Old Fort Snelling

s. The post was to be the center of the Indian life for those tribes that dwelt in the vicinity. At the same time expeditions, the base of which was to be at th

rontier duty was performed by the troops stationed at the mouth of the Minnesota River; and although these tasks often took them hundreds of miles from the post, and although they often co?perated with men from other forts, yet these expeditions may w

s in unorganized territory (1821–1834). The Territory of Michigan (1834–1836), the Territory of Wisconsin (1836–1838), and the Territory of Iowa (1838–1846) successively had jurisdiction over it; while in 1849 it fell within the newly-organiz

ly coming into contact with the lead miners about Galena. During the summer of 1826 rumors came to Fort Snelling of the hostility of this tribe, and Colonel Snelling thought it prudent to re?nforce the garrison of Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien. Three companies of the Fifth Infantry were sent away fro

plies to Fort Snelling noticed an unfriendly feeling among the Sioux at Wabasha's village. Fifty warriors with their faces painted black and with black streaks on their blankets visited

t steps be taken for the defense of Prairie du Chien.92 No doubt preparations were commenced immediately; but they were hastened by news which soon came up the river. On June 26th the Winnebago chief, Red Bird, with three of his men had attacked a farm house near Prairie du Chien and obtained the scalp of a child. Returning to their villag

nelling was ordered back to his post with a supply of flour, and directed to procure boats which could be used in the pursuit of the Winnebagoes up the Wisconsin River. On the 16th of August Colonel Snelling arrived at his post, and on the following day Major Fowle started downstream with four other companies of the Fifth Infantry

e of the Black Hawk War there was quiet about Fort Snelling, and Major Taliaferro offered his services and those of the Sioux warriors in the campaign against the Sacs and Foxes. But the go

new reservation obtained for them from the Chippewas. But when the Prairie was reached, the Winnebagoes visited with Wabasha and he sold it to them for a home. When Captain Seth Eastman arrived from Fort Snelling he was put in charge of the military fo

sented to, but the Indians approached with such a rush and with such blood-curdling yells that the cannon were loaded and the soldiers stood ready to fire. During the council the Winnebagoes refused to move until one small band gave in to the entreaties of th

n Captain Page and forty men from Fort Snelling frightened them so much that they fled into the swamps and returned home quietly. Smaller parties were captured on the river and sent back under a military guard.99 Not all the efforts, however, were successful. It was reported that one evening in November over a hundred red men floated down quietly under the very guns of Fort Snelling, and two weeks later the newspaper accounts tell of

acter was imminent. Twice a year hundreds of Red River half-breeds-bois brulés-left their homes on the British side of the international boundary to hunt buffalo on the American plains which bordered on the Missouri River. Here they came into contact with Indians who naturally resented this intrusion upon their hunting grounds. Du

trailed out of Pembina on the summer hunt of 1820, and from year to year the number increased until in 1840 there were 1210 carts, accompanied by 1630 people. Nowhere else in the new world at least, was there such a hunting

ys in order to impress the invaders and also to satisfy its own curiosity. The first of these expeditions occurred in 1845. Captain Edwin V. Sumner, then in command at Fort Atkinson, in the Iowa country, visited the Red River of the North during the summer of that year with Compani

make recommendations to the War Department in regard to a suitable site. On June 6, 1849, the start was made from Fort Snelling, and the weary march directed to the northwest over the swollen rivers and the marshy swamps with the mosquitoes a constant torment, until on August 1st the

less at least two hundred fifty men were stationed there. It would be better to concentrate a large force at Fort Snelling, from whence expeditions could be made into the Indian country in all directions as nec

site for a post which could serve the double purpose of protecting the frontier settlements from the Indians and the Indians from the foreigners, Lieutenant Colonel C. F. Smith of the Tenth Infantry was ordered on June 9, 1856, to tour the region with Companies B and F. As far as the Goose River, in the North Dakota

be given to them in person, a notice written in both English and French was circulated in Pembina and in the British settlements to the north. But the natives obtained sweet revenge when Colonel Smith attempted to buy from the farmers in the

of 1850. On August 8, 1849, Governor Ansel Briggs of Iowa forwarded to the Secretary of War a petition, signed by over a hundred citizens of Iowa County, in which they complained of the presence

t he discovered that many of them had just set out for the upper Mississippi, and those remaining behind were so few in number that they could cause little inconvenience to the frontier. From Fort Atkinson Major Woods passed southward through Fayette, Buchanan, Linn, and Johnson counties to Iowa City. At this time the region traversed was sparsely settled. For a hundred miles south of Fort Atk

