Buffalo soldiers, braves, and the brass

About this book

The history of Fort Robinson, Nebraska is much more than a record of battles. The post was a community whose residentsofficers with their wives and children, married enlisted men and their families, and the single men in the barracks - lived in close physical proximity but under substantially different conditions. Divided by military rank and traditions and sometimes by race, those parts of the community had their own social lives and problems as well as different relations with the nearby town of Crawford. Although focusing on those men, women, and children stationed at the fort, the author also examines their impact on the neighboring town of Crawford. Those civilians depended on military spending in both traditional and novel ways. War Department expenditures stimulated business and brought some residents power and profit while the money the soldiers spent on whisky and sex helped support municipal government through saloon and prostitution taxes. Indeed, when the garrison was called away for the Spanish-American War in 1898, the town's revenues plummetted. Because Fort Robinson housed black troops for many years, race relations formed a significant part of the post's history. The black Ninth and Tenth Cavalry Regiments, both of which earned reputations for skill and reliability in the Indian Wars before coming to the fort, spent several years on post. Thorough research, many historic photographs and carefully designed maps, along with full documentation, round out this study. It contains a well thoughtout blend of traditional military history and modern concern for the families and civilians who appeared along with the American soldier on the Great Plains in the years after the Civil War.