency. His action was later investigated and approved by Bishop Hare.

The Sioux Expedition was organized by the Army in response to Saville’s request for troops. The arrival of the troops at the agency was delayed by the intense cold, but the tension there had eased enough that officers, as well as Saville himself, felt that they could hold out until the soldiers arrived.

Cold weather was not the Army’s only problem; the call for extra supplies and ammunition had caught them unprepared. Two hundred rounds of ammunition per man were specified in the orders. To get this amount, Fort Leavenworth was drained of supplies, and requisitions had to be forwarded to Frankfort Arsenal. The lack of ammunition set off some bitter correspondence between responsible officers. The Chief of Ordnance reported to the Adjutant General “... that the want of ammunition in the present seeming emergency can not be attributed to the failure of this bureau to provide, but rather to the neglect of the users to make the proper requisition at the proper time.”[8]

The Sioux Expedition got under way when eight infantry and four cavalry companies marched from Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming Territory, to Fort Laramie. The troops reached Fort Laramie on February 26 and 27, 1874 after suffering severely from frost bite in the 38° below zero cold. At Fort Laramie four more companies of cavalry were added to the expedition. At Fort D. A. Russell the Sioux Expedition had been divided into two battalions, one cavalry and one infantry.[9]

The 547 cavalrymen, led by Major Baker, left Fort Laramie on March 2, 1874 and reached Red Cloud Agency on the fifth. Captain Lazelle and his battalion of 402 infantrymen left Fort Laramie on March 3, arriving at the agency on the seventh. Each battalion had a Gatling gun, and the column was provisioned by a supply train of fifty civilian and seventy government wagons. The supply train carried ten days’ rations and five days’ forage and included a beef herd.

Generals Sheridan and Ord were on hand for the departure of the Sioux Expedition from Fort Laramie. The officers considered keeping the expedition route a secret, but it was apparent that the Indians were certain to discover such a large force. The troops took the obvious route, following the well known Fort Laramie to Fort Pierre fur trade trail. On reaching the headwaters of the White River the expedition was forced to ford the stream thirteen times.[10] As the expedition neared the agency the troops passed abandoned Indian camps and when they reached Red Cloud they found the northern troublemakers had all departed for a new camp on nearby Hat Creek.

When the troops arrived at the agency Saville was undecided about the establishment of the military camp. His first suggestion was that a single camp be established at a point equidistant from the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies. By the next day he had changed his mind and wanted the soldiers at Red Cloud, so the tent camp was established alongside the blockhouse of the agency.

Four companies of infantry and one of cavalry were left at Camp Red Cloud Agency, and the remainder of the Sioux Expedition marched on to Spotted Tail Agency to establish a camp there. The camp at Spotted Tail was named Camp Sheridan and on March 29, 1874, the name of Camp Red Cloud Agency was changed to Camp Robinson in honor of Lt. Levi H. Robinson, who had been killed at Little Cottonwood Creek the previous month.

Owing to heavy snow and lack of grass for cavalry horses, most of the cavalry did not stay at the agencies. Each camp was garrisoned by four companies of infantry, one of cavalry, and a Gatling gun was left at each camp.[11] The other six cavalry companies returned to Fort Laramie on March 16. Lieutenant Ray and the supply train left with the returning cavalry to get another load of supplies for the two garrisons at the agencies.

The garrisons left behind at the agencies began the work of getting settled. By mutual agreement Spotted Tail and Captain Lazelle, post commander at Camp Sheridan, forbade intercamp visits at that agency. Lazelle had his men dig rifle pits in front of their tent camp. Although the Brule leaders Spotted Tail, Swift Bear, Standing Elk, and Two Strike said they would not help the troops in the event of war with the hostile faction, Colonel Smith reported that the Brules at Spotted Tail Agency seemed resigned to the presence of soldiers.

In contrast, Colonel Smith reported that a sullen attitude towards soldiers persisted at Red Cloud Agency where apparently even the friendly faction was being difficult. When Dr. Saville ordered all friendly Indians to camp on the south side of the White River he had to threaten the loss of issue rations to enforce his order. The Indians declared the north bank of the White River a deadline for all white men, thus making necessary a longer wagon haul for needed wood supplies.

The hostiles broke camp on Hat Creek and moved to Spotted Tail Agency. Colonel Forsyth’s official report of the Sioux Expedition lists Lone Horn of the North, White Bull, Roman Nose and Stooping Bear as the principal chiefs among the northern Indians at Spotted Tail Agency. The principal warriors among this faction were also listed by Colonel Forsyth; they were Turtle Ribs, Thunder Hawk, High Bear, Dog Back, and Crazy Horse.[12] Despite the return of the hostiles, the relative quiet at the agencies and ease of occupation by the troops prompted General Sheridan erroneously to predict “any war we may have with Sioux Indians will be simply the pursuit of small raiding parties.”[13]

CAMP ROBINSON

Difficulties continued at Red Cloud. Interpreter Rowland, who had delivered Saville’s message calling for troops, attempted to conceal his part in the arrival of the Sioux Expedition but was unable to do so. A Cheyenne, Crawls in the Water, attempted to shoot Rowland but was himself killed. Rowland fled to the military camp for protection, and agency employees rescued his wife and children while the hostiles burned his house and haystack.

The young warriors amused themselves by shooting over the military tents and Colonel Smith warned that he would attack the Indian village if any of his men were injured. Troops from Camp Robinson generally carried arms, and the daily wood train was under heavy escort.

