The 25th annual Fort Robinson Outbreak Spiritual Run ended yesterday as members of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe arrived in Busby, Montana, to complete a 400 mile trek that began last Saturday with a leg from Crawford to Hot Springs.
The number of participants usually numbers over 100, but because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, organizers limited the number this year to about 30 young people from grade school to high school age.
The Spiritual Run was started by tribal members to remember and honor their ancestors who’d fled a reservation in Oklahoma in 1878 to try to return to their traditional lands in Montana.
A group of about 150 was captured and held at Fort Robinson, but on Jan 9, 1879 they broke custody and tried to elude the soldier from the fort as they tried to reach Montana.
The Outbreak ended when the final 32 Cheyenne, 14 of them women and children, made a last stand at Hat Creek against some 150 soldiers. All but 8 of the Cheyenne were killed.
Over the two weeks of the Outbreak, an estimated 64 Cheyenne were killed, 23 wounded, and 78 captured. THe Army had 11 soldiers and one Indian scout killed with 9 soldiers wounded.