Fort Robinson breakout (Cheyenne)

The Fort Robinson breakout was an escape from US Army barracks by Cheyenne peoples who were being tortured there. Two years earlier the Cheyenne had been forcibly relocated to Darlington Agency on the Southern Cheyenne Reservation in Oklahoma from their homelands in Montana. Due to poor conditions on the reservation (starvation, measels and malaria outbreaks), 353 Cheyenne left Oklahoma to return home in September 1878. They were led by Cheyenne leader Vóóhéhéve (Morning Star), who is known in English by the name Dull Knife which is a translation of his Lakota name, Tȟamílapȟéšni. After some were captured in Nebraska, the US Army imprisoned them in Fort Robinson barracks. After they refused to return south, Captain Henry W. Wessells Jr. locked them up with no food or water starting January 2nd. At 10 pm January 9th, Cheyenne warriors sang their death song and climbed out the windows where they killed two guards. As the Cheyenne fled, five warriors sacrified their lives as a rear guard to allow the people to escape. All five warriors were killed. Over the course of the breakout 11 soldiers and 1 scout were killed and at least 90 Cheyenne were killed by soldiers or died from exposure, but a group survived including Vóóhéhéve and the small group he led. Their incredible resistance in the face of horrible conditions and with almost no resources at their disposal is an amazing story of anti-colonial struggle. They successfully reached Pine Ridge and were eventually allowed to join another Cheyenne, Ó'kôhómôxháahketa (Little Coyote) in their traditional territory. Vóóhéhéve and the rest of the resistors are remembered today as the reason the Northern Cheyenne still possess a homeland in their traditional country.