Fort Robinson breakout

Fort Robinson outbreak
Part of the Northern Cheyenne Exodus

"The Pit". Painting by Frederic Remington, 1897
DateJanuary 9,-22, 1879
Location
Fort Robinson, Nebraska, United States
Result United States Victory
Belligerents
Northern Cheyenne United States United States
Commanders and leaders
Dull Knife
Little Finger Nail †
Left Hand †
Tangle Hair		 United States Andrew W. Evans
United States Henry W. Wessells
United States Peter D. Vroom
United States John B. Johnson
Strength
149, including 46 warriors ~175 soldiers plus a few armed civilians
Casualties and losses
~60 killed, ~70 captured 12 Killed, 14 Wounded
Main article: Northern Cheyenne Exodus

The Fort Robinson breakout or Fort Robinson massacre was the attempted escape of Cheyenne captives from the U.S. army during the winter of 1878-1879 at Fort Robinson in northwestern Nebraska. In 1877, the Cheyenne had been forced to relocate from their homelands on the northern Great Plains south to the Darlington Agency on the Southern Cheyenne Reservation in Indian Territory (Oklahoma). In September 1878, in what is called the Northern Cheyenne Exodus, 353 Northern Cheyenne fled north because of poor conditions on the reservation. In Nebraska, the U.S. Army captured 149 of the Cheyenne, including 46 warriors, and escorted them to Fort Robinson.

In January 1879, after the Cheyenne had refused an earlier order to return to the south, the soldiers began to treat them harshly to try to force them south. They were confined to a barracks without food, water, or wood for heat. Most of the band escaped the barracks on January 9, but the US Army hunted them down. The Cheyenne were poorly armed and outnumbered by 175 soldiers pursuing them. On January 22, the army surrounded and killed most of the last 37 escapees. In total, the army recaptured about 70 of the Cheyenne and killed about 60. A few escaped, including Dull Knife, the Cheyenne leader. Eleven soldiers and one Indian scout were killed by the Cheyenne.[1][2][3][4]

  1. ^ Chapter 14, "Cheyenne Exodus", pages 331 to 359, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, Dee Brown, Henry Holt (1970, Owl paperback edition 1991), ISBN 0-8050-1730-5
  2. ^ Chapter 29, "Little Wolf and Dull Knife, 1876-79", pages 398 to 413 and Chapter 30, "The Fort Robinson Outbreak", pp. 414 to 427, The Fighting Cheyennes, George Bird Grinnell, University of Oklahoma Press (1956, Scribner's Sons 1915),
  3. ^ In Dull Knife's Wake: The True Story of the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 1878 by Maddux Albert Glenn, Horse Creek Publications (October 20, 2003), ISBN 0-9722217-1-9 ISBN 978-0972221719
  4. ^ Boye, Alan (1999). Holding Stone Hands: On the Trail of the Cheyenne Exodus. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 251–297. ISBN 0-8032-1294-1.