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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
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 to land that had since 1783 belonged
to their country, yet they had in fact taken possession of a foreign
land. English, French, and Spanish flags had at various times waved over
certain parts of it. Foreign influence, during a century and a
half, had become widespread and deeply rooted.
When in 1634 Jean Nicollet visited the Wisconsin country the French
advance into the upper Northwest had begun.[2] From 1658 to 1660
Radisson and Groseilliers wandered among the tribes and brought the
first canoe loads of furs to Canada from the far West. Then along with
the missionaries, Hennepin and Marquette, came the _coureurs des bois_,
Nicholas Perrot and Daniel Greyloson Duluth. It is unnecessary to recite
in detail the exploits of these Frenchmen and their successors.[3] For a
century the songs of unknown boatmen rose from the waters of the western
rivers; unknown traders smoked in the lodges of Sioux and Chippewas; and
hardy wanderers whose feats of discovery are unrecorded, leaving behind
the Missouri River, saw from afar the wonders of the "Shining
Mountains".[4] But if no record of them remains, their influence was
lasting. Living with the natives, supplying their needs by barter, and
marrying the Indian girls, the French gained a remarkable power over the
northwestern tribes, which caused them to consider whoever came from
Canada their friend, even after the English government had supplanted
the French in power.
West of the lakes the transition from the French to the English rule
created no disturbances, such as Pontiac's conspiracy which so
completely disrupted the trade in the East.[5] Continuing the French
policy and also their posts and voyageurs, the Scottish merchants
of Montreal, organized in 1784 as the North West Company, pushed
westward from Green Bay and southward from Lake Winnipeg. This advance
was continued until the opening years of the next century. Although on
nominally Spanish territory, the tribes on the upper Missouri were won
from the Spanish traders at St. Louis by such severe cutting in prices
that the latter could not compete. The posts of the North West Company
on the Red River of the North became the resort for many of the western
tribes.[6]
The diverting of the trade of these natives, who would naturally have
come down the Missouri where American traders could meet them and be
benefited, was noticed by President Jefferson, who, on January 18, 1803,
wrote to Congress: "It is, however, understood, that the country on that
river is inhabited by numerous tribes, who furnish great supplies of
furs and peltry to the trade of another nation, carried on in a high
latitude, through an infinite number of portages and lakes, shut up by
ice through a long season." In this same message was included a
recommendation that a small expedition be sent up to confer with the
tribes with respect to the admission of American traders.[7]
But the purchase of Louisiana altered matters. It was not only a matter
of trade, but one of sovereignty. A double movement was initiated: one
to ascend the Mississippi under Zebulon M. Pike, and the other the
Missouri under Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark.
The reports of these two expeditions indicate how firm a grip the
English traders had upon the Indians of the upper Northwest.
The expedition of Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri and passed over
the mountains to the Columbia River which was followed to the coast. The
first winter, from late in October, 1804, to early in April, 1805, was
spent in a fort which was constructed in the village of the Mandans,
near the location of the present city of Mandan in North Dakota. Here
was abundant opportunity to investigate the fur trade. Nor had they long
to wait. On the 27th of November, seven British traders arrived from the
North West Company's post on the Assiniboine River to barter with the
river tribes. The next day, in council with the Mandan chiefs, the
Americans warned the Indians not to receive medals or flags from the
foreigners if they wished to be friends with the "Great American
Father". A day later this warning was communicated to the traders
themselves who promised to refrain from any such acts.[8] How well they
kept their promises later events showed. The Lewis and Clark expedition
was only a passing pageant; for by the time of the War of 1812, the only
American traders who ventured to do business on the upper waters were
practically driven off by the foreign companies.[9]
The report of Zebulon M. Pike indicates that conditions were much worse
on the upper Mississippi. Leaving St. Louis on August 9, 1805, he
returned to that place on April 30, 1806. About two months were
spent at a fort erected near the site of Little Falls, where he left a
few men and pushed on with the rest of the company to Leech Lake.
Conversation with the fur traders and councils with the Indians revealed
the extent of the commerce of the North West Company. He heard of
permanent trading posts on the south side of Lake Superior and at the
headwaters of the St. Croix River; and he saw at Lower Red Cedar Lake,
Sandy Lake, and Leech Lake the rude stockades and log buildings which
were called forts.[10] These three posts were included in the
"Department of Fond du Lac" and were the centers from which in the year
1805, trade with the Indians was carried on by one hundred and nine
men.[11] By means of the rivers and portages of the wilderness the furs
were brought to Canada without passing a custom house, and thus the
United States was defrauded of duties which, it was estimated, would
amount to $26,000 annually.[12]
Pike objected to many of the evident signs of British sovereignty: the
British flag flying above the headquarters of the department of Fond du
Lac was shot down;[13] many of the Indians were induced to give up their
British medals and flags;[14] and Hugh M'Gillis, agent of the company
for the district, in response to Pike's letter of complaint, promised in
the future to refrain from displaying the British flag, presenting
medals, or talking politics to the Indians.[15] But his promises were no
more seriously given than those of his brethren on the Missouri.
Little of permanent value would have been accomplished if the
acts of the explorer on September 23, 1805, had been omitted. The
instructions issued to Pike on July 30, 1805, stated: "You will be
pleased to obtain permission from the Indians who claim the ground, for
the erection of military posts and trading-houses at the mouth of the
river St. Pierre [the Minnesota River], the falls of St. Anthony, and
every other critical point which may fall under your observation; these
permissions to be granted in formal conferences, regularly recorded, and
the ground marked off."[16]
When Pike reached the mouth of the Minnesota River, the natural features
of the locality convinced him of the advantages which would arise from a
fort located at that point. From the high bluff lying between the
Minnesota and the Mississippi rivers the course of both streams would be
under the sweep of the guns. Sheer walls of stone rising from the
Mississippi could prevent invasion; and the fur trading business could
be regulated, as all boats entering or leaving the Indian country must
use one or the other of the two rivers.
A "bower" was constructed of sails, and on September 23rd Pike spoke to
the Sioux Indians there assembled concerning the transfer of Louisiana,
the futility of their wars with the Chippewas, and the evils of rum. He
asked them to cede to the United States lands for military posts, and
dwelt on the value of these posts to the Indians. To this the chiefs
assented, receiving in return presents valued at $200 and sixty gallons
of liquor. The terms of the treaty provided that the Sioux should
cede to the United States tracts "for the purpose of establishment of
military posts," at the mouth of the Minnesota and at the mouth of the
St. Croix. A money consideration was also mentioned, but a blank was
left which was later filled in by the Senate with $2000.[17]
The government, busy with distressing foreign affairs, neglected to make
a permanent occupation of the explored region. A struggle between the
American and British governments was arising over events far remote from
the northern lakes and woods. But the Canadian authorities saw the
necessity of having Indian allies for the approaching struggle. As early
as 1807 reports from the West indicated hostile feelings on the part of
the Indians toward the Americans, and an official at Mackinac wrote on
August 30, 1807, that this condition "is principally to be attributed to
the influence of foreigners trading in the country."[18] Captain A.
Gray, who was sent to inquire into the aid which the Hudson's Bay
Company and the North West Company could furnish, reported to Sir George
Prevost, commander of the British forces in Canada, on January 12, 1812:
"By means of these Companies, we might let loose the Indians upon them
throughout the whole extent of their Western frontier, as they have a
most commanding influence over them." In a memorandum of plans for the
defence of Canada, General Brock noted that "the Co-operation of the
Indians will be attended with great expence in presents
provisions &c."[19]
To this alliance the Indians gave willing ears. Their interests lay with
the British rather than with the Americans. The economic stability of
Canada rested upon the fur trade, which in turn could survive only if
the free life of the hunt and the chase, which the Indians loved so
well, was left them. But with the Americans were associated the making
of treaties and the ceding of land. The Indians preferred to see upon
their rivers the canoe of the trader rather than the flatboat of the
pioneer.[20]
The coming of hostilities was received joyfully by all the inhabitants
of the Northwest. To the Indian it meant an opportunity to avenge past
wrongs; the Canadian hoped to make secure his present condition; and the
American settler saw a chance to drive out both enemies--Indians and
foreign traders alike. The news of the declaration of war reached the
great rendezvous of the North West Company at Fort William on the
northern shore of Lake Superior on the sixteenth of July, 1812, and the
next day one of the traders left for the interior to rouse the natives.
The agent of the company at this post wrote enthusiastically: "I have
not the least doubt but our force, will in ten days hence, amount to at
least five thousand effective men."[21]
But already a sufficient number of Indians had come to the aid of the
English to render service. On the very next day the English flag
replaced the American above the fort at Mackinac. No sooner had
the news of the beginning of hostilities become known at the neighboring
British post at St. Joseph's than immediate preparations were made. The
Indians were marshalled for the attack, and a vessel belonging to the
North West Company was requisitioned. The morning of July 17th revealed
the American fort surrounded by Indians and commanded by a cannon which
had been dragged upon a height of land. Seeing the futility of
resistance the garrison surrendered and marched out before noon. Of the
total attacking force of 1021 there were Indians to the number of 715,
of whom the British leader wrote, "although these people's minds were
much heated, yet as soon as they heard the Capitulation was signed they
all returned to their Canoes, and not one drop either of Man's or
Animal's Blood was Spilt, till I gave an Order for a certain number of
Bullocks to be purchased for them".[22] The ease with which the capture
was made had the effect of bringing to the English standards all the
Indians of the Northwest, except a part of the Miamis and Delawares, in
spite of the fact that they had earlier made promises of neutrality.[23]
Although the capture of the fort at Mackinac was accomplished without
any Indian atrocities, the success of that day was to precipitate a
massacre, long to rankle in the minds of the pioneers of the West.
Immediately upon hearing of the capture of the fort, General Hull wrote
to Captain Heald in command at Fort Dearborn ordering the evacuation of
that post. On the morning of August 15th, as the small garrison
of fifty-five regulars and twelve militia were leaving the fort with
their women and children, they were fallen upon by a force of five
hundred Indians. Twenty-six regulars, all the militiamen, two women, and
twelve children were murdered on the spot. An unknown number of wounded
prisoners were that evening victims at what the Indians termed a
"general frolic".[24]
In the meantime Robert Dickson, who for many years had been a Prairie du
Chien fur trader, was continuing his activities as recruiter of Indians
for British service. This was the same Dickson who had in 1802 received
an American commission as a justice of the peace,[25] and had later
entertained Pike and his men "with a supper and a dram", impressing the
American explorer as a man of "open, frank manners."[26] Now, in
January, 1813, he was appointed by Great Britain "agent for the Indians
of the several Nations to the Westward of Lake Huron".[27]
By June 23, 1813, he had already sent eight hundred Indians to Detroit
and had collected six hundred at Mackinac.[28] The summer of 1813 was
spent in operations about Detroit, but in the winter he was again active
in the West.[29] Great alarm was felt at St. Louis when rumors came
telling of the great force he was collecting.[30] Accordingly, late in
the spring of 1814, Governor William Clark of Missouri Territory
proceeded up the Mississippi and at Prairie du Chien built a stockade
named Fort Shelby. It was garrisoned by about sixty men.[31] News
of this movement soon came to Mackinac, and prompted the British
commandant to prepare a counter-expedition. On the seventeenth of July
the force composed of five hundred and fifty men, of whom four hundred
were Indians, arrived outside the post. Immediately a summons to
surrender was sent. The American commander at first refused, but two
days later agreed to capitulate providing the Indians would be kept in
check. The surrender took place on July 20th, and the captor christened
the stockade Fort McKay in honor of himself.[32]
Thus, the Indians about the Mississippi had been present at the
surrender of two posts and had participated in a massacre. British arms
had been successful, and the close of the war found British prestige
very high.
The Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814, closed the war; and Article IX
of that treaty provided that the United States should make peace with
the Indian tribes and restore to them the "possessions, rights and
privileges" which they had enjoyed before hostilities.[33] President
Madison accordingly appointed William Clark, Ninian Edwards, and Auguste
Chouteau as commissioners to enter into treaties of peace with the
warring tribes of the upper Mississippi and the upper Missouri. Only
with extreme difficulty was word of the negotiations sent to the tribes.
The hostility of the Indians living about the mouth of the Rock River
made it necessary that the messenger proceed to Prairie du Chien
by way of the Missouri River, and then across country.[34]
Although treaties were concluded with those who did come to the council,
none were eager to negotiate. The Chippewas, Menominees, and Winnebagoes
even refused to send delegations; and the Sacs of Rock River not only
refused to attend, but also showed their contempt by continually
harassing the frontier settlements during the time of the
negotiations.[35] This opposition, the commissioners reported, was due
to the presence of an unusual number of British traders among the
Indians. The report closed with the opinion that "the exertion of the
military power of the Government will be necessary to secure the peace
and safety of this country."[36]
For some years it had been customary for the British authorities to send
presents to the Indians on the Mississippi, and Robert Dickson had
promised the natives that the practice would be continued. But with the
coming of peace this custom was not allowed by the Americans.
Accordingly, in June, 1815, word was sent to the river tribes, that all
who came to the British headquarters at Drummond Island in Lake Huron,
would be supplied. By June 19th of the next year four hundred Indians
had arrived at the post--mainly Sioux. To sympathetic ears they reported
that they feared that the Americans were planning their extinction, and
a confederation was being formed to resist the building of American
forts on the Indian lands. As late as 1825, of the four thousand
Indians in the habit of visiting Drummond Island, three thousand came
from the region west and southwest of Lake Huron--that is from American
territory.[37] These motley processions which trailed through the
American woods, stopping to beg at the American posts, were not slow in
being reported. It did not take a vivid imagination to see that the
renewal of border warfare was inevitable.[38]
This danger was increased by the rapid development of the West following
the war. Just as over the mountain trails and down the rivers, Kentucky
and Tennessee had been settled before the war, now the States of the Old
Northwest received their pioneers. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, who made his
first trip down the Ohio at this time (1818), remarked: "I mingled in
this crowd, and, while listening to the anticipations indulged in, it
seemed to me that the war had not, in reality, been fought for 'free
trade and sailors' rights' where it had commenced, but to gain a
knowledge of the world beyond the Alleghanies.... To judge by the tone
of general conversation, they meant, in their generation, to plow the
Mississippi Valley from its head to its foot."[39]
The flatboats on the rivers, the crowded ferries, and the caravans
crossing the prairies were familiar scenes. In _The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow_, which appeared in 1819, Washington Irving puts this fondest
dream into the mind of his hero, Ichabod: "Nay, his busy fancy already
realized his hopes, and presented to him the blooming Katrina with a
whole family of children, mounted on the top of a wagon loaded
with household trumpery, with pots and kettles dangling beneath; and he
beheld himself bestriding a pacing mare, with a colt at her heels,
setting out for Kentucky, Tennessee, or the Lord knows where." When he
wrote this the author was not using his imagination: it was a picture he
saw daily.[40]
The extent of this westward movement is indicated by the provisions made
for the political organization of these growing settlements. Indiana
achieved statehood in 1816 and Illinois in 1818. Across the river in
Missouri the population had grown from 20,000 in 1810 to 66,000 in
1820,[41] and the weighty questions concerning her admission were being
discussed in Washington.
With an expanding frontier brought into contact with hostile Indians,
trouble was bound to result. Various plans were proposed to deal with
the problem. It was reported that General Jackson would take charge of
active military operations against the Indians of the upper
Mississippi.[42] One agent suggested that "three or four months' full
feeding on meat and bread, even without ardent spirit, will bring on
disease, and, in six or eight months, great mortality.... I believe more
Indians might be killed with the expense of $100,000 in this way, than
$1,000,000 expended in the support of armies to go against them."[43]
Fortunately, wiser counsels than either of these prevailed to control
the Indians: the control of the fur trade was necessary. It was felt,
and rightly, that much of the trouble in the West was due to the
power of the British traders. Accordingly, by an act of Congress of
April 29, 1816, it was provided that "licenses to trade with the Indians
within the territorial limits of the United States shall not be granted
to any but citizens of the United States, unless by the express
direction of the President of the United States, and upon such terms and
conditions as the public interest may, in his opinion, require." To
carry this act into effect the president was authorized to call upon the
military force.[44]
This legislation was most opportune, since by the commercial convention
of October 20, 1818, the northern boundary was definitely agreed upon as
the forty-ninth parallel westward from the Lake of the Woods to the
Rocky Mountains.[45] Ever since the negotiators of the Treaty of Paris
of 1783 had inserted a geographical impossibility by declaring that the
boundary should extend due west from the Lake of the Woods to the
Mississippi, there had existed a vagueness as to where the actual line
should be drawn.[46] In 1806 the British traders thought it would be run
from the lake to the source of the river;[47] and as late as 1818
Benjamin O'Fallon wrote from Prairie du Chien that Robert Dickson "is
directed to build a fort on the highest land between Lac du Travers and
Red river, which he supposes will be the established line between the
two countries."[48] But with the boundary now defined, the area where
the trade laws were to be enforced was evident.
The method of Indian trade by foreigners was to be supplanted by
an extension of the United States trading house system. This was a group
of trading houses, conducted by the government, where the Indians could
exchange their furs for goods at cost price and thus avoid both the
deceit and whiskey of the private merchant, although they were often
willing to submit to the one for the sake of the other.[49] As early as
1805 Pike had promised the Indians, in council assembled, that the
government intended to build a trading house at the mouth of the
Minnesota River.[50] The commissioners at Portage des Sioux, in 1815,
had been instructed to inform the tribes that "it is intended to
establish strong posts very high up the Mississippi, and from the
Mississippi to Lake Michigan, and to open trading-houses at those posts,
or other suitable places for their accommodation."[51] In 1818 T. L.
McKenny, Superintendent of Indian Trade, recommended the building of
seven additional trading houses, one of which was to be located on the
"River St. Peters, at or about its junction with the Mississippi."[52]
Thus, through the Indian department steps were being taken to inaugurate
a new regime in the upper Northwest. But Indian agents and trading
houses needed the protection and administrative arm of the military
department in order to be effective. The forward movement of the
military frontier during the years succeeding the war is significant as
marking a trend towards the Americanization of a great region.
