Old Fort Snelling

Old Fort Snelling, by Marcus L.
Hansen

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Title: Old Fort Snelling 1819-1858
Author: Marcus L. Hansen
Release Date: September 22, 2007 [EBook #22719]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SNELLING ***

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[Illustration: Book Cover]

OLD FORT SNELLING
From a painting by Captain Seth Eastman, reproduced in Mrs.
Eastman's Dahcotah; or, Life and Legends of the Sioux around Fort
Snelling
[Illustration: OLD FORT SNELLING]

OLD FORT SNELLING
1819-1858
BY MARCUS L. HANSEN
[Illustration: Publisher's Logo.]
PUBLISHED AT IOWA CITY IOWA IN 1918 BY THE STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA

THE TORCH PRESS CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
The establishment in 1917 of a camp at Fort Snelling for the training of
officers for the army has aroused curiosity in the history of Old Fort
Snelling. Again as in the days of the pioneer settlement of the
Northwest the Fort at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi
rivers has become an object of more than ordinary interest.
Old Fort Snelling was established in 1819 within the Missouri Territory
on ground which later became a part of the Territory of Iowa. Not until
1849 was it included within Minnesota boundaries. Linked with the
early annals of Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and
the Northwest, the history of Old Fort Snelling is the common heritage

of many commonwealths in the Upper Mississippi Valley.
The period covered in this volume begins with the establishment of the
Fort in 1819 and ends with the temporary abandonment of the site as a
military post in 1858.
BENJ. F. SHAMBAUGH
OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT AND EDITOR THE STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA IOWA CITY IOWA

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
The position which the military post holds in western history is
sometimes misunderstood. So often has a consideration of it been left
to the novelist's pen that romantic glamour has obscured the permanent
contribution made by many a lonely post to the development of the
surrounding region. The western fort was more than a block-house or a
picket. Being the home of a handful of soldiers did not give it its real
importance: it was an institution and should be studied as such. Old
Fort Snelling is a type of the many remote military stations which were
scattered throughout the West upon the upper waters of the rivers or at
intermediate places on the interminable stretches of the westward trails.
This study of the history and influence of Old Fort Snelling was first
undertaken at the suggestion of Dr. Louis Pelzer of the State University
of Iowa, and was carried on under his supervision. The results of the
investigation were accepted as a thesis in the Graduate College of the
State University of Iowa in June, 1917. Upon the suggestion of Dr.
Benj. F. Shambaugh, Superintendent of The State Historical Society of
Iowa, the plan of the work was changed, its scope enlarged, many new
sources of information were consulted, and the entire manuscript
rewritten.
Connected with so many of the aspects of western history, Old Fort
Snelling is pictured in accounts both numerous and varied. The reports
of government officials, the relations of travellers and explorers, and

the reminiscences of fur traders, pioneer settlers, and missionaries show
the Fort as each author, looking at it from the angle of his particular
interest, saw it. These published accounts are found in the Annual
Reports of the Secretary of War, in the Annual Reports of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and in the works of travellers and
pioneers. Many of the most important sources are the briefer accounts
printed in the Minnesota Historical Collections. The author's
dependence upon these sources of information is evident upon every
page of this volume.
But not alone from these sources, which are readily accessible, is this
account of the Old Fort drawn. A half-burned diary, the account books
of the post sutler, letter books filled with correspondence dealing with
matters which are often trivial, and statistical returns of men and
equipment are sources which from their nature may never be printed.
But in them reposes much of the material upon which this book is
based. The examination of all the documents which offered any
prospect of throwing light upon the subject was made possible for the
author as Research Assistant in The State Historical Society of Iowa.
And in this