Old Fort Snelling

, and both before and since, the commanding officers of the fort were the lords of the north. They ruled supr

tyrants for the most trivial wrong, or some imaginary offense.145 This statement is doubtless rather extreme; but the fact remains that the fort was the only

some routine of army life, men were being trained who were to be leaders in the political and military life of the Nation. Others never rose to a higher position; but they command attention because in their faithful performance of daily duties, year after year, they were quietly helping to make the history of

h of a frontier martyr. Although he had been educated for the lawyer's profession, Henry Leavenworth raised a company of volunteers in Delaware County, New York, in 1812, and was elected its captain. He served under General Winfield Scott and won honors for distinguished service at the Battle of

ampaign against the Pawnee Indians, who were harassing the caravans of the Santa Fé traders, Colonel Leavenworth was taken sick with fever and died on July 21, 1834, in a hospital wagon at Cross Timbers in Indian Territory. The body was wrapped in s

ppecanoe on November 7, 1811, he commanded one of the companies that were attacked in their camp in the early morning. An attempt was made by a company of dragoons to drive off the groups of Indians whose fire was the heaviest, but the officer who was leading was wounded and the attempt failed. The Indians, reported General Harrison, were, however, immediately and gallantly dislodged from their advantageous position by Captain Sne

Snelling instantly started up to go in search of his sword. All rushed to the door except Gen. Hull, who laying his hand on the young officer's shoulder as he was about leaving the house, said, Snelling, you need not go, I will excuse you. By no means, was the reply, I feel more like doing my duty now than ever. Stay, it is a false alarm by my or

Chien by a court-martial of which he was the president, and it was not until August that he reached the troops at Camp Cold Water. From that time until the fall of 1827 Colonel Snelling was in command of th

Infantry. The Snelling family located at St. Louis, while Colonel Snelling proceeded to Washingt

I entered the army a subaltern, almost eighteen years ago. From obscurity I have passed through every grade to the command of a regiment. I owe nothing to executive patronage, for I have neither friend or relation connected with the governme

colonel of the First Infantry, he came to Fort Snelling during the summer of 1828 and remained there for a year, when he established his headquarters at Fort Crawford. His achievements on the frontier and in the Mexican War, which finally brought him to the presidency are a familiar story, and the training which

casualties of the battle of Molino del Rey, September 8, 1847, the general commanding the American forces applied an adjective to only one of the dead. The report reads, the service mourns the high-souled Scott, brevet lieutenant colonel 5th infantry.158 This was Martin Scott, one of

Tell by shooting with his pistol through an apple placed upon the head of his negro; and if credence is to be given to the stories which are told, even the animals were aware that from him there was no escape. A coon sitting high on a tree was shot at by several hunters in succession, but still remained in its positio

nd drinking-he was able in later years to do them many favors. His kindness was equalled only by his bravery. For gallant conduct during the Mexican Wa

a question sir, more easily answered, it is an officer. I then asked him who he was. He again replied, The best soldier of the 5th infantry, sir. I then alighted from my horse and uncovering the face, found it was Col. Martin Scott. As I again covered the face, the soldier continued, without apparently addressing himself to any person in part

his period, and it was through his eyes that we can see Old Fort Snelling as it was.162 After his graduation from the Military Academy he was an assistant teacher of drawing at West Point. Following this he served in the Florida War and on the frontier unt

e which she embodied in a volume published in 1849 and entitled: Dahcotah: or, Life and Legends of the Sioux around Fort Snelling. In this volume Longfellow read of the Falls of Minnehaha,

ng this period was Lieutenant William T. Magruder, who was killed on July 3, 1863, at the Battle of Gettysburg while serving in the ranks of the Confederate army.166 One company of the Third Artillery was located at the post from 1853 to 1856. At the head of t

he year that Fort Snelling was founded, he moved to Indiana as a boy. He was appointed to the Military Academy at West Point in 1835 and graduated in 1839. For the next three years he was engaged as a second lieutenant in the Second Infantry in the Florida War, and upon the successful termination of the campaigns he was employed in removing the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks

e was made a brigadier general of volunteers and summoned to Washington to assist Secretary of War Stanton. While here General Canby was called upon to take charge of a difficult position. Draft riots in New York City from July 13th to July 16th resulted in the killing and wounding of about a thousand people and the destruction of about one and a

engaged in a war with the Modoc Indians led by their chief Captain Jack. On April 11, 1873, General Canby held a peace parley with the Indians. It had been agreed that both p

was a lie. Upon being insulted thus the quartermaster struck his companion between the eyes. Emerson turned on his heels immediately, but he returned in a few minutes with a brace of pistols which he pointed at his assailant. The fighting spirit of the quartermaster fell at the appearance of these weapons, and he started across the parade ground on a run followed by the doctor. A third character appeared in the person of

Dred Scott with him. After the death of his master, Scott began proceedings in the courts for his freedom on the ground that his residence at the military post made him free-Fort Snelling being located on soil where slavery was prohibited by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Mrs. Emerson, who wanted to av

distinct from the military organization at the fort, his work may legitimately be accredited among the other activities of the post. He was, in fact, an army official. The act of August 7, 1789, which organized the War Department, placed Indian affairs in the hands of the Secretary;173 on July 9, 1832, a commissioner of Indian affairs was authorized;174 and on June 30, 1834, the relations of

pellate powers now exercised by the Secretary of the War Department, in relation to all the acts of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.176 On the whole this law did not disturb the c

d as Lords of the North were soon transferred to other posts. The military establishment was itself known by several different names in succession, but the Indian agent remained the same

onalities.178 In June, 1858, a number of Sioux chiefs were in Washington and came to see him. My old Father, said Little Crow, we have called upon you; we love you; we respect you.... Since you left us a dark cloud has hung over our nation. W

o see that every Indian under his charge had the enjoyment of all his rights, and never seemed to realize his opportunities for arranging with contractors for the supply of inferior goods and for dividin

tions of sheets, many of them torn, many of them half-burned, and their writing faded. But from almost every page that is legible some information is gleaned, concerning the life of the soldiers, the visits of the Indians, the state of the weather, and reflections on Indian

dian office.184 With methodical care Governor Clark copied the letters which he received into letter books. The existence of these letter books was not known un

lection of their agents for Indian affairs.186 From this account can be gleaned information to supplement the bare facts usually given about his life. His ancestors had come to England from Genoa, Italy, and later they emigrated to Virginia. Here Lawrenc

20, and was immediately engaged in the duties connected with Indian affairs.189 During his term of office he was continually troubled by ill-health which resulted from his campaigns in the late w

he traders.192 Thereafter he made his home at Bedford, Pennsylvania, serving as a military storekeeper from 1857 to 1863, when he was put on the retired list. Mr. Taliaferro visited his old home at Fort Snelling in 1856 and wrote characteristically: We were in St. Paul on the twenty-fourth of June, the widow's son was Irving's

y increased the difficulties of their position, and the memory of their former agent made the Indians suspicious of their new advisers. The Gov

Lewis died, Campbell returned to his Sioux relatives and finally drifted to the agency at Fort Snelling.195 Having a knowledge of four languages, and possessing the confidence of all the tribes within four hundred miles of the post, he was indispensa

conversing in low tones with the listless loungers around the old Agency House; but who that resided in this country thirty or

ho as officers at Fort Snelling ruled supreme over a vast region, an