II
THE EVOLUTION OF FORT SNELLING
When the War of 1812 broke out in the Northwest, the Americans had only
two advanced posts--Mackinac and Fort Dearborn. Of these, one was
captured during the hostilities, and the other was evacuated. An attempt
was made to build a post at Prairie du Chien, but it quickly passed into
English hands and remained in their possession until the news of peace
had reached that frontier station. But after the Treaty of Ghent was
signed the line of the military frontier was quickly advanced in order
to safeguard the Indian agents, the trading houses, and the advancing
settlements.
Fort Dearborn was re-occupied on July 4, 1815. Mackinac was transferred
to American hands on July 18, 1815. In the fall of the same year Colonel
R. C. Nichols of the Eighth United States Infantry attempted to ascend
the Mississippi to Rock Island, but was compelled to pass the winter in
the vicinity of the mouth of the Des Moines River. On May 10, 1816,
however, he reached Rock Island, where the construction of Fort
Armstrong was undertaken. June 21st of the same year saw the
re-occupation of the site of Fort McKay at Prairie du Chien; and Fort
Crawford soon protected this important point at the junction of
the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers. One other point, vital in all
western transportation was at the head of Green Bay at the mouth of the
Fox River. Colonel John Miller of the Third Infantry arrived at this
place on August 7, 1816, and soon began the erection of Fort Howard.[53]
But the government was not content with these movements. In a report
dated December 22, 1817, the Secretary of War, J. C. Calhoun, wrote to
the House of Representatives that "a board of the most skilful officers
in our service has been constituted to examine the whole line of our
frontier, and to determine on the position and extent of works that may
be necessary to the defence of the country."[54] Plans had already been
made. During the summer of 1817 Major Stephen H. Long, a topographical
engineer in the United States Army, had made a journey to the Falls of
St. Anthony in a six-oared skiff and had approved the position at the
mouth of the Minnesota River as a location for a fort.[55] Other plans
were soon announced. In the spring of 1818 _The Washington City Gazette_
stated that a fort would be built on the Missouri River at the mouth of
the Yellowstone River;[56] and a second report of the Secretary of War
on December 11, 1818, indicated that the site at the mouth of the
Minnesota would soon be occupied.[57]
On the tenth of February, 1819, the War Department ordered the Fifth
Infantry to concentrate at Detroit, after which it would be transported
across Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, up the Fox River, and down
the Wisconsin River to Prairie du Chien, where a part would garrison
Fort Crawford, a part would proceed to Fort Armstrong, and the remainder
would ascend the Mississippi and near the Falls of St. Anthony erect a
post which would be the headquarters of the regiment.[58] This movement
was closely associated with that on the Missouri River called the
Yellowstone Expedition. Both movements were part of one system--a
comprehensive attempt to possess the northwestern frontier. The
thoroughness of the plan is shown by the program outlined for the troops
for the year 1820: three forts were to be built on the Missouri River;
the navigation of that river was to be improved; roads were to be opened
between the two diverging lines of posts (those on the Missouri and
those on the Mississippi); and the Fox and Wisconsin rivers were to be
connected by a canal. Thus the transportation of supplies would be
facilitated, and in case of hostilities the forts could cooeperate in the
military operations.[59]
The western part of this general movement was a failure. Indeed, the
only result was the construction of a post at the point then known as
Council Bluff (now Fort Calhoun, Nebraska), which after an existence of
eight years was abandoned. Congress, disgusted with the management of
the undertaking, refused to vote the funds necessary for the complete
fulfillment of the project.[60] Accordingly, no permanent military post
existed upon the upper Missouri until 1855, when the United States
government purchased from the American Fur Company their station
called Fort Pierre and transformed it into a military establishment.[61]
The failure of the Yellowstone Expedition made more difficult the work
of Fort Snelling. The range of its influence extended to the Missouri,
and for forty years it was of more importance than even its originators
had planned.
The Fifth Infantry, to which the difficult task of establishing a fort
at the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers was assigned was
stationed at various places. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Leavenworth, who
was the commanding officer of the regiment, had been located at Prairie
du Chien as Superintendent of Indian Affairs.[62] Lieutenant Nathan
Clark was living at Hartford, Connecticut.[63] But by May 14th the main
part of the regiment was ready to leave Detroit. Schooners brought them
through Lake Huron, the Straits of Mackinac, and across Lake Michigan to
Fort Howard on Green Bay. Captain Whistler of the Third United States
Infantry, then stationed at this post, had prepared bateaux for the use
of the troops, and on June 7th the ascent of the Fox River was
commenced.[64] The Winnebago chief "Four Legs", whose village was at the
outlet of Lake Winnebago, had the custom of exacting tribute from
travellers using the Fox-Wisconsin route. When the troops of the Fifth
Infantry came to the site, "Four Legs" sent the message, "The Lake is
locked." Whereupon Colonel Leavenworth, showing the messenger his rifle,
replied: "tell him, that this is the key, and I shall unlock it and go
on." Upon receiving this belligerent reply, the chief allowed the
troops to pass; and finally on June 30th the bateaux were moored near
Fort Crawford and Prairie du Chien.[65]
At Fort Crawford there was a tedious wait. Provisions, ordnance,
ammunition, and recruits were expected from St. Louis. On July 5th Major
Thomas Forsyth arrived from St. Louis. He had been ordered by the War
Department to bring two thousand dollars worth of goods to the Sioux
Indians in payment for the reservation ceded by them to Pike.[66] Day
after day passed. Finally, on July 17th a certain Mr. Shaw came with
news that the recruits could be expected soon. On July 31st this curt
entry is made in Forsyth's journal: "no boats, no recruits, no news, nor
anything else from St. Louis." The next day Major Marston was sent with
twenty-seven troops to garrison Fort Armstrong at Rock Island; and on
August 2nd Forsyth recorded: "Thank God a boat loaded with ordnance and
stores of different kinds arrived to-day, and said a provision boat
would arrive to-morrow, but no news of the recruits."[67]
Colonel Leavenworth at once made preparations to ascend the river. The
two large boats that had brought up supplies were engaged, and at eight
o'clock on the morning of Sunday, August 8th, the flotilla set out--the
two large boats, fourteen bateaux, the boat of Major Forsyth, and the
barge of Colonel Leavenworth. In the party were ninety-eight soldiers
and twenty boatmen. There were others also whose presence in that wild
region would not be expected: Mrs. Gooding, the wife of one of
the captains; Mrs. Nathan Clark, the wife of the commissary; and little
Charlotte Ouisconsin Clark, who had been born scarcely an hour after the
regiment reached Fort Crawford. The knowledge that they were upon the
last stage of their journey caused a feeling of cheerfulness among the
soldiers, and the first day they proceeded a distance of eighteen
miles.[68]
For sixteen days the boatmen poled their bateaux up the river. Once when
there was a "Great appearance of wind" the sails were hoisted. At other
times the heavily loaded boats were moved with difficulty through the
shallow water. Occasionally fog and rain impeded their progress. Bad
water made half of the soldiers sick before the journey was ended; and
to avoid the mosquitoes on the river, the men preferred to sleep on the
banks, although every morning there was a heavy dew. On August 17th the
lower end of Lake Pepin was reached and here a delay of several hours
occurred while the men drew provisions from the supply boats, and washed
their dirty linen.[69]
Major Forsyth stopped at the Indian villages to distribute presents and
to announce to the natives the object of the coming of the troops, and
the value they would derive from having a fort in their midst. On
Sunday, August 22nd, he encamped a few miles ahead of the main body of
the expedition, but by eight o'clock the next morning all the boats had
come up. Impatient to reach the end of the journey, Major Forsyth
again pushed forward and at four o'clock in the afternoon reached the
mouth of the Minnesota River. On the morning of Tuesday, August 24,
1819, Colonel Leavenworth arrived in his barge ahead of the troops and
spent almost the entire day in looking over the sites available for a
camp. Finally, he decided upon a spot on the right bank of the Minnesota
River, just above its mouth. There was no rest for the troops when their
boats reached the chosen place. "They were immediately set to work in
making roads up the bank of the river, cutting down trees, etc."[70]
If the soldiers had any spare time in their labors in which to become
interested in their surroundings, there was novelty in everything about
them. During the next few days all the nearby chiefs came to call upon
their new neighbors: they left satisfied with the presents and the
whiskey which they had received. On Saturday a party ascended to the
Falls of St. Anthony; and on Sunday a visit was made to the Indian
villages up the Minnesota River. It was on Monday that Major Forsyth
began his return trip, and as the supplies in store were few and the
long-expected recruits were needed for the erection of the camp
buildings, Colonel Leavenworth set out with him for Prairie du Chien. On
September 1st they met on Lake Pepin two boats and a bateau with one
hundred and twenty soldiers on board. But Colonel Leavenworth continued
to Prairie du Chien, where he remained some time to urge on any boats
which might arrive. On September 5th the one hundred and twenty
recruits landed at the new camp.[71]
Log cabins and a stockade were erected while the party still lived in
the boats on the river. By November the temporary barracks were ready
for occupation. Looking forward to a pleasant winter, the name
"Cantonment New Hope" was applied to the embryo fort. The more
scientific among the men examined the country round about, and saw in
the hills visions of mines of precious metals. "Would not the employment
of the troops in the manufacture of Copper and Iron be advantageous to
the government?", wrote one of these energetic soldiers. But the
succeeding months were not to give an opportunity for such
occupations.[72]
Added to the natural monotony of a wilderness post, there was
homesickness and suffering during the first winter. The quarters that
had been built were inadequate for protection from the cold of that
climate. "Once during that memorable six months", runs the account of
one of the inhabitants of Cantonment New Hope, "the roof of our cabin
blew off, and the walls seemed about to fall in. My father, sending my
mother and brother to a place of safety, held up the chimney to prevent
a total downfall; while the baby, who had been pushed under the bed in
her cradle, lay there.... until the wind subsided, when, upon being
drawn out from her hiding-place, she evinced great pleasure at the
commotion, and seemed to take it all as something designed especially
for her amusement." That baby lived to recall the incident almost
seventy years later.[73]
Toward the close of the winter there came sickness, chiefly on account
of a lack of proper provisions. Late in the fall Lieutenant Oliver had
left Prairie du Chien with supplies in a keel boat. But the river froze
and the boat was unable to progress farther than the vicinity of
Hastings, Minnesota. Here it was necessary to keep a guard all winter to
protect the food from the Indians and the wolves. The Indians refused to
sell them game; no vegetables could be purchased; and the bread was "two
inches in the barrels thick with mould".[74] With such food it is no
wonder that scurvy, the dreaded disease of all frontier posts, broke out
among the troops. Forty soldiers died before the progress of the disease
was arrested by home-made remedies and groceries brought up by the
sutler.[75]
This visitation of disease left a profound impression upon the
survivors. Henry H. Sibley, who had often spoken with those who passed
through the weary months of suffering and sickness, wrote that "scurvy
broke out in a most malignant form, and raged so violently that, for a
few days, garrison duty was suspended, there being barely well men
enough in the command to attend to the sick, and to the interment of the
dead. So sudden were the attacks, that soldiers in apparent good health
when they went to bed, were found dead in the morning. One man who was
relieved from his tour of sentinel duty, and stretched himself upon the
bench of the guard room, four hours after, when he was called
upon to resume his post, was discovered to be lifeless."[76]
Thinking that much of the sickness was caused by the unhealthful
location, Colonel Leavenworth, on May 5, 1820, moved the soldiers to a
place on the west bank of the Mississippi north of the Minnesota where
there was a great spring of cold water. Here the troops were quartered
in tents--naming their community "Camp Cold Water".[77] The immediate
need was the erection of the permanent post. Colonel Leavenworth chose
for the site a position three hundred yards west of the crest of the
cliff. Some material was brought to this place, but no building was
done. In August Colonel Leavenworth was superseded in command by Colonel
Josiah Snelling, who located the position at the extreme point of land
between the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers.[78] The work of erecting
the buildings was done by the soldiers, it being customary at that time
to pay the soldiers fifteen cents a day in addition to their regular pay
for this extra work.[79]
Steps were taken during the summer of 1820 to obtain the necessary
material. A saw mill was needed to make the lumber with which the
interior of the buildings would be finished and the furniture
constructed. As the water in Minnehaha Creek was very low that year, it
was decided to erect the mill at the Falls of St. Anthony. Some men were
sent up the Mississippi River to Rum River to examine the timber, and
during the winter of 1820-1821 a party of soldiers was employed in
cutting logs and dragging them to the river bank. With the coming
of spring the logs were floated down to the Falls of St. Anthony, where
they were sawed into lumber and then hauled to the fort by teams.[80]
The progress made on the building was slow. On the tenth of September,
1820, the cornerstone was laid.[81] More than a year later, on November
7, 1821, Colonel Snelling wrote to the Indian agent, Lawrence
Taliaferro, that "nothing new has occurred since my return excepting
that the other stone barrack is up & the rafters on."[82] The fort was
partially occupied, probably in the fall of 1822, before all the
surrounding wall had been completed.[83] But it is evident that most of
the fort was finished by July, 1823, for at that time the troops erected
the Indian Council House.[84]
In the meantime other events had been occurring. On July 31, 1820,
Governor Cass of Michigan Territory, who had been on an exploring
expedition to the upper Mississippi, passed down the river and remained
with the troops until the morning of August 2nd. A council was held with
the Indians, during which a peace was made between the Sioux and the
Chippewas. That the garrison had been busy at duties other than erecting
buildings is evident from the fact that Governor Cass found ninety acres
planted with corn and potatoes and wheat. From the garden green peas had
been obtained as early as June 15th, and green corn on July 20th.[85]
In accordance with the plans outlined for the year 1820 it was proposed
to open a road between Council Bluff and the new post on the
upper Mississippi. To survey the route Captain Stephen Watts Kearny led
a party which consisted of four other officers, fifteen soldiers, four
servants, an Indian guide and his wife and papoose, eight mules, and
seven horses. The route led from Council Bluff across what is now the
northern and northwestern part of the State of Iowa to Lake Pepin, and
then along the Mississippi to the new post. From July 25th to July 29th
they remained with Leavenworth's men, visiting the Falls of St. Anthony,
examining the country, and on July 26th going with Lieutenant Green and
Miss Gooding to the east side of the Mississippi. Here Lieutenant Green
and Miss Gooding were married by Colonel Leavenworth, who as Indian
agent for the "Northwest Territory" could perform his duties on the east
bank of the river, but not on the west, which was in the Missouri
Territory.[86]
The fact that the Falls of St. Anthony constituted the most noticeable
landmark of the vicinity led to the application of its name to the
military works. The first official inspection of Fort St. Anthony
occurred some time between May 13, 1824, and June 13, 1824. General
Winfield Scott, as the inspector, was received with all the honor and
entertainment that the frontier post could provide. He left favorably
impressed with the work that had been done.
"I wish to suggest to the general-in-chief," wrote General Scott in his
report, "and through him to the War Department, the propriety of calling
this work _Fort Snelling_, as a just compliment to the meritorious
officer under whom it has been erected. The present name is
foreign to all our associations, and is, besides, geographically
incorrect, as the work stands at the junction of the Mississippi and
Saint Peter's rivers, eight miles below the great falls of the
Mississippi, called after Saint Anthony. Some few years since the
Secretary of War directed that the work at the Council Bluffs should be
called Fort Atkinson in compliment to the valuable services of General
Atkinson on the upper Missouri. The above proposition is made on the
same principle."
A general order on January 7, 1825, directed that the suggested change
should be made. Thereupon Fort Snelling began its career as the guardian
of the Northwest.[87]
III
FORTY YEARS OF FRONTIER DUTY
It was not the intention of the War Department that the influence of the
frontier military post should be limited by the range of the guns
mounted upon its walls. 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 the fort, were to carry the
authority of the government out upon the wild Indian lands, and the
frontier settlements were to look to the soldiers for protection.[88]
How, in its origin, Fort Snelling became part of a comprehensive system
for the protection of the frontier, has been detailed. The events of the
forty years that followed indicate very clearly the wisdom of the men
who chose the site. Every phase of frontier 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 cooeperated with men from other forts, yet these expeditions may
well be considered as part of the history of Fort Snelling. They were a
test of the training received on the parade ground, and the successful
accomplishment of many a difficult duty shows that the post was
fulfilling the objects of those who built it.
Prior to 1848 the governmental organization in the jurisdiction of which
Fort Snelling was located was very weak. When first erected in 1819 the
fort was in the Territory of Missouri (1812-1821). Then followed a
number of years in which it was 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-organized
Territory of Minnesota. Lying far from the seats of government, in a
region of wandering traders and red men, the fort became the exponent of
the government--the only symbol of governmental restriction in a region
almost entirely without law.
During the first years of its existence while the buildings were being
erected and the fort was making its place in the Indian life and the fur
trade of the surrounding region, the frontier was comparatively quiet.
The first outbreak occurred in Illinois and Wisconsin, where the
Winnebagoes were constantly 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
reenforce the garrison of Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien. Three
companies of the Fifth Infantry were sent away from Fort Snelling on the
afternoon of August 18th under the command of Captain Wilcox.[89]
Although no actual conflict occurred, the continued uneasiness
felt because of the presence of the Winnebagoes led the authorities to
remove all the troops from Fort Crawford to the upper post in the fall
of that year.[90]
The lack of soldiers among them intensified the unruly spirit in the
Winnebagoes. In June of the next year two keel boats, the "General
Ashley" and the "O. H. Perry", which were carrying supplies 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 the "O. H. Perry", but refused to
shake hands. Apprehensive of danger on the return journey, Colonel
Snelling furnished the crews with guns and cartridges before the descent
was commenced.[91]
There soon arrived at Fort Snelling a letter from John Marsh, the
sub-agent at Prairie du Chien. It stated that rumors were current that
Prairie du Chien was to be attacked and that the Sioux and Winnebagoes
threatened to kill Taliaferro "and any American that they can find at a
distance from the Fort". The letter closed with the request that 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 village, they had seen
the keel boats coming down the river. With their fighting blood
up they attacked the "O. H. Perry", and in a battle which lasted several
hours they killed two of the crew and lost seven of their own warriors.