Gradually the Indians became more reconciled to the presence of troops, and when the annual Sun Dance was held at Red Cloud in the early summer, Lieutenant Carter was able to arrange for J. Tavernier, a French artist employed by _Harper’s Weekly_, to attend the dance. Unfortunately, lightning struck the sacred pole during the height of the ceremonies. This was interpreted by the Indians as supernatural disapproval of their visitors, and the artist and officer hastily left the scene.

The infantry at Camp Robinson had their camp alongside the agency stockade while Lt. Emmet Crawford’s troop of Third Cavalry camped a short distance away in the bottomlands of the White River. By spring it was evident that the location of Camp Robinson in close proximity to Red Cloud Agency was not an ideal arrangement. Daily contact invited friction between soldiers and Indian warriors, but an even more serious problem was the lack of sufficient grass for the cavalry horses. When warm weather made the rotting refuse of butchered issue beef “difficult to bear” the need for relocating the encampment became critical. In May 1874 Colonel Smith moved Camp Robinson a mile and a half west of the agency; there near the confluence of Soldier Creek and the White River the permanent post was later built. The troops remained in tents throughout the first summer.

Soon after Camp Robinson was moved to its new site the Indian warriors made an attack on the military encampment. This very serious affair occurred as the result of the arrest of an escaped convict, Toussaint Kenssler, by Lieutenants Crawford and Ray at Red Cloud Agency. Kenssler had escaped from a jail in Wyoming Territory and hidden among his Indian friends. While at Red Cloud he threatened the agent, his employees, and the Army officer who had originally arrested him. He attempted to assault a man who had been a witness during his trial and on one occasion delayed the Camp Robinson mail carrier for several hours. When the officers identified Kenssler they tried to apprehend him. He attempted to escape and Lieutenant Ray shot him through the legs. This action incensed many of the Indians and the two officers experienced some tense moments before they got their prisoner safely from the agency to Camp Robinson.

About midnight the Indians made an attempt to rescue the prisoner by attacking the military camp. The soldiers formed a skirmish line and moved out towards the flashing Indian guns. The warriors fell back in the face of the soldiers’ gunfire and the troops withdrew to their camp only to discover that their entire supply of beef on the hoof had been driven off by other Indians during the brief engagement. Lieutenant Crawford and the cavalry troop recovered a large number of the stolen cattle.

The Kenssler affair was a demonstration that despite the small size of the garrisons the troops were not going to allow themselves to be intimidated by the Indian warriors. Rifle target practice was held at Camp Robinson, and at Camp Sheridan target practice with the Gatling gun was held in July. Such impressive demonstrations of military power must have had a tempering effect on the Indians at the agency.

Other activities also occupied the post garrison. For example, in July Lieutenant Crawford spent a great deal of time giving assistance to homesteaders in the Loup Valley of Nebraska where a serious plague of grasshoppers struck.

Since neither of the two agencies was on the permanent Sioux reservation, the military hesitated to begin construction of winter quarters. An Indian commission headed by Bishop Hare arrived to investigate the recent troubles at the agency and to settle this problem, and during July and August troops from Camp Robinson escorted the commissioners. Bishop Hare decided that Red Cloud Agency would remain at its White River location despite the fact that it was not within the limits of the permanent reservation. After considerable discussion Spotted Tail agreed to the relocation of his agency and both the Spotted Tail Agency and its associated military establishment, Camp Sheridan, were moved to a more favorable site on Beaver Creek. With the location question settled, the Army began construction of permanent quarters for the troops.

In June 1874 Capt. W. H. Jordan and Companies A and I of the Ninth Infantry arrived at Camp Robinson, replacing Company F, Eighth Infantry and Company F of the Fourteenth Infantry. Post Commander Jordan soon issued orders to start cutting logs and to begin construction of barracks. Ten wagons and sixty mules were employed in hauling materials, and the sawmill at Red Cloud Agency was made available for use by the troops. By November, although barracks and urgently needed warehouses were ready, only two sets of the adobe officers’ quarters were completed. The post surgeon complained bitterly of “criminal neglect”[14] when the delivery of heating stoves was unnecessarily delayed.

The northern hostiles, absent during much of the summer, began returning to Red Cloud Agency in October 1874 in anticipation of the issue of annuity goods in November. With their arrival came new troubles at the agency, and it almost seemed as if the agent was trying to create problems for himself and the Army. Saville requested the aid of the soldiers at Camp Robinson in arresting those responsible for killing Frank Appleton the previous February, but when he found that the military commander was instructed that his function was to protect the agency and not to make arrests, Saville gave up the idea. It was just as well that military help was denied because an attempt to make such an arrest would surely have had serious results.

Next Saville decided to erect a flagpole at the agency and for this purpose had a tall pine cut and brought inside the agency stockade. The chiefs were opposed to the flagpole, but Saville did not take their objections seriously. The northern faction was strongly opposed to the flagpole and on October 23, 1874 a group of armed warriors entered the agency stockade while Saville was inside his office talking to Red Cloud and Red Dog. He was called out just in time to see the flagpole being chopped to bits by the warriors, led by the same men who had made him a prisoner in his own office the year before.

Saville immediately sent a messenger to Camp Robinson with a request for a troop of cavalry, but he neglected to inform the commanding officer of the serious nature of the disturbance then in progress. Shorthanded because some of the cavalry were off on an escort mission, Captain Jordan sent only twenty-two men, led by Lt. Emmet Crawford. When Lieutenants Crawford and Steever and their men reached the agency they were immediately surrounded by some four hundred Indian warriors.