Fort Niobrara Post Cemetery lies east of Valentine, on the ground of the army post the town grew up beside. The fort was established in 1880 after the Great Sioux War, to oversee Chief Spotted Tail's band of Brulé Lakota at the Rosebud Agency forty miles north, and became a supply point for treaty goods once the railroad arrived. Valentine itself was laid out in 1882, four miles west of the post.
Two Black regiments served here. The 9th Cavalry — Buffalo Soldiers — was stationed at Fort Niobrara from 1885, and the 25th Infantry from 1902 until the post closed in 1906. Most of the buildings were then demolished; the ground became a remount station and, from 1912, the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge.
Around 101 memorials have been recorded, which is a record of what has been photographed and indexed rather than a count of everyone buried there.
For burial records or plot enquiries, contact the City of Valentine, or the Cherry County Clerk in Valentine. Ownership can also be confirmed through the Nebraska Statewide Cemetery Registry at the State Historical Society.