The report of this attack, together with the murder near Prairie du
Chien, spread consternation among the white men.[93]
Without delay Colonel Snelling with four companies started down the
river.[94] A few days after reaching Prairie du Chien, he was reenforced
by troops brought up from St. Louis by Colonel Atkinson. It was thought
necessary that Fort Snelling should be maintained during the critical
period, and as it was short of provisions, Colonel Snelling 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 in two keel boats and nine mackinac
boats, arriving at Fort Crawford on August 21st. The Indians, overawed
by the rapidity of these military movements and the size of the force
sent against them, immediately became peaceable. As a precaution,
however, Major Fowle was kept at Fort Crawford, and the post was
provisioned for a year.[95]
During the next twenty years the force maintained at Fort Snelling was
small, and the garrison was occupied in routine tasks, the regulation of
Indian affairs, and the fur trade. At the time 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 government did not think it advisable to
formally accept the proffered help, although a number of the Sioux did
take part in pursuing the remnants of Sacs who succeeded in crossing the
river.[96]
In June, 1848, the company of infantry stationed at Fort Snelling
received an urgent call to come to Wabasha's Prairie--near Winona,
Minnesota. The Winnebago Indians were being transferred from their
former home in the Turkey Valley region in Iowa to a 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 forces which had been hastily brought together to
force the Winnebagoes to continue their march. There were volunteers
from Crawford County, Wisconsin, dragoons from Fort Atkinson, Iowa, and
the infantry from Fort Snelling, besides sixty armed teamsters.
These military forces lay encamped, separated from the Indians by a
slough. In the morning a deputation of Indians came to ask the meaning
of the martial appearance of the whites when all _they_ desired was a
council. This suggestion of a council was quickly assented 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 the agent and were taken up to Fort
Snelling. This was an opening wedge, for when the steamboat returned
1700 were ready to move. The total journey of three hundred and ten
miles from the old to the new home occupied the time from June 8th to
July 30th, 1848.[97]
By the next summer they were ready to return--anywhere, but especially
to Wisconsin, their earliest home.[98] In July the whole tribe,
stimulated by whiskey, started; but Governor Ramsey called on Colonel
Loomis of Fort Snelling for aid, and a force under Captain Monroe
proceeded to the north where their presence aided in quieting the
disturbers. Again, on September 9th about a hundred had approached
within sixteen miles of St. Paul, when 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 three hundred Winnebagoes
in camp near the mouth of the Black River.[100] The need for a company
of dragoons at Fort Snelling was imperative. The next summer it was
obtained, and in 1851 this military force was described as being
"an indispensable and invaluable auxiliary."[101] Not until 1855 was the
Winnebago spirit of migration broken, and then only after a new
reservation had been obtained for them at the mouth of the Blue Earth
River.[102]
In his report of November 25, 1844, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
called attention to the fact that no longer was there any need of
entertaining fears on account of the visits made by American Indians to
the Canadian posts, as these pilgrimages were indulged in only by a few
"worthless vagrants". But an evil of a different character was imminent.
Twice a year hundreds of Red River half-breeds--_bois brules_--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. During the summer of 1844 a
half-breed had been killed by a party of Yankton Sioux, and the invaders
had retaliated by killing eight Sioux of another band. This so inflamed
the Indians that they went upon the war path and without stopping to
reason about the matter, they attacked a party of whites whom they met
on Otter Tail Lake.[103]
To hunt the buffalo freely, even on foreign soil, seemed to the _bois
brules_ to be their natural right. On the pemmican which they made from
these buffaloes they depended for their winter's food. Five
hundred and forty carts 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 party. Thirteen hundred and
seventy-five buffalo tongues were counted as the result of one day's
hunt in 1840.[104] It was estimated that every year these Red River
hunters killed twenty thousand buffaloes on American soil.[105]
In this there was a real grievance. Though small in itself the incident
could easily develop into a war when there were other factors urging in
the same direction.[106] The exact condition of affairs on the border
was so confused that the United States made occasional military displays
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 Companies
B and I of the First Regiment of Dragoons. But the difficulty was that
while the invaders would promise to remain off American soil and would
retire as soon as a military force appeared, yet no sooner would the
troops depart than they would be back again on the hunting grounds.[107]
When complaints continued to come in the Adjutant General proposed to
establish a post on the Red River. As a preliminary movement Brevet
Major Samuel Woods, Captain of the Sixth Infantry located at Fort
Snelling, was ordered to proceed with Company D of the dragoons to the
border and 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 soldiers reached the collection of Indian lodges and the
trading establishment that was known as Pembina. During the twenty-five
days spent at this point observations were made of the topographical
features of the land, the character of the Indians, and the pursuits of
the half-breeds.
Major Woods urged the American Indians and half-breeds to prevent by
force the invasions, promising that the United States would support
them. But it would be useless, he reported, to build a fort at Pembina
unless 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
necessity might arise. The return to the fort occupied twenty-three and
a half days, and on September 18th the total journey of almost a
thousand miles was completed with the loss of only one horse and one
mule.[108]
During the next few years conditions remained unchanged, and as the
settlement of the Minnesota and Mississippi valleys was pushing the
Indian tribes farther to the westward, more and bitter conflicts
with the half-breeds would be liable to occur. In order to give a final
warning to the foreign hunters and to select a 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 country, the route followed from Fort Snelling was
practically the same as that of Major Woods; but instead of proceeding
by the usual route northward to Pembina, a detour was made to Lake
Mini-Waken (Devil's Lake). On the return the less travelled and more
difficult road on the east side of the Red River was followed.
On August 19th the trail of the annual hunting party was crossed; but
the nine hundred men, women, and children who had made the trip had
returned to their homes three weeks before, and kept away from the
military party. Since no warning could 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
vicinity of the principal trading post--Fort Garry--a sufficient supply
of oats for his troops. The half-breeds declined to bring the grain,
giving as their excuse that they did not desire to trespass on American
soil when warned to keep off.[109]
Not only to the north did the troops from Fort Snelling make
expeditions. The wide range of its influence is illustrated by the task
which occupied the attention of its soldiers during the summer 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 of a great number of
Indians who were destroying the timber, removing the section corners,
and even demanding rent from some of the settlers--claiming that they
owned the land on the Iowa River.[110]
To investigate conditions and to report upon what steps would be
necessary to remove the cause of complaint, Brevet Major Samuel Woods,
stationed at Fort Snelling, was ordered to proceed to the State of Iowa.
On the twenty-fifth of September he left for Prairie du Chien, and
arriving here set out for Fort Atkinson, thinking that probably the
Winnebagoes were the Indians causing the trouble. But 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 Atkinson there were only two
settlements--one, consisting of a few families, high upon the Volga
River, and the other larger in numbers clustered about some mills
on the Wapsipinicon River. About fifteen miles north of Marion the
inhabitants became more numerous. Here were found Indians--Sacs and
Foxes, Pottawattomies, and Winnebagoes--but they were not hostile and
their presence caused no objection.
It was at Iowa City that Major Woods heard that the inhabitants on the
Iowa, English, and Skunk Rivers had been making the loudest complaints.
Accordingly he started up the 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 and by
force broke up the Indian encampment. Only one lodge remained, that on
the lands of a farmer who gave permission to three of the red men to
live under his protection.
The total number of Indians, Major Woods reported, consisted of five or
six hundred Sacs and Foxes, Pottawattomies, and Winnebagoes. Among these
the Sacs and Foxes were the most numerous. 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,
sometimes going back to the Missouri to get their annuities. The
Winnebagoes were those who had escaped when the tribe was being
transferred to the new reservation north of Fort Snelling.
The complaints against these Indians were that they destroyed a great
deal of timber, removed the surveyors' landmarks, killed the game,
annoyed the settlers, and that when intoxicated they were an
actual source of danger. Believing that these reasons were well founded,
Major Woods advised that the Indians be removed as soon as possible.
Conditions did not demand a winter campaign, but preparations should be
made for the removal during the early summer.[111]
In the early part of April of the next year it was known that two
companies of infantry from Fort Snelling, and one company of dragoons
from Fort Gaines had been detailed for this task.[112] On the twelfth of
May the "Highland Mary" left Fort Snelling, having on board 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 emigration." Proceeding to the vicinity
of Marengo, a council was held with the Indians. But the latter marched
into the council ten abreast carrying their war clubs and manifesting
such a hostile disposition that it was impossible for Major Woods to
accomplish anything.[114]
For a while it seemed that active military operations would be
necessary. The Indians becoming convinced that this would be the result,
and fearing that all the expenses of the campaign would be deducted from
the annuities of the tribe, suggested to two men of the neighborhood--a
Mr. Steen and a Mr. Greenly--that they would go back 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 to pay three dollars and fifty cents.
Five hundred dollars was to be advanced to pay for the provisions of the
party. Upon June 6th a second council was held with the Indians, during
which Major Woods impressed upon Chief Poweshiek and his men the
necessity of their returning and the advisability of their doing it
peaceably.[115]
During the month of July the Indians started upon their journey. For
several days they encamped near Fort Des Moines, and on July 16th
seventy of the warriors, armed and painted, paraded on horseback through
the streets of the town to the public square where for an hour they
danced for the amusement of the two or three hundred interested
spectators in the frontier town.[116]
These events made necessary a change in the plans of the troops. Company
E of the Sixth Infantry remained at their camp on the Iowa River for
some time, but upon the last day of July set out under 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 designated place and began the erection
of a fort which they named Fort Clarke in honor of Colonel Clarke
the commanding officer of the Sixth Infantry. The name, however, was
soon changed to Fort Dodge.
The company of dragoons was occupied during August and September in
making a tour of the western part of the State of Iowa, and it was not
until October that the cavalry company and the other infantry company
returned to their station at Fort Snelling.[117]
Occupation for the company of dragoons was furnished during the next
summer when Governor Ramsey was sent to Pembina to draw up a treaty with
the Pillager band of Chippewa Indians. On August 18, 1851, the party set
out from Fort Snelling. Besides 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
difficult and the dragoons were kept busy repairing the roads over the
swamp lands and dragging with ropes the heavy wagons over the quickly
made causeways. The treaty which was made after this difficult journey
was not ratified by the Senate.[118]
The wonderful expansion of the Nation, which occurred in the latter half
of the fifth decade of the century, turned all eyes toward the fertile
valleys and the mountains of fabulous wealth on the Pacific Coast. Even
before the acquisition of this territory some visionary 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 soon realized. But
sectional interests prevented agreement upon any certain route, and it
was decided to survey the most promising and choose the one agreed upon
by the engineers. Accordingly, the army appropriation bill of 1853
provided $150,000 for this purpose.[120]
Isaac I. Stevens, the newly appointed Governor of Washington Territory,
led the party which examined the country between the parallels of
forty-seven and forty-nine degrees north latitude--called the Northern
Pacific Survey. He left Washington, D. C, on May 9, 1853, and reached
St. Paul on May 27th. According to his instructions he was authorized to
call upon one sergeant, two corporals, one musician, 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 River Trail, and then across the
prairies to Fort Union, where on August 1st they were joined by others
who had been sent up the Missouri with supplies. Fort Benton was reached
on September 1st There they remained until the twelfth of the month when
Lieutenant Saxton, leading a similar party eastward from
Vancouver, arrived. Thus a survey from the Mississippi to the Pacific
had been completed.[123]
On the journey the entire party had been divided into small groups, who
conducted surveys and explorations in various directions. To each of
these groups were detailed a few of the dragoons, who were in all
respects an integral part of the expedition and not merely a guard for
protection. Accordingly, no special mention of their work was made in
the report.[124]
After thirty years, the distinction of being the most northwestern post
in the upper Mississippi region was lost by Fort Snelling. Other
military stations were erected, and thereafter many of its former
activities were conducted from these stations on the extreme frontier.
Yet in everything contributed by these newer posts, the older had a
part; accounts of them reveal their dependence on Fort Snelling, the
parent post.
As early as 1844 the Secretary of War had reported that plans were being
made to erect two new forts between Lake Superior and the River St.
Peter's.[125] But nothing was done at this time. By a treaty of October
13, 1846, the Winnebagoes living on the "Neutral Ground" in the Turkey
River Valley of the Iowa country agreed 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.[127] This was the area agreed on by the government as
being suitable for the Winnebagoes. In view of the reputation of
unruliness possessed by this tribe, and the fact that they were to be
placed between the warring tribes--the Sioux and the Chippewas--the
establishment of a post on the reservation was thought desirable.
The transfer of the tribe took place during the summer of 1848; and in
the same fall Brigadier General George M. Brooke of St. Louis,
accompanied by a squadron of dragoons, chose a point opposite the 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, they were withdrawn
to Fort Snelling, where the winter was passed.[129] In the spring the
troops returned, and Fort Gaines--rechristened Fort Ripley--was occupied
on the thirteenth of April, 1849.[130]
But this post alone was unable to keep the Winnebagoes in check. They
celebrated the first fourth of July by attacking a frontier store and
"causing one gentleman to escape _en dishabille_ to the woods, where he
danced to the tune of the mosquitoes 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 fort was
abandoned, but Indian disturbances during the summer caused a
detachment to be sent from the older post. These troops remained at that
point until in the summer of 1858 they were transferred to the newly
founded Fort Abercrombie.[133]
The treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota, concluded in 1851,
concentrated the Sioux Indians on a long irregular reservation along the
upper Minnesota River.[134] The Indians were not transferred until the
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 Snelling,
and Captain Dana of the quartermaster's department, escorted by a troop
of dragoons, selected a suitable site on the north side of the Minnesota
River, a dozen miles upstream from the town of New Ulm.
On February 24, 1853, seven privates of Company D of the First Dragoons,
and two sergeants and thirteen privates of the Sixth Infantry were sent
to the location to begin the erection 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
Monroe and became part of the permanent garrison of newly-founded Fort
Ridgely. One other company came up from Fort Dodge--the post in Iowa
which was abandoned with this withdrawal.[135]
Colonel C. F. Smith, who led the expedition from Fort Snelling to the
Red River during the summer of 1856, was instructed to recommend
a site for a post. His choice of Graham'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,
writing from Fort Snelling, gave among his reasons for the choice of
Graham's Point "the additional advantage of greater facility for
receiving stores from the depot here".[136]
With the building of these posts, Fort Snelling lost much of its
importance. The garrison was small and the fort was almost nothing more
than a depot for supplying the more advanced forts with food, clothing,
and ammunition.[137] With the decline of its military position, the idea
became prevalent that some day it would be abandoned entirely, and the
land thrown open to settlement.
The neighboring cities of St. Paul, Minneapolis, and St. Anthony were in
the throes of real estate speculation. There were some who saw in Fort
Snelling a site more advantageous than any of these. "It is a position
which has attracted 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 Representatives. "Whatever witnesses in this
case may have differed upon as to other matters, they nearly all agree
that, as a point for a town site, it possesses superior advantages over
any other in that part of the country."[138]
Successful efforts were made to secure this site. On June 6, 1857, Mr.
William King Heiskell, a commissioner appointed by the Secretary of War,
sold 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 of July. Other parties who were interested in securing
the site were not aware that the sale was to be made until everything
had been accomplished.[139]
Immediately there arose the cry of graft: the Republicans saw in the
transaction the corruption of the existing Democratic regime. A
committee was appointed by the House of Representatives to investigate
the matter, and the testimony 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 admirable for a city; a few stated that it
possessed no such advantages. Some said that it was necessary as a
supply station for the upper posts; others insisted that these posts
could be supplied more cheaply by a direct route.[140]
Bitter debates marked the consideration of the report. The objects,
character, and ability of the witnesses were questioned. One member of
the House said that "Fort Snelling is a very elegant appanage to very
elegant gentlemen, who have a very elegant place for parade and
show."[141] 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 upon the fat of the land, without anything under God's
heaven to do. Society was near at hand in a city populous, and
furnishing all the luxuries of life. They of course did not want to
surrender such quarters and such comforts for the hardships and trials
of a frontier station."[142]
Finally, on June second the whole matter was laid on the table. On May
27, 1858, the troops had been withdrawn,[143] and on July 19, 1858, the
quartermaster turned the buildings over to Mr. Steele. But with the
opening of the Civil War Fort Snelling was used by 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 matter was again taken up. It was finally
adjusted in an agreement whereby Mr. Steele retained the greater part of
the land, and the government kept the buildings and 1521.20 acres
surrounding the fort. Later some of the land was re-purchased from Mr.
Steele.[144]
The history of Old Fort Snelling closes with the removal of the troops
in 1858. The story of its use during the Civil War, of the part it
played during the Sioux massacre of 1862, of its influence throughout
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
this volume. The life of the new Fort Snelling revives the traditions of
patriotism, loyalty, and sacrifice, which have centered about the post
since that day in August, 1819, which witnessed its beginning.
IV
LORDS OF THE NORTH
An old settler, speaking of the expulsion of the squatters on the
military reservation remarked: "At that time, and both before and since,
the commanding officers of the fort were the lords of the north. They
ruled supreme. The citizens in the neighborhood of the fort were liable
at any time to be thrust into the guard-house. While the chief of the
fort was the king, the subordinate officers were the princes, and
persons have been deprived of their liberty and imprisoned by those
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 agency of government in the region, and so the
commanding officer was indeed the supreme ruler in so far as he directed
the policy and activities of the post.
Interest in Old Fort Snelling is not primarily in the logs and stones
which made up its building, but in the men and women who lived within
its walls. Many were the lives influenced by a residence in its
barracks. Characters were formed by the stern rigors of frontier
service. Far from busy cities, in the tiresome 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 the Northwest. It is impossible to consider every man who might be
classed among the "Lords of the North", but a review of the careers of a
few of them indicates the type of men whose natural ability was
supplemented by the self-confidence and the grim determination which are
the products of frontier service.[146]
The memory of the man who led the troops to the mouth of the Minnesota
River in 1819 is commemorated by a fort and a city in another State. The
trials which he endured during that first winter at Cantonment New Hope
were only harbingers of greater difficulties which were to bring to him
the death 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 Chippewa and at Niagara Falls. After the war he
continued in the army, being appointed lieutenant colonel of the Fifth
United States Infantry on February 10, 1818. After conducting the troops
up the Mississippi River in 1819 and remaining through the winter, he
was superseded by Colonel Snelling.
