After a Sioux Indian reservation was established north of here in Dakota Territory in 1878, early settlers in the region feared attack and requested military protection, leading to the construction of Fort Niobrara in 1880 a few miles east of present-day Valentine. No later Indian trouble occurred in the immediate area, and the Ghost Dance religion in the early 1890's brought the last major Indian scare. Officers once stationed at Fort Niobrara included John J. Pershing, later commander of U.S. forces in World War I, and Frederick W. Benteen, a survivor of General Custer's ill-fated staff. Fort Niobrara remained an active post until 1906. In 1912 part of the original military reservation was set aside as a national game preserve, and it later became Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, with ranges maintaining sizable herds of buffalo, elk, and Texas longhorn cattle. Cherry County, a center of cattle production, was organized in 1883 and named for Lieutenant Samuel A. Cherry, a Fort Niobrara officer killed in the line of duty, and Valentine, founded in 1882, was named for early-day congressman E. K. Valentine.