Crazy Horse and his band of Indians on their way from Camp Sheridan to surrender to General George Crook at Red Cloud Agency
In 1873, the Brule Sioux, under the leadership of Chief Spotted Tail, moved from their prior agency near Fort Randall, Dakota Territory, to northwest Nebraska and finally to an agency overlooking Beaver Creek, near present-day Hay Springs.
The Spotted Tail Agency was composed of storehouses, an issue building, a carpentry shop, a sawmill, stables, and other structures. To guard the agency, Camp Sheridan was established as a tent camp in the fall of 1874, about one mile from the Spotted Tail Agency. Permanent facilities were constructed in the spring of 1875, consisting of over 30 frame and brick structures.
Following the 1874 establishment of military posts near the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies for the Oglala and Brule Sioux, the army laid out a forty-two-mile road to transport military and Indian supplies between the agencies and posts. Oglala leader Crazy Horse traveled the road on his final journey when an army officer and Indian scouts escorted him from Camp Sheridan to Fort Robinson on September 5, 1877. Crazy Horse was killed that night while resisting imprisonment, and his father returned his body to Camp Sheridan the next day.
It is known that Crazy Horse did not like to have his picture taken, however, this sketch made in 1934 by a Mormon Missionary while interviewing one of Crazy Horse’s family members is said to be accurate.
Following the removal of the Brule to the Rosebud Agency in South Dakota, activity declined, and the army abandoned Camp Sheridan in 1880.
© Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated December 2022.
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