Expeditions and Indian duties occupied his attention during the
next few years, and in May, 1827, he established "Cantonment
Leavenworth" on the west bank of the Missouri River. On February 8,
1832, the name was changed to Fort Leavenworth. During a campaign
against the Pawnee Indians, who were harassing the caravans of the Santa
Fe 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 spices and sent by way of St. Louis, New
Orleans, and New York City, to Delhi, New York, where it remained until
in 1902 it was reinterred in the national cemetery at Fort Leavenworth.
A granite shaft some twelve feet high marks his resting-place.[147]
The monument to the man under whose direction the fort was built is the
modern military establishment named Fort Snelling. The erection of this
fort was the last achievement of a life which, though comparatively
brief, had already accomplished much. Josiah Snelling was born in
Boston, Massachusetts, in 1782. His first commission was as a first
lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry and bears the date of May 3, 1808. In
the Battle of Tippecanoe 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 Snelling, at the head of his
company."[148] During the War of 1812 he served with Hull's army about
Detroit, and when the fort was surrendered he was taken a prisoner and
brought to Canada. But he was exchanged and ordered to Plattsburg, and
later was sent to Fort Erie on the staff of General George Izard. At the
close of the war he was retained as lieutenant colonel of the Sixth
Infantry and was stationed at Plattsburg for four years.[149]
Bravery and impetuosity were two of Colonel Snelling's traits. During
the campaign about Detroit he was married to Abigail Hunt by the
chaplain of General Hull's army. The general and other officers were
present. An account of the life of his wife states that "the ceremony
had been performed but a few moments when the drum beat to arms; and
Capt. 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 order,' said the General."[150] The ignoble surrender of Detroit
by General Hull was deplored by many of the men under him. The story is
told that while General Hull's aid was trying to place the white flag in
position he called, "Snelling, come and help me fix this flag."
Whereupon that officer replied, "No, sir; I will not soil my hands with
that flag."[151]
On June 1, 1819, he was appointed colonel of the Fifth Infantry, and
ordered to St. Louis, where the following winter was passed. In the
summer he started up the Mississippi, but was detained at Prairie du
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 the post,
when not absent on official business. Except when he had been drinking
too much, he was a favorite with the troops, and as he had red hair and
was somewhat bald, they nicknamed him the "prairie-hen".[152]
In the fall of 1827 the Fifth Infantry was withdrawn from the post and
was succeeded by the First Infantry. The Snelling family located at St.
Louis, while Colonel Snelling proceeded to Washington to settle some
accounts. While here he was suddenly taken sick and died on August 20,
1828.[153]
The man whose name was applied to the post which has become so historic
was a typical soldier of his day. Along with the bravery and zeal of the
army, he possessed also its failings. "Of myself I have little to say",
he wrote on one occasion. "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 government: I
have obtained my rank in the ordinary course of promotion, and have
retained it by doing my duty; and I really flatter myself that I still
possess the confidence of the government, and the respect of those who
serve with and under me."[154]
Daniel Webster, speaking in the Senate on July 9, 1850, remarked that it
was not in Indian wars that heroes were celebrated, but it was there
that they were formed.[155] The occasion of this speech was the death of
the President, Zachary Taylor, who had served for many years upon the
Indian frontier. As lieutenant 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 he received in
Old Fort Snelling was only a part of that which gave him the name of
"Rough and Ready". It is a remarkable fact that at Fort Snelling he was
remembered less for his own actions than for those of his four pretty
daughters whose presence spread commotion in the hearts of the homesick
young officers.[156]
In 1837 the First Infantry was withdrawn and part of the Fifth Infantry
returned to its former station. Among the familiar faces seen about the
garrison again was that of a man whose eccentricities and
personality are closely associated with the life of the fort.[157] In
reporting the 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 the most human, most lovable, and most
energetic men who ever reviewed troops on the parade ground of Old Fort
Snelling. Only from July 15, 1837, until August 20, 1837, was he in
command, but for many years he was a familiar figure around the barracks
and in the surrounding country.
Hunting was his favorite pastime, and many a time the prairie rang with
the yelping of the twenty or twenty-five dogs which he kept under the
care of a special negro servant at the fort. His deadly aim was known to
all. An army officer who insulted him was severely wounded in a duel; he
often played the part of William 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
position. Captain Scott came along and took aim, whereupon the coon
asked, "Who is that?" The reply was, "My name is Scott." "Scott? what
Scott?" continued the coon. "Captain Martin Scott." "Are you Captain
Martin Scott?" There was a pause before the voice in the tree-top
continued, "Then hold on--don't shoot; I may as well come down."[159]
Martin Scott was born in Bennington, Vermont, on January 17, 1788. His
family was extremely poor, but because of his freedom from army
vices--gambling and 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 War he received several promotions, and held
a commission as lieutenant colonel when he met death leading his
regiment in the battle of Molino del Rey.[160]
A newspaper correspondent who went over the field of battle, saw a
gray-headed soldier spreading the blanket over the corpse of a fallen
comrade. "I rode up to him", wrote the reporter to his newspaper, "and
asked him whether that was an officer. He looked up, and every lineament
of his face betokening the greatest grief, replied, 'you never asked 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
particular--'They have killed him--they will be paid for this--if it had
only been me--I have served with him almost four enlistments but what
will his poor family say?' And as he concluded thus the tears coursed
down his furrowed cheeks, and the swelling of his bosom showed
how deeply he was affected by the death of his veteran and gallant
commander."[161]
When the Fifth Infantry was transferred in 1840 there was a second
home-coming at Fort Snelling in that it was succeeded by parts of the
First Infantry which remained until the year 1848. Captain Seth Eastman
was in command at four different times during this 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 until 1850, when he was called to Washington to
illustrate the _History, Condition, and Future Prospects of the Indian
Tribes of the United States_. Active service on the frontier and in the
Civil War followed, and in 1866 he was breveted a brigadier
general.[163]
Mary Henderson Eastman, his wife, also commands attention. The intimate
association of the fort with the surrounding Indians brought to her
knowledge many incidents connected with their life 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, which he describes so picturesquely in
_Hiawatha_.[164] Other literary work was done by Mrs. Eastman, one of
her volumes being _Aunt Phyllis's Cabin_, a reply to Mrs. Stowe's _Uncle
Tom's Cabin_.[165]
Parts of the Sixth Infantry were garrisoned in Fort Snelling from 1848
to 1852, and beginning in 1850 there was also a company of the First
Dragoons who engaged in many of the expeditions narrated in the
preceding chapter. Among the officers who commanded during 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 this company was Captain W. T. Sherman
who, after serving in the Indian wars and the Mexican War, rose to
prominence in the Civil War during which he was brevetted a major
general. After the Civil War he was appointed commander of the
Department of the East.[167]
Among the last troops which occupied Fort Snelling before it was
abandoned in 1858 was a part of the Tenth Infantry. Major E. R. S. Canby
of this regiment was in command of the fort during the summer and autumn
of 1856. His was a wonderful record of achievement upon the frontier and
in the Civil War, and like Colonel Leavenworth he met his death in
service. Born in Kentucky the 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 to
Indian Territory. After a few years in garrison duty and the recruiting
service he participated in the Mexican War, being promoted "for gallant
and meritorious service" at Contreras, Cherubusco, and the Belen Gate of
the City of Mexico. On March 3, 1855, a promotion made him major in the
Tenth Infantry; and it was while holding this position that he served at
Fort Snelling.
In 1858 Major Canby was transferred to Fort Bridger, Utah, where he
commanded an expedition against the Navajo Indians. While stationed at
Fort Defiance, New Mexico, during the early years of the Civil War, he
repelled the Confederate general, Sibley, who left one-half of his force
behind him in killed, wounded, and prisoners. On March 31, 1862, he 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 half
million dollars worth of property.[168] On July 17th General Canby was
put in charge of the Federal troops in the city, and he was later able
to enforce the provisions of the draft without difficulties.[169]
Following this came an appointment as commander of the military division
of West Mississippi, where he was wounded by Confederate guerrillas.
At the close of the war, Edward Canby, then a major general of
volunteers was sent to the far West as commander of the Department of
the Columbia. Here the United States was 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
parties should be unarmed, but in the middle of the negotiations
"Captain Jack" suddenly drew a revolver from his breast, and shot Canby
through the head killing him instantly.[170]
Other officers at the post who had real power were the garrison
physicians. One of these, Dr. John Emerson was a giant in body and
impulsive in spirit. On a certain day in early winter when the
quartermaster was distributing stoves to the officers, Dr. Emerson asked
for one for his negro servant. This the quartermaster refused, saying
that there were not enough in store; whereupon the doctor insinuated
that the statement 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 Major Plympton, the commanding
officer, who arrested Dr. Emerson. This episode gave rise to a great
commotion in the garrison. One group who wanted some excitement
urged that only in blood could the quarrel be settled; while the other
group sought for peace, knowing that there was no other physician nearer
than Prairie du Chien. Not for several days was the quarrel patched up,
and then the terms were never made public.[171]
The cause of all this trouble was Dred Scott, man of color, and the
slave of Dr. Emerson. He had been brought to Fort Snelling by his master
in 1836, and here he was married to Harriet, also colored, who had been
sold by Major Taliaferro to the doctor. When Dr. Emerson was transferred
to Missouri, he took 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 avoid an appearance in the courts,
made over the control of Scott to John F. A. Sanford, and the case was
finally brought to the Supreme Court of the United States. Thus Old Fort
Snelling was connected with the case of _Scott vs. Sanford_, which was
so important among the events leading up to the Civil War.[172]
Were battles and military operations alone considered, the annals of
Fort Snelling would comprise few pages; and were only military men
characterized one of the most potent factors in the life of the fort
would be omitted. The influence of the fort on the Indians was
felt more through the quiet daily work of the Indian agent who was their
official friend. Although he was an officer entirely 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 the Indian agents to the military
department were more clearly defined. The Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, the Indian agents, and the sub-agents were given the right to
call upon the military forces to remove all trespassers in the Indian
country, to procure the arrest and trial of all Indians accused of
committing any crime, and to break up any distillery set up in the
Indian country.[175]
By the act of March 3, 1849, the Department of the Interior was
organized. Section Five of the act stipulated that "the Secretary of the
Interior shall exercise the supervisory and appellate 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 cooeperation between the two branches of the
government service, although the commander at Fort Snelling intimated to
the agent that his privileges were "not of right but by courtesy".[177]
One name more than any other is associated with the agency at Fort
Snelling--usually called the agency of St. Peter's. From 1820 to
1840 regiments came and went, and the officers who ruled 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--Lawrence Taliaferro. His was a
lasting influence--lasting because of the position he held in the
memories of his wards and his associates, and lasting because of the
records that he left.
To the Indians he was a real "Father". Americans, Scotch, Sioux, and
French could all find within his breast, they said, a kindred spirit,
and they bestowed upon him the name of "Four Hearts" because of the
impartiality of his actions to all nationalities.[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.
We have lost confidence in the promises of our Great Father, and his
people; bad men have nearly destroyed us.... We failed to get a friend
in anyone like you; they all joined the traders. We know your heart, it
feels for your old children."[179]
Those who were associated with him at the fort also had kind words for
him. "He belonged to a class more common then than now", remarked the
son of Colonel Bliss. "He imagined it to be his imperative duty to 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 dividing the
profits."[180] Of this honesty Taliaferro wrote: "I have the Sad
Consolation of leaving after twenty Seven years--the public Service as
poor as when first I entered--The only evidence of my integrity".[181]
No one can write of Fort Snelling without using the papers which
Lawrence Taliaferro left. The diary kept by him during these twenty
years shows the meager pleasures and grim duties of his task. Of this
diary only a few fragmentary pages are extant--three roughly bound
collections 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
relations and the best time for planting potatoes.[182] His wide
acquaintance and the great extent of territory which his agency covered
led to correspondence with many men. These letters also passed through a
fire, and those that were rescued are now bound in four volumes.[183]
His reports to General William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs
at St. Louis, were forwarded to Washington where they are now kept in
the files of the Indian 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 until a few years ago, when some
of them were found in the hands of a junk dealer in Lawrence, Kansas,
and were rescued--a great gain to the history of the West.[185]
Many years after he closed his connection with the agency Lawrence
Taliaferro wrote an "Autobiography"--a narrative that shows all the
quaintness and egotism of the man. "Not until after the year 1840", he
wrote "did the government become unfortunate in the selection 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 Lawrence Taliaferro was born on February 28,
1794. At the age of eighteen he joined the army and served through the
War of 1812, being a first lieutenant when it closed. Although he
received no other promotion he was always known among his associates as
"Major".[187]
He was appointed Indian agent for St. Peter's on March 27, 1819, and on
April 1, 1819, he accepted--resigning the same day from the army.[188]
He reached his new station probably in the summer of 1820, 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 war. In 1824 he resigned
because of this ill-health, and although he continued in service,
Governor Clark at one time wrote to the Secretary of War that "his fate
is considered as very doubtful."[190]
As early as 1831 he confided to his diary that "there is something of a
Combination of Persons at work day after day to pick at my Actions both
public and private".[191] His resignation finally came in 1839, and he
closed his connection with the Department on January 1, 1840, because he
could no longer endure the machinations of the 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 Rip Van Winkle; after a nap of fifteen
years, we awoke in the midst of _fast_ times. We truly felt bewildered
when we found all the haunts and resting-places of the once noble sons
of the forest, covered by cities, towns, and hamlets. We asked but few
questions, being to our mind received as a strange animal; if nothing
worse."[193]
Among the others who served before 1858 as Indian agent were Amos J.
Bruce, R. G. Murphy, and Nathaniel McLean. The influx of whites had
greatly increased the difficulties of their position, and the memory of
their former agent made the Indians suspicious of their new advisers.
The Governor of the Territory became the Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, and his presence so near the agency took from the agent much of
his power.[194]
Scott Campbell, the interpreter at Fort Snelling, was the
intermediary between the Indians and their lords. He was a half-breed
whom Meriwether Lewis had met on his expedition up the Missouri River.
He took the boy with him back to St. Louis; and when 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 indispensable. From August, 1825, to April, 1826, he
was engaged in the fur trade, but was lured back into service by a
salary of thirty-four dollars per month and one ration per day. By 1843,
however, he had become such a drunkard that he had to be dismissed.[196]
The veteran missionary, S. W. Pond, in recalling early days wrote that
"Scott Campbell no longer sits smoking his long pipe, and conversing in
low tones with the listless loungers around the old Agency House; but
who that resided in this country thirty or forty years ago can pass by
the old stone houses near Fort Snelling and not think of Major
Taliaferro and of his interpreter?"[197]
And who can pass the Old Round Tower without thinking of those men who
as officers at Fort Snelling ruled supreme over a vast region, and who
left the fort for places of greater trust and greater influence?
V
A SOLDIER'S WORLD
Instead of a world of city streets and country towns, of tilled fields
and rivers busy with commerce, the raw recruit at Old Fort Snelling
entered upon a world of stone barracks and Indian tepees, of tangled
prairies and rushing rivers.[198] The landing was directly under the
cliff which towered above to a height which to many a wanderer in a
frail canoe seemed twice the one hundred and six feet which the
scientist's instruments ascribed to it.[199] In later years a stairway
led to the quarters of the commanding officer, but the wagon road which
crept upwards along the sandstone wall--"nearly as white as
loaf-sugar"[200]--where the swallows flew in and out from their holes,
gained the summit at the rear of the fort.
Following the road through the gate, and passing between the buildings
to the center of the parade ground, the recruit probably paused to look
about him.[201] Visible in the openings between the buildings was the
stone wall about ten feet high which surrounded the barracks, quarters,
and storehouses. This wall took the place of the picket-stockade which
was so prominent a feature in earlier and ruder fortifications.
Conforming to the arrangement of the buildings which it enclosed, the
wall was diamond-shaped, one point being at the edge of the
promontory where the valley of the Minnesota River met that of the
Mississippi River. A second point was on the edge of the steep bluff
which rose from the Mississippi. A third point, at a distance of about
four hundred and fifty feet directly opposite the second, was on the
summit of the Minnesota bluff. The fourth point was situated on the
level ground of the plateau, at a distance of about seven hundred feet
from the first point.
As he stood in the middle of the parade ground and gazed beyond the pump
and the magazine at the western or fourth point, the recruit saw rising
to a height twice that of the wall, the Old Round Tower. To-day this
tower is a vine-clad relic--a vestige remaining from the days of the
past. But to the soldier of Old Fort Snelling it was a more practical
structure--a place of lookout from which he was often to scan the swells
of the prairie for approaching Indians or returning comrades. At the
second and third points were blockhouses--buildings of stone, each
giving a view of the river below it. At the first point there was also a
tower--a wooden lookout platform at the very edge of the precipice from
which was visible the landscape surrounding the fort.
But the soldier was doubtless more interested in the buildings in which
he was to live. The barracks for the men were under the north wall and
consisted of two buildings one story in height. The larger of these,
which was intended to accommodate two companies was divided
into sets, each set having on the main floor an orderly-room and three
squad-rooms, while below in the basement were a mess-room and a kitchen.
The other barrack was intended to be occupied by one company only; and
the orderly-room, squad-rooms, mess-rooms, and a kitchen were on the
same floor. The cellars below were damp and were used only for storage
purposes.
[Illustration: PLAN OF OLD FORT SNELLING
From a survey by Captain Arthur Williams, reproduced in the _Collections
of the Minnesota Historical Society_, Vol. VIII, opposite p. 430]
Occupying the same position under the south wall, and facing the
barracks, were two other buildings, similar in appearance. In one of
these the officers' quarters were located. It was divided into twelve
sets, each consisting of two rooms, the front one sixteen by fourteen
feet, and the back one, eight by fifteen and a half feet. In the
basement were located kitchens for each set. The other building
contained the offices of the commanding officer, the paymaster, the
quartermaster, and the commissary. Here was a room used by the post
school, and another filled with harness. An ordnance sergeant and five
laundresses found quarters in the same structure.
