Old Fort Snelling | Page 2

connection I wish to express my appreciation for the many
courtesies which I have received from those in whose custody these
sources are kept. To Dr. Solon J. Buck, Superintendent of the
Minnesota Historical Society and the members of the library staff of
that Society I am indebted for many kindnesses. Dr. M. M. Quaife,
Superintendent of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, placed at
my disposal thousands of sheets of transcripts made from the records of
the Indian Department at Washington and kept in the library of the
Historical Society at Madison. At the Historical Department of Iowa at
Des Moines, and in the library of the Kansas State Historical Society at
Topeka opportunity was granted to examine valuable manuscripts.
General H. P. McCain, Adjutant-General of the United States, had a
search made of the records on file in the archives of the War
Department at Washington, and such papers as dealt with Fort Snelling
were consulted by the author.
My fellow workers on the staff of The State Historical Society of Iowa
have often aided me with suggestions and criticisms. To the

Superintendent of the Society, Dr. Benj. F. Shambaugh, I wish to
express my appreciation not only for the advice, encouragement, and
inspiration which he freely gave, but also for the willingness with
which he made possible the investigation of every clue to sources of
information by correspondence or by personal visit. Moreover, the
manuscript has been carefully edited by him. The task of seeing the
work through the press has been performed by Associate Editor Dr.
Dan E. Clark, who also carefully read the manuscript and compiled the
index. Miss Helen Otto assisted in the verification of the manuscript.
MARCUS L. HANSEN
THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA IOWA CITY
IOWA

CONTENTS
Editor's Introduction v
Author's Preface vii
I. A Century and a Half of Foreign Rule 1
II. The Evolution of Fort Snelling 18
III. Forty Years of Frontier Duty 31
IV. Lords of the North 54
V. A Soldier's World 73
VI. Glimpses of Garrison Life 84
VII. The Fort and Indian Life 103
VIII. The Sioux-Chippewa Feuds 119
IX. The Fur Trade 135

X. Soldiers of the Cross 146
XI. The Fashionable Tour 159
XII. The Chippewa Treaty of 1837 176
XIII. Citizens and Soldiers 187
Notes and References 205
Index 251

I
A CENTURY AND A HALF OF FOREIGN RULE
On an autumn day in 1766 Captain Jonathan Carver stood upon the
bluff which rises at the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers
and viewed the wonderful landscape of prairie and wooded valleys that
lay before him. As a captain in the colonial troops of Connecticut he
had served his king faithfully in the late war with France; and now in
the days of peace which followed the glorious victory he sought to
continue his usefulness by exploring the vast regions which had been
added to the domains of Great Britain and Spain. Three years of travel
in the wilderness taught him that those wild lands would not always be
the haunt of savage animals and wandering tribes.
"To what power or authority this new world will become dependent,
after it has arisen from its present uncultivated state, time alone can
discover", he later wrote. "But as the seat of Empire, from time
immemorial has been gradually progressive towards the West, there is
no doubt but that at some future period, mighty kingdoms will emerge
from these wildernesses, and stately palaces and solemn temples, with
gilded spires reaching the skies, supplant the Indian huts, whose only
decorations are the barbarous trophies of their vanquished enemies."[1]
Not until the twenty-fourth day of August, 1819, when less than a

hundred soldiers of the Fifth United States Infantry disembarked
opposite the towering height where a few years later rose the white
walls of Fort Snelling, did the nation which was to rule assert its power.
The event was, indeed, epochal. It not only marked a change in the
sovereignty over the vast region, but it also made possible the
development of those factors which were to bring about the great
transformation.
It was for the "upper country" that this fort was built--a country
stretching from the Great Lakes across the wooded headwaters of the
Mississippi and Minnesota rivers to the plains of the Missouri. The
history of this region is marked by several distinct periods: the coming
of the French traders, the supremacy of the English companies, the
establishment of military posts of the United States, and the building of
American communities.
Although at the opening of the second decade of the nineteenth century
the American troops quartered on the west banks of the Mississippi
River were on soil that, in name, had been American for sixteen years,
and although they looked over the river