054
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054
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Transcription
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It was in March 1907 that my father came to Crawford. from Eastern Nebraska to the homestead, at Crawford. He took all of his possessions in a railroad car, a team of horses, a wagon, a plow, two hogs and a cow. He and his father-in-law, rode in the same car. It took two days and one night for the freight train to make the trip.
It was late in the evening when they arrived in Crawford and they waited until the following morning to unload. The Tenth Cavalry, a regiment of Blacks was stationed at the Fort, and the soldiers often came into Crawford, to celebrate. That night there was a fight at one of the bars, and two men killed. The next morning my grandfather promptly got on the next passenger train and went back home. He told my father that no daughter of his would ever come to this wild place. I was born on April 1, 1907 in Crawford, so I guess she did come.
The history of the establishment of Fort Robinson needs to be told. The Red Cloud Agency was where Chief Red Cloud made his last stand for his people. The U. S Army left corpses all over Western Nebraska, men, women and children. What we did to the native Americans is a disgrace, and we still brag about our conquest of the west.
The Red Cloud Agency, that was to eventually become Fort Robinson, was named after Chief Red Cloud, who died in 1909, two years after I was born.
In 1940 Verna and I took Dale, Gordon, and a cousin, Bob Phillips, to see Captain James Cook. The Cook ranch was about 25 miles from the site of the Red Cloud Agency. We spent an after noon with Captain Cook, in his home that was filled with personal affects of Red Cloud. The Captain had been a good friend of the Chief. When Chief Red Cloud was forced to live on the reservation, he left many of his treasures with Captain Cook for safe keeping. There were many items that Red Cloud valued, such as feathered head desses [sic], beaded moccasins, buffalo robes and many other items of clothing.
I came away from our visit with Captain Cook, feeling as if I too had known this Chief. The treatment they received from the Whites can only be described as brutal and inhuman.
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Rights
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Metzger Memories