The quarters of the commanding officer with the flag staff directly in
front, faced the parade ground and the Old Round Tower. There were four
rooms on the main floor and in the basement were kitchens and pantries.
Other buildings were also included within the fort. The storehouse of
the commissary department was located near the southern blockhouse; and
on either side of the gate were two buildings, shunned by all--the
guardhouse and the hospital.
Such was the plan of the fort, convenient in arrangement and beautiful
in appearance; but the report of an official inspection in 1827
complained that "the main points of _defence against an enemy_ appear to
have been in some respects sacrificed in the effort to secure the
comfort and convenience of the troops in peace. These are important
considerations; but at an exposed frontier post the primary object must
be _security against the attack of an enemy_. Health and comfort come
next. The buildings are too large, too numerous, and extending over a
space entirely too great; enclosing a uselessly large parade, five times
greater than is at all desirable in that climate."[202]
A traveller who at a later day was entertained within the fort wrote of
it facetiously in these words: "The idea is further suggested, that the
strong stone wall was rather erected to keep the garrison in, than the
enemy out. Though adapted for mounting cannon if needful, the walls were
unprovided with those weapons; and the only piece of ordnance that I
detected out of the magazine, was an old churn thrust gallantly through
one of the embrasures. We were however far from complaining of the extra
expense and taste which the worthy officer whose name it bears had
expended on the erection of Fort Snelling, as it is in every way an
addition to the sublime landscape in which it is situated."[203]
But an examination of the contents of the magazine would have revealed
weapons more formidable than churns. Among the equipment reported in
1834 one reads of two iron twelve-pounder cannon of the garrison
type; three six-pounder iron cannon of the field type; and two five and
eight-tenths inch iron howitzers. There was also equipment for these
pieces of artillery--carriages, sponges and rammers, lead aprons, dark
lanterns, gunners' belts, gunners' haversacks, and tarpaulins. There
were stored ready for service, 440 balls for the twelve-pounders, 1255
balls for the six-pounders, 546 pounds of mixed loose grapeshot, and
many other sizes of strapped and canister shot. For the use of the
infantry there were 7749 musket flints, 1825 pounds of musket powder,
1513 pounds of rifle powder, 31,390 cartridges, and 2047 blank
cartridges.[204]
Other structures closely connected with the work of the fort were
located outside the wall. The buildings of the Indian agency were
situated a quarter of a mile west, on the prairie.[205] These consisted
of a council house, the agent's house, and an armorer's shop. The
original council house was built by the troops in 1823, but Agent
Taliaferro claimed that most of the inside work was done at his own
expense. The building was of logs and stone, eighty-two feet long,
eighteen feet wide, and presenting in the front a piazza of seventy
feet. Within, there were six rooms, lined with pine planking and
separated from each other by panel doors.[206]
At one o'clock on the morning of August 14, 1830, the sentinels at the
fort discovered that the council house was on fire. But the flames had
gained so much headway that it was impossible to save any of the
contents. The interpreter and his family who lived in this building
barely escaped with their lives. In reporting the loss to the
superintendent, Major Taliaferro wrote that "the general impression here
is that fire was put to the house by Some drunken Indians &
circumstances are strong in justifying such a conclusion."[207] This
surmise was right, for on April 7, 1831, the Indians delivered at the
fort one of their number who they claimed was guilty of the act.[208]
That steps were taken to build a new council house is evident from the
record in Taliaferro's diary under date of March 8, 1831, that four men
had been hired "at $12 per Month to cut & carry timber out of the pine
Swamp for the Agency Council House."[209] But in 1839 Taliaferro
recommended that the agency be moved to a point seven miles up the
river; and in 1841 there was a movement on foot to buy Baker's stone
trading house for the same purpose.[210]
Near the location of the old council house were two other buildings. One
of these was the agent's house. This was made entirely of stone, and was
one and a half stories high. It contained four rooms and a passage on
the lower floor and two rooms above.[211] Hastily built by troops at an
early day, its comforts were few. "Since the Rainy Season Set in",
complained the agent in 1834, "both the hired Men and Myself have not
had a Spot in our houses that Could be called dry, Not even our
beds".[212] An armorer's shop, where blacksmith work was done for the
Indians, was made of logs and measured sixteen by eighteen feet.
Nearer the fort was the home of Franklin Steele, the sutler of the
post.[213]
At Camp Cold Water, B. F. Baker had erected a large stone trading house,
which in 1841 was valued at six thousand dollars. While he had no legal
title to the land on which this house was built, the officers at the
post allowed him to remain. Later it was sold to Kenneth McKenzie, who
in 1853 built an addition, renovated the entire building, and used it as
a hotel. In the vicinity of this structure were several small huts which
had been the homes of some squatters on the reservation. But after their
expulsion these huts rapidly fell into decay.[214]
In his duties and recreations the soldier was often brought into touch
with other features of the world about him--the points of scenic
interest and the Indian villages. From the wooden lookout tower near the
commanding officer's quarters a glimpse of the surrounding land was
revealed.
"The view from the angle of the wall at the extreme point, is highly
romantic", wrote one who saw the wild scene before civilization had left
its traces on the landscape. "To your left lies the broad deep valley of
the Mississippi, with the opposite heights, descending precipitously to
the water's edge; and to the right and in front, the St. Peter's, a
broad stream, worthy from its size, length of course, and the number of
tributaries which it receives, to be called the Western Fork of the
Great River itself. It is seen flowing through a comparatively open
vale, with swelling hills and intermingling forest and prairie,
for many miles above the point of junction. As it approaches the
Mississippi, the volume of water divides into two branches; that on the
right pursues the general course of the river above, and enters the
Mississippi, at an angle of perhaps fifty degrees, directly under the
walls of the fort; while the other, keeping to the base of the high
prairie lands which rise above it to a notable summit called the Pilot
Knob, enters the Mississippi lower down. The triangular island thus
formed between the rivers lies immediately under the fort. Its level
surface is partially cultivated, but towards the lower extremity thickly
covered with wood. Beyond their junction, the united streams are seen
gliding at the base of high cliffs into the narrowing valley below.
Forests, and those of the most picturesque character, interspersed with
strips of prairie, clothe a great portion of the distant view.
"A little cluster of trading houses is situated on the right branch of
the St. Peter's, and here and there on the shores, and on the island,
you saw the dark conical tents of the wandering Sioux. A more striking
scene we had not met with in the United States, and hardly any that
could vie with it for picturesque beauty, even at this unfavourable
season. What must it be in spring, when the forests put forth their
young leaves, and the prairies are clothed in verdure!"[215]
This "little cluster of trading houses" was the town of Mendota. Here
was the stone house of Henry H. Sibley, and that of J. B. Faribault.
Near the river was the ferry house and the home of Mr. Finley the
ferryman.[216] Upon the hillside lay the little Catholic chapel,
surrounded by the graves in the cemetery. But the center of interest was
in the warehouse and store of the American Fur Company, where the skins
of buffalo, elk, deer, fox, beaver, otter, muskrat, mink, martin,
raccoon, and other animals were sorted and divided into packs weighing
about a hundred pounds. Indians, Frenchmen, half-breeds, and restless
wanderers from the East were always loitering about the
establishment.[217]
From the fort a road led along the Mississippi to the Falls of St.
Anthony, on the way crossing Minnehaha Creek on the bridge built in
early days by the soldiers. Here a stop was made to view the beauty of
the cascade then known as Little Falls or Brown's Falls. It was the
common practice for travellers to descend to the foot of the falls,
clinging to the shrubs along the slippery pathway, and then go behind
the sheet of falling water.[218] Continuing, at a distance of eight
miles up the Mississippi from the fort, the Falls of St. Anthony was
reached. Although only sixteen feet high, the breadth of almost six
hundred yards, broken in the middle by a rocky island gave to it an
impressive majesty, and the thick vegetation on the island and banks
returned a gloomy reflection from the whirling waters.[219]
It is no wonder that in that wild and picturesque locality the Indians
saw things ghostly and supernatural. "They tell you that here a young
Dacota mother, goaded by jealousy,--the husband [sic] of her
children having taken another wife,--unmoored her canoe above the Great
Fall, and seating herself and her children in it,--sang her death song,
and went over the foaming acclivity in the face and amid the shrieks of
her tribe. And often, the Indian believes, when the nights are calm, and
the sky serene,--and the dew-drops are hanging motionless on the sprays
of the weeping birch on the island,--and the country far and wide is
vibrating to the murmur of the cataract,--that then the misty form of
the young mother may be seen moving down the deceitful current above,
while her song is heard mingling its sad notes with the lulling sound of
'the Laughing Water!'"[220]
Here at the Falls, on the west bank of the river, were three buildings:
a saw mill, a grist mill, and a one-story frame dwelling, where a
detachment of soldiers always remained to guard the property. The saw
mill had provided much of the lumber used in the construction of the
fort, and in the grist mill the corn was cracked that was fed during the
winter to the cattle--a drove being delivered every fall for the use of
the garrison. These buildings were still standing in 1858, although they
were then in a bad state of decay.[221]
Among the lakes on the prairie the most important were the Lake of the
Isles, Lake Calhoun, and Lake Harriet. These were favorite picnic and
hunting grounds for the men and women of the garrison. An old map made
in 1823 shows "Green's Villa" on Lake Calhoun--probably a hunting lodge
or shelter built by Lieutenant Platt Rogers Green.[222] Here on
Lake Calhoun was located the missionary establishment which was so
closely connected with the life of the fort.[223]
There were other Indian villages near the fort. Nine miles below, on the
bank of the Mississippi was the Sioux village of Kaposia. Here
Wakinyantanka, or Big Thunder, reigned over his band which numbered one
hundred and eighty-three in 1834. Two or three miles upstream from its
mouth on the banks of the Minnesota was the group of wigwams called
Black Dog's village, although the chief was Wamditanka or Big Eagle.
About nine miles from Fort Snelling was Pinisha, reported as having one
hundred and forty-eight inhabitants ruled over by Good Road. The largest
group, three hundred and sixty-eight souls, was that of the Tintatonwan
band, located twenty-four miles from Fort Snelling and near the present
town of Shakopee. Shapaydan or Shakpay was the chief, the father of the
warrior of the same name who was executed at Fort Snelling for
participating in the Sioux massacre of 1862.[224]
These villages were very much the same in appearance, large bark lodges
being occupied by the Indians in the summer. The villages swarmed with
children, squaws, painted warriors, and yelping dogs. About the lodges
were the corn fields, the scaffolds where the corn was dried, and the
more mournful scaffolds where, wrapped in buffalo skins, reposed the
bones of the hunters who had followed the milky way to the "Land of the
Ghosts".[225]
VI
GLIMPSES OF GARRISON LIFE
What sort of a life did the soldier live in the barracks and on the
parade ground, and in the world of prairies, rivers, and woods that lay
about him? No person who was ever quartered within the walls of Old Fort
Snelling seems to have left an account of what was included in the tasks
and recreations of a day. Doubtless the routine duties repeated day
after day were thought too ordinary to be worth recording. The pleasures
were so simple and came so much as a matter of course that they also
receive scant mention in the annals of the fort. It is from the _General
Regulations for the Army_ that one gets the daily program of a military
post; and the few fragmentary pages of Taliaferro's diary and letters,
together with the stray remarks of travellers and pioneers, indicate the
joys and sorrows of a very human garrison.[226]
No sooner was dawn visible over the Mississippi bluffs than the
musicians of the post were summoned to the parade ground and five
minutes later the _reveille_ was sounded. At the signal both officers
and men arose. Soon the rolls of the companies were called in front of
the quarters; the quarters were put in order; the ground in front swept;
and the horses fed and watered. At eight-thirty the sick in the
barracks were taken to the hospital, and at nine o'clock breakfast was
served, preceded by a second roll-call. Then the various tasks of the
day were performed under the direction of a captain or subaltern daily
detailed as the "officer of the day".
A party termed the "General Fatigue" swept the entire parade
ground--unless there were enough prisoners in the guard house to perform
this unpleasant duty. A police guard furnished sentinels to watch over
the prisoners, the colors, the quarters of the commanding officer, and
the arms of the regiment. Other soldiers were posted at the front and
the rear of the fort. Certain detachments were formed for reconnoitering
and foraging--the nature of the tasks depending on the season of the
year and the needs of the garrison.
At three o'clock in the afternoon the third roll-call was followed by
dinner; and thirty minutes before sunset the music called out the
regiment for dress parade, where various maneuvers were gone through and
orders were read. After the parade, when the regiment was again in its
quarters, the arms were placed in the arm-racks, the horses attended to,
a fifth roll-call endured, and tattoo sounded. Then the lights were
extinguished and all were expected to be quiet for the night.
This monotony of the daily program was equalled only by the monotony of
the meals. The regulation diet prescribed by Congress in 1802 consisted
of a pound and a quarter of beef, or three-quarters of a pound of
pork; eighteen ounces of bread or flour; one gill of rum, whiskey, or
brandy; and for every hundred rations were supplied two quarts of salt,
four quarts of vinegar, four pounds of soap, and one pound and a half of
candles. In 1832 coffee and sugar were substituted for the liquor.[227]
During the early years of Fort Snelling these supplies were brought from
St. Louis in flatboats. With the development of steamboat traffic, the
steamboat was utilized, but it did not entirely displace the earlier
method. Difficulties often hindered the transportation of supplies. The
summer of 1829 was extremely dry. The average monthly rainfall was less
than an inch, and steamboat navigation was impossible. Even keelboats
found difficulty in ascending the river; sixty days were spent by
Lieutenant Reynolds in bringing up a load of supplies. A sand bar at
Pine Bend was impassable, so half of the load was taken off and the rest
hurried up the river. When the crew arrived the garrison was upon its
last barrel of flour.[228]
"Bread and soup", runs a clause in the _General Regulations for the
Army_, "are the great items of a soldier's diet, in every
situation".[229] The bread was made from the wheat grown by the
soldiers, and was ground in the mill at the Falls of St. Anthony. For
some reason the crop of 1823 had become mouldy and the bread was black
and bitter. When forced to eat it, the troops almost mutinied, bringing
it out upon the parade ground and throwing it down.[230] Nor does it
seem likely that the soup was more appetizing when one reads the
following recipe which guided the company cooks: "To make soup, put into
the vessel at the rate of five pints of water to a pound of fresh meat;
apply a quick heat to make it boil promptly; skim off the foam, and then
moderate the fire; salt is then put in, according to the palate. Add the
vegetables of the season one or two hours, and sliced bread some
minutes, before the simmering is ended. When the broth is sensibly
reduced in quantity, that is, after five or six hours cooking, the
process will be complete."[231]
Fortunately the soldier did not have to depend entirely on these
rations. Out of his modest cash income of six dollars per month he could
buy at the sutler's store small necessities and some luxuries. The
sutler was the authorized merchant of the post, and in order that his
monopoly might not lead him to demand unreasonable sums for his wares,
the prices were fixed by a "council of administration" composed of three
officers. For every officer and enlisted soldier serving at the post the
sutler paid into the "post fund", from ten to fifteen cents per month.
This sum was to be used for the relief of the widows or orphans of
soldiers, the maintenance of a post school and band, and the purchase of
books for a library.[232]
The books of Franklin Steele, who was the sutler at Fort Snelling from
1838 to 1858, may still be examined; and from their dreary lists of
accounts, the human wants of a soldier at Old Fort Snelling are clearly
indicated.[233] On March 12, 1849, Private Brown bought a pound
of currants and a pound of raisins for fifty cents. Shoes, soap, and
currants totalled $1.50 on April 7th; and on March 20th, two pounds of
butter sold for thirty cents and a pound of cheese for forty-two cents.
Private Ryerson had more varied needs. On March 7th, 1849, he purchased
indigo; on March 16th, paper; on April 9th, alcohol and suspenders; five
days later, needles and sugar; and on April 23rd, apples, butter, and a
tin cup. The quiet waters in the neighboring lakes tempted Eli Pettijohn
on a spring day in 1855 to invest $2.50 in "Fishing Tackel".
That the officers did not live upon the same fare as the soldiers is
indicated by the entries under the title "Officers Mess". On July 31,
1855, there was purchased ten cents worth of cloves, ten cents worth of
pepper, and ninety-five cents worth of cheese. Under the date of August
8th "Bread tickets" were purchased to the amount of one dollar; and on
August 30th, fifty cents worth of "Yeast Powd'r" was charged to their
account.
Saint and sinner both patronized this store. The Reverend Ezekiel Gear,
who was the chaplain at the fort, evidently believed that cleanliness
was next to godliness, for on July 31, 1855, he paid thirty cents for a
scrub brush; on August 4th, he bought a broom for fifty cents; on August
30th, he purchased twenty-five cents worth of starch, and on October
19th, a large broom. Indulging in some luxuries, on August 2nd, 1855, he
bought five cents worth of candy. Probably this was a treat for those
two boys, his son and his grandson, whom a visitor two years
later found sleeping in the little cemetery at Morgan's Bluff near the
fort, their resting place marked by a rude slab with a Latin
inscription: "Lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death not
divided."[234]
None the less clearly is the character of Sergeant Mahoney portrayed in
these accounts. On July 31, 1855, it is recorded under his name: "1
Flask $.75". On August 20th, the same officer paid seventy-five cents
for a bottle of cider. And the chaplain would have had an excellent
illustration for his next sermon on intemperance if he could have read,
as we can to-day, this melancholy note made in the sutler's book on
October 17th: "Sergeant Mahoney, Cash Loaned 20.00".
There was need for sermons on intemperance. During the early years
whiskey was issued as a part of the soldier's ration, and this only
served to stimulate the desire for more. The class of men in the army
was not always of the highest, and there were enough civilians who were
willing to pander to their appetites. The following extract from
Taliaferro's diary for March 22, 1831, is undoubtedly characteristic of
many a forgotten episode: "Nothing of importance transpired this day.
Two drunken Soldiers in crossing the SPeters broke through the Ice &
were near being drowned. They were exceeding alarmed & made a hedious
Noise & yelling for Assistance--the men from the Fort relieved them
although late at night." Not always was assistance on hand in
such circumstances. A report was made in March, 1840, of a certain
officer who "disappeared on the evening of the 5th of March, supposed to
have been drowned by falling through the ice."[235]
Drunkenness and absence from roll-call were among the infractions of
rules for which punishment was most often inflicted. The character and
severity of the punishment depended upon the mood of the commanding
officer. Colonel Snelling, who was usually a very gentle man, was
particularly severe in his treatment of offenders. "He would take them
to his room", wrote one who spent several years in the Snelling
household, "and compel them to strip, when he would flog them
unmercifully. I have heard them beg him to spare them, 'for God's
sake.'"[236] This punishment by flogging was often performed with a
"cat"--an instrument made of nine thongs about eighteen inches long,
knotted in every inch, and attached to a small stick. When the culprit
was stripped to the waist and tied to the flagstaff, the drummers took
turns in applying the "cat" to the bare back.[237]
Other officers used less painful methods. Thus, Major Loomis was known
as "Old Ring", since his favorite punishment was to place a log of wood
upon the prisoner's shoulder and compel him to walk around and around in
a circle under the vigilant eye of a sentinel. To Major John Bliss, who
was in command at Fort Snelling from 1833 to 1836, the name "Black
Starvation" might well have been applied. The negro servant, Hannibal,
who clandestinely sold spruce beer to the soldiers was confined
in the Black Hole for forty-eight hours; and Private Kelly, who refused
to do his part in the fatigue party spent more than seventy-two hours in
the Black Hole before the pangs of starvation persuaded him to promise
Major Bliss to be good in the future.[238] On one occasion, which may be
taken as typical of usual conditions, out of a total garrison of three
hundred and twenty-nine, twenty-six were confined in prison. But at
another time the commanding officer could report: "No Convicts at this
Post".[239]
The severity of the military rules and the monotony of the life led to
two undesirable consequences--mutinies and desertions. Of the former
there is apparently no description, and the brief entry in Taliaferro's
diary for February 3, 1831, leaves much to the imagination: "Mutiny of
Most of the Troops of the 1st Infantry, Stationed at Fort Snelling this
Morning".[240] What grievances led to the uprising on that wintry day,
and by what diplomacy or by what punishments it was put down, are
unrecorded.
Concerning the extent of desertions there is specific information
regarding three years. Desertion was prevalent in the army at this time,
and in order to provide methods of combating it the Secretary of War
presented to Congress a great deal of information covering the years
from 1823 to 1825.[241] During these three years there were stationed at
Fort Snelling an aggregate of two hundred and fifty-one soldiers in
1823; three hundred and thirty-five in 1824; and two hundred and
forty-six in 1825.[242] Of these, six deserted in 1823, eight in 1824,
and twenty-nine in 1825. In this total of forty-three desertions,
fifteen left in their first year of service, seventeen in the second,
eighteen in the third, one in the fourth, and two in the fifth.
Interesting facts regarding the kind of men who lived at the old
frontier post can be gleaned from the data presented. Most of them were
between the ages of twenty-one and thirty. In occupation there were
laborers, farmers, painters, shoemakers, papermakers, wheelwrights,
jewellers, and brewers. Among these forty-three, twenty-six were born in
the United States, five in Ireland, two in Scotland, one in France, one
in Holland, and one in Canada.
The soldier who sought freedom by stealthily climbing over the stone
wall of Fort Snelling and appropriating some canoe drawn up on the river
bank, left monotony and discipline behind him; but in doing so he faced
many dangers. There was no settlement nearer than Prairie du Chien--a
military establishment. Indians were not afraid to injure those whom
they knew to be deserters. A certain man by the name of Dixon who
deserted was captured by Indians who brought him back to Fort Snelling
and received a reward of twenty dollars. Dixon was court-martialed and
sentenced to receive fifty lashes from the "cat" and then to be drummed
out of the Fort.[243] Four soldiers who escaped were killed by the
Indians of Red Wing's band, and their bodies were left on the
shores of Lake Pepin, where they were later found half-eaten by the
birds.[244]
Sickness and death reduced the number on duty at the post. From the
doctor the sick received professional aid. In 1826 when the force at
Fort Snelling amounted to three hundred and twenty-nine men there were
in the hospital one subaltern, one non-commissioned officer, one
musician, and fifteen privates. That Fort Snelling was at a healthful
location is indicated by the fact that during the same period at Fort
Atkinson, with a force of only one hundred more, there was a total of
one hundred and twenty-five sick persons.[245]
The number of deaths was proportionately small. In the year ending on
September 30, 1823, there was only one death; the next year the toll was
the same; and in 1825 it amounted to five.[246] On the occasion of a
funeral six men, detailed from those of the same rank as the deceased,
carried the coffin to the little cemetery outside the fort. A salute was
fired over the grave and the band played solemn music, the drums being
covered with black crepe. The mounds in the cemetery, unmarked by any
stones, were soon obliterated; but if the departed soldier had been a
cheerful companion his barrack-songs were missed by his comrades, and
many friends, half-way across a continent, would mourn for one who was
lying in an unknown grave, "somewhere in the West".[247]
On account of monotonous drills and tedious routine, any pretext to go
into the Indian country was hailed with delight. The bustle,
excitement, and troubles connected with the departure of these
expeditions are best described by Mrs. Seth Eastman, who as the wife of
the commanding officer had often waved farewell to the departing
company.[248]
"Now for excitement, the charm of garrison life. Officers are of course
always ready to 'go where glory waits' them, but who ever heard of one
being ready to go when the order came?
"Alas! for the young officer who has a wife to leave; it will be weeks
before he meets again her gentle smile!
"Still more--alas for him who has no wife at all! for he has not a shirt
with buttons on it, and most of what he has are in the wash. He will
have to borrow of Selden; but here's the difficulty, Selden is going
too, and is worse off than himself. But no matter! What with pins and
twine and trusting to chance, they will get along.
"Then the married men are inquiring for tin reflectors, for hard bread,
though healthy, is never tempting. India rubber cloaks are in
requisition too.
"Those who are going, claim the doctor in case of accidents. Those who
stay, their wives at least, want him for fear of measles; while the
disciple of Esculapius, though he knows there will be better cooking if
he remain at home, is certain there will be food for fun if he go. It is
soon decided--the doctor goes.
"Then the privates share in the pleasure of the day. How should a
soldier be employed but in active service? besides, what a capital
chance to desert! One, who is tired of calling 'All's well' through the
long night, with only the rocks and trees to hear him, hopes that it
will be his happy fate to find out there is danger near, and to give the
alarm. Another vows, that if trouble wont come, why he will bring it by
quarrelling with the first rascally Indian he meets. All is ready.
Rations are put up for the men;--hams, buffalo tongues, pies and cake
for the officers. The batallion marches out to the sound of the drum and
fife;--they are soon down the hill--they enter their boats;
handkerchiefs are waved from the fort, caps are raised and flourished
over the water--they are almost out of sight--they are gone."
Apart from these trips abroad and the stated drills and terms of guard
duty the tasks which occupied the time of the soldiers depended upon the
season of the year. A general order of September 11, 1818, had commanded
the making of gardens at all the military posts.[249] In the fall of
1819 when the temporary cabins at New Hope Cantonment had been built,
the soldiers began ploughing for the crop of the next summer.[250] Major
Long, in 1823, found two hundred and ten acres under cultivation--one
hundred of wheat, sixty of maize, fifteen of oats, fourteen of potatoes,
and twenty acres in gardens.[251] All through the history of Old Fort
Snelling the soldiers were employed as farmers. A visitor in 1852
observed that "its garrison is rather deficient in active
employment, and we noticed a number of the rank and file taking exercise
in a large corn and vegetable field attached to the Fort. It was
certainly not exactly soldierly employment, but it was more manly, to
our mind, than shooting and stabbing at $8 a month, and no question
asked."[252]
For the horses and cattle kept at the fort a great deal of hay was
necessary for the winter months. This was obtained from the broad
prairies of the military reservation. A group of men called the "Hay
Party" were employed during the summer in cutting and stacking the long
grass. But one officer was of the opinion that this task caused
discontent--the enlisted man was no more than a common laborer and hence
he lost the pride of a soldier.
The diverse tasks at which a soldier might be called to labor are
indicated by a summary of the employment of the troops in 1827. Seven
soldiers were acting as teamsters, five were performing carpenters'
duties, two were quarrying stone, two men and a sergeant composed the
party guarding the mills at the Falls of St. Anthony, and eight others
were "Procuring forage by order of Col. Snelling".[253]
Summer brought its own pleasures as well as duties. At Lake Calhoun,
Lake Harriet, Lake of the Isles, and Minnehaha Falls, many were the
picnics held when visitors came to the garrison.[254] Swan, geese, and
ducks were numerous about the lakes and swamps, and with the famous
hunter H. H. Sibley as a guide, the game bags were soon filled. During
a period of three years, Mr. Sibley, alone, shot 1798 ducks--a
fact which indicates what success a soldier-sportsman could have in his
few hours of recreation.[255]
But it was when the prairies were impassable because of drifts of snow
from six to fifteen feet high,[256] and when the course of the river
could be traced only by a streak of white between the gray of its wooded
banks that there appeared those features which are peculiar to the life
of a remote garrison. The isolation was almost complete. There was no
traffic upon the frozen river, and the traders were wintering in the
Indian villages. Only through the mail was communication with the
outside world possible. It was planned to have a monthly mail service,
soldiers being sent to Prairie du Chien with the letters. Here they
delivered about two-thirds of the mail to the persons to whom it was
addressed and the rest was deposited in the post office.[257]
In summer the mail was carried by the soldiers in canoes, but in winter
the journey had to be made on foot. In summer the labor was lightened
when a passing steamer overtook the rowing soldiers and picked up the
canoe with its crew. In winter no such aid was possible. A hard day's
tramp was followed by a night among the drifts, unless the tepee of some
friendly Indian gave a temporary respite for a few hours.[258]
Nor was this task free from perils. A system was arranged whereby a
courier from Fort Snelling and one from Prairie du Chien set out at
about the same time, meeting at Wabasha's village where the packs
were exchanged and each returned to his own post. On one occasion a
spring thaw overtook the carrier from Prairie du Chien, who had
proceeded beyond the meeting place because the messenger from the north
was late. Suddenly the ice groaned and cracked, and the postman with
difficulty found safety on a small island where, to his great surprise,
he found the postman from Fort Snelling who had been caught in the same
manner. Their provisions soon gave out; for a while they had only
rose-apples to eat. It was not until almost two weeks later that the two
half-starved messengers were picked up by the canoes of some friendly
Sioux.[259]
Such accidents rendered the mail service uncertain, and it was with
impatience that the watchers at the fort looked down the river for the
coming of the news-carriers. On April 2, 1831, Taliaferro wrote: "The
Express departed--4 men in a Skiff--to convey the Mail to the Post
Office at Prairie du Chiens--our return Express daily expected." But
they hoped too early and on April 5th it was recorded that "Our
Express--1st which left for Prairie du Chiens on the 2d of March--has
now been Absent more than a Month & progressing in the Seccond. We have
not had inteligence from Washington City--since the 6th of December
last". Not until April 10th did the mail arrive. But even when the
messengers were safe in the fort it was not certain that they brought
what was so eagerly looked for, as the entry on February 27th clearly
shows: "Lieut Williams & Mr Bailly returned this eveng from
Prairie du Chiens but brought no Mail there having been no arrival since
December."[260] It was during this winter that even Prairie du Chien was
shut off from the outside, the amount of snow between Peoria and Prairie
du Chien stopping the mail service for two months. Again and again
during the winter months the commanding officer complained to
headquarters that "no Orders have been received within the Month".[261]
The duties of the soldiers during the winter were few. From the time it
was built up to 1833 the quarters at Fort Snelling were heated by
fireplaces. At that time, however, stoves were substituted.[262] Wood
was used for fuel--to obtain which was a never-ending task in winter.
When Captain Seth Eastman was in command at various periods from 1844 to
1848 the garrison had to go from eight to ten miles for wood. The banks
of the Minnesota River were bordered by a forest varying from one
hundred to three hundred yards wide; but by 1858 all of this for a
distance of twelve miles had been cleared off.[263]
Colonel John H. Bliss, who was a boy at Fort Snelling when his father
was in command during the thirties, wrote that the winters "were
undeniably tedious, but had their uses; we had a good library, and I
read a great deal, which has stood by me well; then there was of course
much sociability among the officers, and a great deal of playing of
cards, dominoes, checkers, and chess. The soldiers, too, would
get up theatrical performances every fortnight or so, those taking
female parts borrowing dresses from the soldiers' wives, and making a
generous sacrifice to art of their cherished whiskers and
mustaches."[264]
During October, 1836, Inspector General George Croghan visited Fort
Snelling, and on the evening of the seventh of the month the Thespian
Players presented _Monsieur Tonson_ in his honor. And here, far from
city streets and French barbers, on a rude stage, Jack Ardourly fell in
love with the beautiful Adolphine de Courcy--who probably only a few
hours before had been hurrying to finish a task of cleaning guns so that
she could call on the generous women of the garrison and beg from them
capes and bonnets and hoops skirts![265]
Many of the officers were graduates of West Point, and their wives were
from the best families of the East and South. On January 20, 1831, the
ladies and gentlemen of the garrison had a party at the fort. "The room
was tastefully decorated--- and the evening passed pleasantly". On
February 22nd of the same year the quarters of the commanding officer
were the scene of another party in commemoration of Washington's
birthday.[266]
Efforts were made to provide for the education of the children of the
fort. Mrs. Snelling at first taught her own children; but it is evident
that there was soon a tutor, as the correspondence of Colonel Snelling
shows that John Marsh received his board and seventy-five dollars for
acting as tutor during the winter of 1823-1824. This schoolmaster
also carried the mail to Prairie du Chien in return for forty
dollars.[267] Soon after the appointment of a regular chaplain in 1838
the post school was more thoroughly organized.[268]
Occasionally there was some excitement at the fort. During the month of
February in 1831 there was an epidemic of fires. First, the officers row
of buildings caught on fire in the room of Lieutenant Greenough on
February 10th. On the next day a second fire broke out; and on February
24th the agency house took fire both from the inside and the outside in
such a manner that it was evident that an incendiary had been at
work.[269]
But such events were of unusual occurrence. A letter written at Fort
Snelling on February 11, 1842, pictures the usual winter life. "We of
the garrison are as usual at this season rather dull, stale &
unprofitable--small parties for Tea are a good deal the fashion, &
tattle is used as formerly. Indian Ball plays are coming in season. One
comes off today in which stacks of property are to be invested. The
Sioux have been hunting about Rum River this winter and have killed
great numbers of Dear--Our winter has been mild, one day only 30 below
zero, and the rest comfortable.... Tonight Mumford gives a Soiree to the
good folks of the garrison and this is the most exciting event of the
week. What is the use of writing to you as I cannot find enough
wherewith to fill two pages."[270]
Such close confinement was tolerable when the garrison was
composed of congenial spirits, but occasionally it brought about
dissensions and quarrels. Taliaferro on one occasion wrote that the
"Society here is not in the most pleasant State from a System of tatling
which has been reduced to a Science--not to be envied."[271]
Occasionally open encounters took place. One soldier stabbed another
with a butcher's knife, and the victim died.[272] In February, 1826, two
officers of the garrison engaged in a duel.[273] Even those in authority
were not free from participation in these "affairs of honor". A certain
young officer challenged Colonel Snelling, and upon his refusing, his
son, William Joseph Snelling, accepted and was slightly wounded. When
the officer was court-martialed he accused one of the witnesses of being
an infidel. Whereupon the latter challenged the officer in his turn, and
a second duel was fought--which was bloodless.[274]
With such conditions prevailing during the winter months it is no wonder
that from day to day spring was eagerly looked for. Undoubtedly it was a
happy occasion when the agent could record on the evening of Sunday,
March 27, 1831, that the weather was "more pleasant--Wild geese seen
this day--gentlemen generally [illegible] out and Walking--The Ladies
also".[275] It meant a speedy return of summer pleasures and summer
visitors. For when, even at a remote military post did these fail as
three sure signs of spring--pleasant weather, flocks of geese, and
ladies and gentlemen out walking together?
They were very human, those men and women of Old Fort Snelling.
VII
THE FORT AND INDIAN LIFE
It was a humane but visionary plan which Reverend Jedidiah Morse in 1822
presented to the Secretary of War as the correct method of procedure in
the task of civilizing the Indians. At various centers in the Indian
country were to be established "Education Families"--groups of honest,
industrious whites who were to have houses and farms, where the natives
could observe their activities. And without any forcing it was expected
that the red men, seeing the superior advantages of civilization, would
be themselves gradually transformed.[276]
To the north and east of Fort Snelling was the home of the Chippewa or
Ojibway Indians--extending from the Mississippi to the Great Lakes. To
the west, on the great prairies, the Dakota, or Sioux Indians lived and
hunted. The veteran missionary, S. W. Pond, estimated that the five
bands of Sioux, which most often came into direct touch with the
government at Fort Snelling, numbered in 1834, seven thousand, and
wandered over southern Minnesota and South Dakota, near the lakes of Big
Stone and Traverse.[277] Major Taliaferro reported in 1834 that the
number of Indians in his agency was 6721, and that they extended as far
as the Sheyenne fork of the Red River.[278] To one man, the agent, was
given the task of civilizing these thousands of Sioux. While it
was for this tribe that the agency at Fort Snelling was established, yet
the Chippewas often frequented its headquarters. One hundred and seventy
warriors of these northern Indians arrived at the agent's house on the
evening of August 4, 1830.[279] The presence of these red men more than
doubled the work of the agent, because there was now the difficulty of
keeping peace between two warring tribes.
Indian life was not so worthless as sometimes pictured. It is true that
one could see laziness and poverty during the months of January and
February, if he came upon an Indian village pitched near a wooded slope
and above a frozen stream. There could be seen the smoke curling from
the dingy tepee, the women dragging home wood for the ever-diminishing
pile outside the door, and a few of the hardier men fishing through
holes in the ice. About the tepee the snow was banked, and within the
air was warm and heavy from the open fire and the long pipes of the
reclining braves, who gambled with their neighbors at the game of "the
shot and the mitten".
Thus through the two stormy months the Indians frittered away the time,
eating their corn and wild rice seasoned with tallow. But when the first
thaws of spring caused the sap in the maple trees to run, and when some
of the more venturesome came back from a winter visit to the trading
house with the word that the trader was waiting for skins in return for
the blankets and ammunition he had given them the preceding fall,
the village divided--part going to the sugar bush, and part going to the
prairie lakes and swamps for muskrats. In May they returned on the
swollen streams with heavily freighted canoes to their villages of bark
houses. During the summer there were many tasks--blue berries to be
gathered in the woods, canoes to be built, tepees to be repaired,
turnips to be dug, and pipestone to be brought from the far distant
quarry. All through the hot months the women toiled in the corn fields;
and when the corn was in the milk, all the village children screamed and
waved their arms to frighten away the blackbirds. When the harvest had
been carefully placed in bark barrels and buried, part of the village
had already left to hunt the fox or gather wild rice along the lakes and
cranberries in the marshes.
And now came October and the deer hunt. There were only the extremely
old people and the invalids to wave good-bye as the procession set out
over the prairie--old men who could scarcely walk, bands of shouting
children, hunters already on the alert, women with their bundles, and
horses and dogs dragging on two poles the provisions and the skins of
the tepees. For more than two months the program was the same: the march
through the drifts and across the icy rivers, the morning council about
a blazing fire before scattering over the prairie, and the triumphal
return of the successful hunter at evening with the carcass of a bear,
deer, or elk, across his shoulders and his name shouted through
the camp by the children gathered to welcome him. By January they were
all back again at their villages.[280]
It was this scheme of life which was to be gradually transformed. There
were, of course, variations when war parties crept against the
Chippewas, when drunken debaucheries resulted from a keg of whiskey that
had escaped the vigilant eyes of the soldiers, and when migrations to
the Canadian posts were prompted by the hope that there they could
obtain enough supplies to support them without work and that there they
could enjoy some ceremony to break the monotony of life. But these
migrations were few on the part of the Sioux: they could enjoy councils
just as good near home.
On the occasion of a visit to Old Fort Snelling and the agency near by,
the authorities were careful to see that there was a due amount of
ceremony. Probably a whole band of Indians would come down from the
headwaters of the Minnesota River. Their chiefs and braves gathered in
the log Council Hall, and there took place the scene so picturesquely
described by the eccentric traveller, J. C. Beltrami.
"The council-hall is, as it ought to be, a great room built of trunks of
trees. The flag of the United States waves in the centre, surrounded by
English colours, and medals hung to the walls. They are presented by the
Indians to their _Father_, the agent, as a proof that they abjure all
cabal or alliance with the English. Pipes, or calumets and other little
Indian presents, offered by the various tribes as pledges of
their friendship, decorate the walls and give a remarkable and
characteristic air to the room." The dignitaries of the post are seated
about a table and the braves recline upon the ground during the council.
"The _seance_ opens with a speech of the chief, who rises and addresses
the agent. He generally begins with the Great Spirit, or the sun, or the
moon 'whose purity is equalled by that of his own heart,' &c. &c. always
finishing with a petition for presents;--_whiskey_ is sure to find
honourable mention: these are what English lawyers call the _common
counts_."[281]
After the reply of the agent the peace pipe was solemnly passed from one
to another, and the council ended with the distribution of presents.
These presents were of tobacco, gunpowder, vermilion, pipes, kettles,
blankets, snuff-boxes, armbands, looking-glasses, horse bells,
jews'-harps, ivory combs, and shawls.[282] Not the least popular of
these were the jews'-harps, which had their uses--in spite of the
sarcastic invective delivered against them by Senator Benton in 1822
when the abolition of the Factory System was being considered. "They
were innocent", observed the Senator, "and on that account precisely
adapted to the purposes of the superintendent, in reclaiming the savage
from the hunter state. The first state after that, in the road to
refined life, is the pastoral, and without music the tawny-colored
Corydons and the red-skinned Amaryllises, '_recubans sub tegmine fagi_,'
upon the banks of the Missouri and Mississippi, could make no
progress in the delightful business of love and sentiment."[283]
These councils were frequent occurrences, and their importance lies in
the fact that through them certain principles could be instilled into
the minds of the natives under the most favorable circumstances. The
words spoken by the agent on these occasions had probably as much effect
in controlling the Indians as a like number of bullets would have had.
Major Taliaferro has recorded one of the orations which he delivered to
his listening wards. He referred to the presence of the Great Spirit,
told of his long service among them, eulogized their departed
elders--"the old branches which have fallen from the Trunk of the old
oak of your Nation"--and then inserted a few wise admonitions as to the
futility of their wars with the Chippewas.
"Your Great Father", he said, "has had much to do with war--but his
heart is changed for peace & he wishes all his red children as well as
his white ones to follow his good example--he knows this course to be
best for all--we should endeavor to please him--for by doing so we shall
please the Great Spirit also--You will see your children growing up
around you and your wives smiling as you approach from your days hunt."
The speech ended with the announcement of the coming of "something good
from below" and an approaching visit to the village of the Red
Head.[284]
During these meetings at the agency the sound of the fort's cannon and
the sight of the well-uniformed guards impressed the Indians even
more than did the words of the agent. There they became acquainted with
white men other than traders, and when exploring and scientific
expeditions came over the plains with a guard of soldiers, they were
wise enough not to interfere. These visits in themselves were pleasant,
and the rations of bread and pork offered an agreeable respite from
their usual fare.[285]
At the time of the treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1825 one ration
consisted of one pound of bread or one pint of corn and either one pound
of beef or three-quarters of a pound of pork. This may be taken as a
fair standard of the kind of rations issued at the agency.[286] It was
during the winter months especially when starvation or suffering would
otherwise result that this aid was given to the Indians. During the
summer when other means of subsistence were present, all appeals for
food were refused.[287] This custom of granting rations was formally
incorporated in the law of June 30, 1834, with the only restriction that
they were to be given only if "they can be spared from the army
provisions without injury to the service".[288]
The condition of the tribes was often appalling, and many deaths would
have occurred without this aid. At one time Taliaferro wrote that "400
Indians encamped near the Agency--many from a distance and in a starving
condition."[289] Often he had to take from his own private funds, after
he had drawn all he could from the public stores.[290] The winter of
1842-1843 was particularly severe. On the first of November the
ground was covered with snow which as late as April still lay from two
to two and a half feet deep. No hunting was possible because of the
drifts, and fishing through the ice was impracticable, the wind blowing
the holes full of snow as soon as they were cut. The Indians living
about Lac qui Parle, about two hundred miles up the Minnesota River,
came with the missionary Dr. Thomas Williamson to winter on the site of
old Camp Cold Water, knowing that only from the fort could they obtain
relief.
Everything that was possible was done. Blankets, guns, and ammunition to
the value of $2500 were granted the Indians. Indeed, so many provisions
were distributed that on April 3rd it was computed that there was only
enough left to supply the garrison until the opening of navigation. The
officers and soldiers saved all the remains from the tables and once a
day the squaws and children were allowed to enter and receive these
crumbs. The Indians who were away from the post were not neglected.
Sixty bushels of corn and several barrels of pork were furnished by
Major Dearborn to Mr. H. H. Sibley who sent them to destitute Indians on
the Minnesota River. Still there was much suffering, for not enough food
could be spared to satisfy all. Before spring arrived many of the
Indians lived upon a syrup made of hickory chips and the boiled bark of
the bitter sweet. All became greatly emaciated and some were unable to
walk.[291]
From time to time a solitary Indian on a business visit to the
trader would drop in to chat with the "Father". Here he could make any
complaints which he had to offer and be sure of a sympathetic if not
satisfactory answer. "I have had more than fourteen hundred Indians on
visits from all Sections of this Agency during the Month past--and all
with Grieveances of Some Sort to redress", wrote Taliaferro on June 30,
1838.[292] In all matters concerning lands, hunting, treaties,
annuities, and the like, the Indian looked only to the agent for advice
or explanation. Instigated by the traders, many of whom were hostile to
him, the Indians considered him responsible for the acts of the
soldiers.[293] If a provision of a treaty was not carried out, the
Indians thought it was Taliaferro's fault "for they know nothing of
Congress or of their Multifarious and protracted debates, and
proceedings."[294]
A personal present was due the visitor at these "shake hands" occasions.
If he were a headman or a brave he received a pound of powder, two
pounds of lead, a fish line, a knife, four fish hooks, and six plugs of
tobacco. If he were "any respectable Individual" he was sure of a knife,
four fish hooks, and six plugs of tobacco.[295] These individual visits
did much to acquaint the natives personally with the agent, in the same
way that the council impressed them with the agent's great power.
But even more appreciated was the help offered in time of sickness. On
December 25, 1830, Taliaferro records in his diary: "I rode up the
SPeters to See an Indian.... Doctor Wood went up also--I dressed
her wound--I Sent my Interpreter up with other restoratives--she being
delerious."[296] On Saturday, June 28, 1834, there came to him a brave
saying that both his son and daughter were ill. "Sent a message to Doct
Jarvis to call & see the girl." The Sioux boy died two days later. But
there the ministration did not end. To the mourners were given cotton
and calico, or a blanket in order that the body might be decently
covered.[297]
The dread scourge of smallpox raged in the vicinity of Fort Snelling
during the summer of 1832. Two Indians coming from the Missouri River
were suffering from violent attacks. Immediately the disease spread. But
Dr. Wood, the post's physician, was called upon by Major Taliaferro and
at the end of five days three hundred and thirty Sioux had been
vaccinated. It is interesting to notice that in case the Indians came to
the agency Dr. Wood received six dollars for every hundred he treated,
but if he went to their villages he received six dollars per day.[298]
Besides these services the visits to the fort offered direct opportunity
for the giving of tangible evidence of American supremacy. The English
government had lavishly distributed signs of authority. During the first
two years of his term of service, Taliaferro collected no less than
thirty-six medals of George the Third, twenty-eight British flags, and
eighteen gorgets.[299] Some of these were presented to the agent as
direct evidence of submission to American authority. In 1820 two
employees of the Missouri Fur Company were murdered on the
Missouri River. The surrender of the murderers was demanded by
Taliaferro, and while he was away the tribe came to Fort Snelling with
one of the culprits and a hostage. Colonel Snelling, then acting as
agent, described the scene in a letter.
"These unfortunate wretches were delivered up last evening with a great
deal of ceremony, & I assure you with affecting solemnity; the guards
being first put under arms, they formed a procession in the road beyond
the bake house; in front marched a Sussitong bearing a British flag,
next came the Murderer & the devoted chief, their arms pinioned & large
splinters of wood thrust through them above the elbows, intended as I
understood to show us that they did not fear pain & were not afraid to
die. the Murderer wore a large British medal suspended to his neck &
both of the prisoners bore offerings of skins, &c. in their hands. last
came the chiefs of the Sussitongs, in this order they moved, the
prisoners singing their death song & the Sussitongs joining in chorus
until they arrived in front of the guard house where a fire being
previously prepared, the British flag was burnt, and the medal worn by
the murderer given up."[300]
In return for these greatly coveted signs of respect the agent delivered
to the most prominent chiefs the medals and certificates of the United
States. And thus by flattering the leaders control over the Indians was
assured. What chief was not proud to carry with him this certificate,
even if he could not read it himself? "The bearer _The Whole in
the day_ is a respectable Man, and wears a Seccond Size Monroe Medal
Presented to him for his uniform Good Conduct and great attachment to
the United States--His Residence is at Sandy Lake Law Taliaferro Indian
Agent at St. Peters".[301]
But the memory of the days of English rule was still alive, the
suggestion being made to the government that "the gordgets would be More
Acceptable were they to be fashioned after those introduced formerly by
the British Government--with the difference only of the Eagle engraved
upon each."[302] To counteract this feeling it was necessary that the
government should be lavish in the distribution of presents. British
influence and example, wrote Taliaferro to Clark in 1831, were not yet
"fairly purged of their baneful effects".[303] Even as late as 1834 a
few extracts from the reports of Major Bliss indicate that this feeling
was still noticeable. "The Sioux Indians expecting and favourable to an
English war with the U. States", he wrote in April. The next month he
reported "Sioux and Chippewas pacific but dissatisfied with U. States",
and in July 1835 he informed headquarters that "the Chippewas & Sioux
are dissatisfied & both exhibit symptoms of hostility to the U. States &
to each other. The Sioux the most decided."[304]
English visitors at a much later period congratulated their government
because the Indians, as they said, still had a greater fondness for the
British than for the Americans.[305] Except, however, along the
border, among the tribes outside of the sphere of the agent at Fort
Snelling, this feeling manifested itself only as a sentiment which could
lead to trouble if a break between the two nations should occur.
To emphasize the power of the Nation, the agent brought to Washington in
1824, and again in 1837, delegations of chiefs.[306] On these occasions
they were taken to the largest and busiest cities, entertained in the
most delightful manner, and shown the most impressive sights. As crowds
were always drawn together to see the Indians, the latter received a
lasting opinion as to the numbers of the Americans.[307] Previously the
Sioux bands had thought that if ever they should unite their forces,
they would be able to win in a war against all the whites; but now they
were disillusioned.[308]
Undoubtedly the Indians were pleased with their journey. "Since the
treaty was signed", stated a contemporary newspaper, "each of them has
received a coat, hat, blanket, leggins, epaulettes, bands, and scarfs,
and when dressed in full uniform, they exhibit more lively pleasure than
would have been expected from the apathy of Indian character."[309] The
magnificence which they had seen was described amid the squalor of their
home villages. "The effect produced by the visit of their chiefs to
Washington is wonderful, since their return, the power, wealth, and
numbers of the American people have been their constant themes, many of
their stories approach so near the marvellous as to be discredited, such
for example is the account of casting a cannon which they
witnessed, and the magnitude of our ships. Old _black dog_ shakes his
head & says 'all travellers are liars'."[310] The memory of these trips
lingered long. Little Crow came to call upon the agent in 1831. "The old
chief left much delighted with his reception and my Talk--he departed
singing the song which was often repeated when on his trip to Washington
City in 1824."[311]
The Indians touched by these relations with the fort were not only its
immediate neighbors. The surrender of murderers from the tribes on the
Missouri has been noted. On March 11, 1831, Taliaferro wrote that "I
observe Indians from the Missouri & various sections of the Sioux
country."[312] During the entire winter of 1831, a party of Missouri
River Indians encamped about Fort Snelling.[313] The Indians on the
prairies were wide travellers. "There are a good many Indians about
here", says a letter from Lac qui Parle. "There have arrived 120 lodges
of Missouri at Lake Traverse and 200 lodges at James River."[314] By
this continual movement, the influence of Fort Snelling was enlarged.
How great was this influence? No one has contradicted the statement of
Mr. Taliaferro that "it is due the Sioux of your territory to record one
fact as to them, and that is, from the commencement of our agency to its
close, our frontier pioneers were never even molested in their homes,
nor did they shed one drop of American blood".[315] It was when this
frontier encroached on their lands that hostility broke out. If
the Indians had been left in peace by covetous land-seekers, their
civilization might in time have been accomplished.
There was practically no hostility manifested against the garrison by
the surrounding Indians. In January, 1822, Colonel McNeil, who was in
command at Fort Dearborn, received word from John Kinzie, the pioneer
Chicago trader, that the Sioux and Fox Indians were planning an attack
on Fort Snelling. Lieutenant James Webb immediately volunteered to bring
the news to Fort Armstrong on Rock Island, from whence it could be sent
to the upper post. After a journey rendered terrible by the extreme cold
and the danger from hostile Indians, he was successful in reaching Fort
Armstrong.[316]
In due time the letter was delivered to Colonel Snelling. "When I first
received Col McNeils letter," he wrote later, "I was disposed to smile
at the absurdity of connecting the Sioux & Foxes, in a design to attack
this post". But he later found out that the Foxes had sent wampum and
tobacco to the bands of Wabasha and Little Crow, asking them not to
stand in the way of any movements they might make. Wabasha accepted the
wampum but Little Crow came to the fort to make known the danger. The
vagueness of the rumors, however, made it impossible to act, and later
developments showed that there was no truth in the report--at least no
violence was attempted.[317]
Fear of the strength of the fort prevented hostilities. It was
the Indian fashion to attack by ambush. They did not have the patience
to endure a protracted siege. The Americans did not belittle the
strength of the military works. Little Thunder and White Head, two
Indians who had escaped from the jail at Mackinac by cutting through the
log walls, met an American, George Johnson, at Lac du Flambeau. They
were very inquisitive about the strength of Fort Snelling and the number
of Americans stationed there. Regarding this incident the white man
wrote: "I answered saying, that the fort at River St. Peters was as
strong as Quebec, and more Americans there than in any other post."[318]
The government did not adopt Dr. Morse's plan for civilizing the
Indians, but the agent tried to carry out the policy therein suggested.
The colony at Eatonville, located on Lake Calhoun, and the Indian
schools soon passed into the hands of the missionaries. After the making
of treaties a blacksmith shop was added to the agency. In line with his
policy of providing for all classes of Indians, Taliaferro urged the
erection of an orphan asylum where "all poor blind, and helpless women"
would also be accommodated.[319]
If time had been given doubtless a new form of Indian life would have
arisen about the fort; but the coming of the land-seekers destroyed the
plan. The failure was to result in a great massacre in 1862. This much
at least can be said for Old Fort Snelling; it kept the Indians friendly
while the foundations of American life were being laid in the Northwest.
