Fort Robinson: Outpost on the Plains

Lt. George F. Hamilton of the 9th Cavalry, 1897.
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.
BY ROGER T. GRANGE, JR.
Roger T. Grange, Jr. was formerly Museum Director of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
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.
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.