e Iowa River to the vicinity of Marengo. Here he learned that a few days before the settlers near the town, becoming tired of having Indians about them, armed themselves a

ous. They had by treaty sold their lands some years earlier and had been removed to the Missouri River; but they preferred their old home, and so had returned in straggling bands, som

lers, and that when intoxicated they were an actual source of danger. Believing that these reasons were well founded, Major Woods advised that the Indian

the infantry and cavalry and part of the equipment, while in tow was a barge full of horses and mules.113 The soldiers were disembarked at Dubuque, whence they followed the trail to Iowa City, along which they saw nothing except the ravages of California emigrati

ack to their homes if these two men could be appointed their guides. When Mr. Steen and Mr. Greenly broached the subject to Major Woods he considered it thoughtfully, and finally an arrangement was made. For every Indian who left the Iowa River and was turned over to their agent west of the Missouri River, the government was t

July 16th seventy of the warriors, armed and painted, paraded on horseback through the streets of the town to the public squa

the command of Major Woods for a site on the Des Moines River which had been chosen by the War Department as the location of a new military post. On August 23, 1850, the troops arrived at the desig

the western part of the State of Iowa, and it was not until October that the cavalry

the Governor and a number of gentlemen who accompanied him, the party consisted of twenty-five dragoons, and eight French-Canadian and half-breed drivers who had charge of six baggage wagons and several light Red River carts. The march was very

nary minds had pictured it bound to the United States, if not by political ties, at least by bonds of steel.119 The Oregon treaty of 1846 brought part of the coveted land under the jurisdiction of the United States, and the necessity of a railroad to the Pacific was

ian, and sixteen privates of Company D First Dragoons, who were still stationed at Fort Snelling.121 Captain Gardiner, who had preceded his leader up the river, had selected the escort and collected the party on May 24th in Camp Pierce-a temporary encampment located three miles northwest of the fort.122 Early in June camp was broken and the start for the far West was made, at first, over the Red

rections. To each of these groups were detailed a few of the dragoons, who were in all respects an integral part of the

tary stations were erected, and thereafter many of its former activities were conducted from these stations on the extreme frontier. Yet in e

d to exchange this reservation for one north of St. Peter's and west of the Mississippi Rivers.126 By treaties in the following August, the Chippewas ceded to the government a tract lying south of the Crow Wing River and west of the Mississippi River, and north and east of the so-called Sioux-Chippewa boundary line.1

he Nokay River as a desirable location.128 This company and a company of the Sixth Infantry from Fort Snelling were employed in building the fort, and when cold weather prevented further operations

quitoes during some three days and nights.131 Again and again reports of riotous revels and rumors of impending outbreaks caused help to be sent from Fort Snelling to assist the troops higher up the river.132 In the spring of 1857 the for

e summer of 1853, but in the fall of the previous year the need of a post among so many half civilized people, placed in a small territory, was obvious. Accordingly, Colonel Francis Lee, commandant at Fort S

ion of the fort. In April the dragoons were ordered to return to Fort Snelling and Companies C and K of the Sixth Infantry went up the river under the command of Captain James Mon

aham's Point on the Red River was accepted; and here, in the fall of 1857, Colonel John J. Abercrombie constructed the fort which was named in his honor. Colonel Smith, w

hing more than a depot for supplying the more advanced forts with food, clothing, and ammunition.137 With the decline of its mi

tracted also a good deal of attention on account of its superior beauty of location, its agricultural advantages, and its more notable advantages for a town site, said Mr. Morrill during a debate on the floor of the House of R

to Mr. Franklin Steele, who was acting for himself and three others, the entire reservation for $90,000. The President approved the act on the second

estimony which they took covers three hundred and seven pages. Some witnesses said that the post should have been retained for military purposes; others insisted that there was no such need. Some said that the site was admira

1 Another remarked that the officers at Fort Snelling were opposed to the sale and it was natural that they should be. They had a beautiful place of residence, they had the most comfortable quarters, and a superabundance of stores for their subsistence. There they were living up

y the government as a training station, and after the war it was continued as a permanent post. Mr. Steele had been unable to pay the entire $90,000, and as he claimed rent at the rate of $2000 a month for the time it had been used by the government, the mat

ut the West during the years when the headquarters of the Department of Dakota were located within its walls, of the Officers' Training Camp established during the summer of 1917, lies outside the scope of