[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._
[29]McGillicuddy, _op. cit._, entry for December 28-31, 1876.
[30]General Orders No. 23, March 24, 1877, Fort Robinson, Nebraska
Selected Post Orders, 1874-97, NARS, RG 98. General Orders No. 43,
December 29, 1874, Camp Sheridan, Nebraska Orders, 1874-1881, NARS.
[31]General Orders No. 16, Fort Robinson, Nebraska, January 24, 1888
give this routine: