OLD FORT SNELLING
From a painting by Captain Seth Eastman, reproduced in Mrs. Eastman'sDahcotah; or, Life and Legends of the Sioux around Fort Snelling
OLD FORT SNELLING
OLD FORT SNELLING
1819–1858
BY
MARCUS L. HANSEN
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 ofofficers for the army has aroused curiosity in the history of Old FortSnelling. Again as in the days of the pioneer settlement of theNorthwest the Fort at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippirivers has become an object of more than ordinary interest.
Old Fort Snelling was established in 1819 within the Missouri Territoryon ground which later became a part of the Territory of Iowa. Not until1849 was it included within Minnesota boundaries. Linked with the earlyannals of Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and theNorthwest, the history of Old Fort Snelling is the common heritage ofmany commonwealths in the Upper Mississippi Valley.
The period covered in this volume begins with the establishment of theFort in 1819 and ends with the temporary abandonment of the site as amilitary 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 issometimes misunderstood. So often has a consideration of it been left tothe novelist's pen that romantic glamour has obscured the permanentcontribution made by many a lonely post to the development of thesurrounding region. The western fort was more than a block-house or apicket. Being the home of a handful of soldiers did not give it its realimportance: it was an institution and should be studied as such. OldFort Snelling is a type of the many remote military stations which werescattered throughout the West upon the upper waters of the rivers or atintermediate places on the interminable stretches of the westwardtrails.
This study of the history and influence of Old Fort Snelling was firstundertaken at the suggestion of Dr. Louis Pelzer of the State Universityof Iowa, and was carried on under his supervision. The results of theinvestigation were accepted as a thesis in the Graduate College of theState 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 sourcesof information [viii] were co