VIII
THE SIOUX-CHIPPEWA FEUDS
One of the reasons given for the building of Fort Snelling was that it
would prevent the disastrous wars existing between the Sioux and
Chippewa Indians.[320] Beginning so far in the past that no cause could
be ascribed for the hostility, each encounter was in itself both the
result of preceding conflicts and the excuse for further warfare. Pierre
Esprit de Radisson, who was the first writer to leave an account of the
Chippewas, said that even at the time of his visit in about 1660 they
were carrying on "a cruell warre against the Nadoueseronoms
[Sioux]."[321]
Lurking in the bushes to waylay their enemies on the woodland paths,
hiding on the river banks to intercept hostile canoes, pretending peace
and enjoying hospitality in order to have an opportunity for treachery
were the military tactics of the Sioux and Chippewa warriors. To prevent
such warfare, a military post was almost powerless. In fact, so
insidious was the hostility that even the very grounds of Fort Snelling
were the scene of bloody encounters.
Attempts were made to keep the Chippewas away from Fort Snelling by
attaching them to the agency of H. R. Schoolcraft at Sault Ste.
Marie.[322] But the distance was so great and the route so
difficult that the Chippewas did not make the journey to consult that
agent. On the other hand, Fort Snelling was so close, and the
Mississippi such a natural outlet from their country, that a trader
declared that "you might as well try to Stop the Water in the
Mississippi from going to St Louis, as attempt to keep the Chippeway
Indians from St Peters."[323]
During the last days of the month of May, 1827, Flat Mouth, chief of the
Sandy Lake band of Chippewa Indians was encamped near Fort Snelling. A
number of men, women, and children were with him, bringing maple sugar,
which they had gathered in the northern woods during the winter, and
other articles to sell to the garrison. Major Taliaferro was away at the
time, but on May 24th the steamboat "Pilot" landed him safely at Fort
Snelling. To welcome their "Father" home, and perchance to see if he had
any presents or promises for them, a large number of Sioux came from
their villages to the fort, as was usual on such occasions. The agent
took the opportunity presented by the presence of both Sioux and
Chippewas to deliberate with them in regard to peace, and also to
request the Chippewas not to visit Fort Snelling again, in accordance
with instructions which he had received from the Indian Department. To
this Flat Mouth replied sorrowfully: "I feel myself now like a Dog
driven away from your door to find another--I am ashamed of this--but I
know you are doing this not by your wish."[324]
The twenty-eighth day of the month proved the value of the advice
Major Taliaferro had given. Several Sioux came to visit at a Chippewa
lodge pitched directly under and in front of the agency house on the
flats that border the Minnesota River. The guns of the fort could easily
have been trained upon the spot. There was feasting and friendly revelry
at the lodge that afternoon and evening. Meat, corn, and sugar were
served in wooden platters; a dog was roasted and eaten. The peace pipe
was smoked, and the conversation was peaceful regarding exploits in the
hunt and the chase.
At nine o'clock when the party broke up, as the Chippewas were calling
friendly good-byes to the departing Sioux who had advanced a few steps,
the latter turned and fired into the midst of the unsuspecting
inhabitants of the tepee. There was instant confusion. With a shout of
triumph the Sioux ran off. The sentinel on the hill above heard the
shots and cries and called for the guard. In a few moments there was at
the gate of the fort a crowd of panic-stricken Chippewas carrying their
wounded and crying for protection. Six men, one woman, and a girl about
eight years old were handed over to the surgeon of the post, Doctor
McMahon.
Immediately Major Taliaferro notified the Sioux that they had insulted
the flag that waved over the land, and that ample satisfaction must be
made to the Chippewas who had been treated in such a cowardly manner. In
council with the agent, Strong Earth, a chief of the Chippewas,
complained of the lack of protection: "Father: You know that two
Summers ago we attended a Great Council at Prairie du Chien, when by the
advice of Our White Friends, we made Peace with the Sioux--We were then
told, that the Americans would Guarantee our Safety under their
Flags--We have Come here under that Assurance. But Father, look at Your
Floor it is stained with the blood of our people shed while under Your
Walls. If you are great and powerful why do You not protect us? _If
Not_, of what use are Your Soldiers?"[325]
On the morning following the massacre a large body of Sioux--estimated
at about three hundred and fifty--appeared on the prairie west of the
fort. Brevet Major Fowle was ordered to march against them with two
companies. Upon his appearance they fled, but he followed and was
successful in capturing some of them. Nine Sioux--one of whom Major
Taliaferro reports was given up voluntarily--were delivered up to the
Chippewas. Identifying two of these as being among the murderers, they
requested permission to execute them immediately.
Upon the broad prairie the two prisoners were given their freedom. They
were told to run, and when a few paces away the Chippewa warriors fired,
and the Sioux fell dead. Then followed a hideous scene which a spectator
described many years later. "The bodies, all warm and limp, are dragged
to the brow of the hill. Men who at the sight of blood, become almost
fiends, tear off the reeking scalps and hand them to the chief, who
hangs them around his neck. Women and children with tomahawks and
knives cut deep gashes in the poor dead bodies, and scooping up the hot
blood with their hands, eagerly drink it; then, grown frantic, they
dance, and yell, and sing their horrid scalp songs, recounting deeds of
valor on the part of their brave men, and telling off the Sioux scalps,
taken in different battles, until tired and satiated at last with their
horrid feast, they leave the mutilated bodies--festering in the
sun."[326] At evening the bodies were thrown over the cliff into the
river below.
On the morning of the thirty-first the Sioux delivered up to the
Chippewas two others who, they claimed, had been the principal men in
the affair. If the Chippewas did not shoot them, they said, they would
do it themselves, as trouble had come to their nation on their account.
But the Chippewas were willing.
About this second execution there has grown up an interesting story. One
of the offenders, Toopunkah Zeze, was a favorite among the children of
the fort. Tall and handsome and athletic and brave, he was the ideal of
Indian manhood. The other, called the Split Upper Lip, was well known as
a thief, and was as much detested as his companion was respected. He
cried and begged for his life, saying that his gun had missed fire--he
had killed no one. The other calmly distributed his clothes among his
friends, upbraiding his companion for his cowardice. "You lie, dog.
Coward, old woman, you know that you lie. You know that you are as
guilty as I am. Hold your peace and die like a man--die like me."
The two were brought out upon the prairie. Again the thirty yards were
allowed; again the Chippewa guns were fired. For once it seemed that
this Indian punishment of "running the gantlet" would lose a victim. For
Toopunkah Zeze was still running. The bullet had cut the rope that bound
him to his falling companion. With new hope he leaped forward. There was
a shout of triumph from a group of Sioux hidden in the bushes; and the
children of the fort, who had climbed upon the buildings to view the
bloody scene from afar, clapped their hands. But the Chippewas were cool
in their vengeance. Guns were reloaded and deliberate aim taken. The
flints struck, and Toopunkah Zeze, now a hundred and fifty yards away
and a second's distance from a place where the straggling groves of the
prairie offered life, fell dead. Two more bodies were thrown over the
precipice into the river.[327]
For ten years the hostility continued, but the environs of the fort were
sacred places. An effective lesson had been taught in 1827. But on
August 2, 1838, Hole-in-the-Day, a Chippewa chief, and five of his band
came to Fort Snelling on a visit. That spring there had been a
treacherous massacre by Hole-in-the-Day at a Sioux camp. It was true, as
he said in the poetic simplicity of Indian style: "You See I cannot keep
my face Clean--as fast as it is Washed--I am Compelled to black it
Again.--but My heart towards you is the Same.--My Fathers Bones Sleep by
your house--My Daughter at the Falls Near the Grave of my
Uncle--My Wife lies at the Mouth of Sauk River--and a few days past I
buried My Son."[328]
On the following evening some Sioux of Mud Lake, hearing of the presence
of the Chippewas, rode over to Baker's trading house where the Chippewas
were encamped. Major Taliaferro had heard of the departure of the war
party and had hurried to the scene. Just as he arrived the Sioux fired
upon their enemies, killing one outright and wounding another in the
knee. All but one of the Chippewas had laid aside their guns, thinking
that they were upon neutral ground. This one, seeing a Sioux in the act
of scalping the fallen Chippewa, fired upon him and wounded him
mortally. But aided by the dusk the wounded Sioux was able to run more
than a mile before he fell from loss of blood.
The Chippewas were immediately brought into the fort for protection. On
the next day Major Plympton and the Indian agent called together the
chiefs of the neighboring villages. There was a long council until Major
Plympton broke it up by saying peremptorily: "It is unnecessary to talk
much. I have demanded the guilty--they must be brought."
At half past five that evening the Sioux were delivered up. Three
brothers had been accused of being guilty of the murder. One of them
could not be brought because he was dying of the wound received the
evening before. Much ceremony attended the proceedings as the Indian
mother led her sons to the officers saying: "Of seven sons three only
are left; one of them is wounded, and soon will die, and if the
two now given up are shot, my all is gone. I called on the head men to
follow me to the Fort. I started with the prisoners, singing their death
song, and have delivered them at the gate of the Fort. Have mercy on
them for their youth and folly."[329]
Because of the attack which Hole-in-the-Day had made on the Sioux a
short time before, Major Plympton decided not to execute the prisoners.
They were turned over to their own people to be flogged in the presence
of the officers. More humiliating than death was their punishment. Their
blankets, leggins, and breech-cloths were cut into small pieces, and
finally the braves whipped them with long sticks while the women stood
about crying.[330]
Although there was now a deep desire for revenge in each of the tribes,
they manifested outward friendliness when they met at the fort. During
the month of June, 1839, there came to Fort Snelling over twelve hundred
Chippewas thinking that there they would be paid their annuities for the
land they had ceded in 1837. There were two main groups--one which came
down from the headwaters of the Mississippi, and the other which came up
the river from the vicinity of the St. Croix. At the same time Sioux
numbering eight hundred and seventy were encamped near the agency. This
was considered an opportune time to conclude a peace, and so the long
calumet with its mixture of tobacco and bark of the willow tree was
smoked while friendly athletic contests were held on the prairie.
On July 1st the two parties of Chippewas started for home. But in one of
the bands were the two sons of the man who had been murdered the year
before. In the evening before beginning their homeward journey, they
visited the graveyard of the fort to cry over the grave of their father.
Here the thought of vengeance came to them, and morning found them
hidden in the bushes near the trail that skirted the shore of Lake
Harriet. The Badger, a Sioux warrior, was the first to pass that way as
he went out in the early morning to hunt pigeons. A moment later he was
shot and scalped. The murderers then hurried away and hid behind the
water at Minnehaha Falls.
A few hours later, when the news had spread throughout all the Sioux
villages, two bands set out to take revenge upon the departing
Chippewas. The old men, the women, and the children remained at home,
eagerly awaiting the result of the coming battle and cutting their arms
and legs with their knives in grief over the losses which they knew
their bands would have to undergo.
It happened that at that time the Right Reverend Mathias Loras, the
first Bishop of Dubuque, was at Fort Snelling. He had been an interested
spectator at the Sioux-Chippewa peace parleys, had watched the departure
of the determined avengers, and now was anxiously awaiting the result of
the conflict. On the morning of July 4th as he was praying at his altar
for the prosperity of his country he was startled by the shrill notes of
the Sioux death-song, and gazing through the window saw a bloody
throng, dancing about the long poles from which dangled scalps with
parts of the skulls still attached. Two terrible struggles had taken
place the day before. On the Rum River seventy Chippewa scalps had been
taken, and on the banks of Lake St. Croix twenty-five more were
obtained. In both cases the losses of the Sioux were smaller. These
trophies were brought to the villages, where they were danced about
nightly until the leaves began to fall in the autumn, when they were
buried.[331]
These incidents which centered about Fort Snelling have led to the
charge made against it, that instead of preventing the conflicts the
fort intensified them. The fort was a convenient meeting place, it is
argued, whither both parties resorted only to become involved in
altercations and disputes which resulted in a flaring-up of old
flames.[332] But it must be remembered that the murders away from the
fort were more numerous;[333] and it is easier to recall the spectacular
encounters which occurred at the fort, than the many occasions when the
two tribes met peacefully as the guests of the officials.
A military officer who was stationed there wrote: "At Fort Snelling I
have seen the Sioux and Chippeways in friendly converse, and passing
their pipes in the most amicable manner when if they had met away from
the post each would have been striving for the other's scalp."[334] The
Indian agent, whose success depended upon the continuation of peace,
noted with pleasure these friendly gatherings. "The Crane and the
Hole in the Day--and other Chippeways at the Agency this day--Several
Sissiton Sioux also at the Agency."[335] These visits were often
protracted for several weeks without trouble. "Chippeways--a number of
these people also at the agency--some have been here for nearly 30
days--fishing & liveing better & more independently than the
Sioux."[336] On the 29th and 30th of June, 1831, Chippewas to the number
of one hundred and fifty met five villages of Sioux.[337]
Efforts to combat the evil were made in council with the Indians. "Your
wars with the Chippeways can never be of service to anyone", reasoned
their "Father", "for as fast as you destroy one--two or three more young
men are ready to take the track of their deceased friends--The old
people among you ought to know this--after the long wars between
you".[338] Most of the encounters took place either when the warriors
were emboldened by liquor, or when the rival hunting parties met on the
plains. The strict enforcement of the law of 1832 prohibiting the
introduction of spirits had a tranquilizing effect in the country of the
Chippewas. Indeed, the principal object of all efforts to suppress the
liquor traffic was the prevention of inter-tribal wars.[339]
Constant watching of the hunting parties and admonition as to their
conduct were among the duties of the agent. "Sent my interpreter up the
Mississippi among the Indians", he writes, "to see how they are
progressing in their hunts and as to the present hunting grounds of the
Chippeways." Eight days later record is made of the fact that
"the Rum River Chippeways left for their camp this morning--Sent word to
their people to hunt on their own Lands & not by any Means to intrude
upon the Soil of the Sioux." When the interpreter returned he reported
that everything was quiet between the two tribes.[340] The sending of
"runners" to the camps was a frequent occurrence during the winter of
1831, the region covered being eighty miles to the east and two hundred
miles to the north.[341]
In the treaty of Prairie du Chien of 1825 a dividing line between the
two tribes, beyond which neither should pass, was agreed upon.[342] But
this provision was for many years a dead letter. As long as the line was
unsurveyed the natives could urge indefiniteness of territory as an
excuse for murder and depredations--claiming that the other party was
the trespasser. When Schoolcraft met the chiefs of the Chippewas in
council at Leech Lake in 1832, the latter complained that the provisions
of the treaty had not been carried out. "The words of the Long-knives
have passed through our forests as a rushing wind, but they have been
words merely. They have only _shaken_ the trees, but have not stopped to
break them down, nor even to make the rough places smooth."[343] As a
result Mr. Schoolcraft urged upon the Secretary of War the necessity of
marking the line.[344]
Seven thousand dollars were appropriated by the act of June 26, 1834,
for the purpose of running this line,[345] and the next spring Major J.
L. Bean, accompanied by Duncan Campbell, the Sioux interpreter of
the agency, commenced the survey.[346] Later an escort of troops from
Fort Snelling was sent him under the command of Lieutenant William
Storer, with the result that the reduced garrison was unable to enforce
order.[347] When the survey had been completed from the Chippewa River
to Otter Tail Lake the return of the military escort put an end to the
work, but the agent was of the opinion that the most important part had
been marked.[348]
Efforts were made by the government to keep down the warlike spirit of
the tribes. Thus, when Captain Gale allowed the Indians to come into the
fort and dance the scalp dance in June, 1830, his act was disapproved
of, and he had to stand trial.[349] Likewise peace conferences were
fostered in order to put the seal of the authority of the government
upon the transactions. During the winter of 1831 truces were made
between several of the bands through the efforts of Agent
Taliaferro.[350] On August 2, 1843, a great gathering of the two nations
was held at the fort, where a treaty of peace was drawn up under the
auspices of the civil and military authorities.[351] During the first
year it was kept inviolate, "if we except two or three individual cases
of outrage."[352]
Even as late as June, 1850, an assemblage of both tribes was called
together by Governor Ramsey. The Chippewas were encamped north of the
fort on the bluff above the Mississippi. In front of them a detachment
of infantry was drawn up. Within the fort the artillery was in
readiness. When word was sent to the Sioux that all things were ready,
they approached, about three hundred strong, on horseback, all armed and
painted, their whoops mingling with the jingling of their arms,
ornaments, and the bells of their horses. Making a feint as if to rush
around the soldiers, they suddenly wheeled to one side and became quiet;
while the Chippewas on the other side of the line of infantry continued
to dance and wave their weapons. It was amid such stirring war-like
scenes that attempts for peace were made.[353]
The earliest policy of the government had been to interfere as little as
possible, and to allow retribution to be made by one tribe on another.
But such inactivity did not appeal to a red-blooded officer like Colonel
Snelling, who wrote after the trouble in 1827: "I have no hesitation in
Saying that the Military on this frontier are useless for want of
discretionary power, and that if it is not intrusted to the Commander,
Men of Straw with Wooden Guns and Swords will answer the purpose as well
as a Regt of Infantry."[354]
But later the policy was adopted of confining in the "Black Hole" of the
fort any culprits who were captured. Thirteen of the Sioux who
participated in a massacre at Apple River were imprisoned;[355] and on
one occasion Little Crow's band performed the scalp dance near Fort
Snelling in commemoration of the murder of two Chippewas, while the
murderers themselves languished in the fort.[356] Probably this method
of dealing with the problem would have been adopted earlier; but
"the force at this point", wrote an officer, "has been too small to send
a sufficient force to take the offenders, even should an order to that
effect be issued."[357]
To determine how influential Fort Snelling was in maintaining order is
impossible. As was the case with the liquor traffic, conditions were bad
but could have been worse. From time to time there were events that
indicated some success. After a peace had been concluded on the fourth
of June, 1823, a small quarrel almost precipitated a general conflict on
the sixth. Much to the chagrin of the Italian traveller, J. C. Beltrami,
who was then a guest at the fort, the officers were successful in
preventing bloodshed. "Everything conspired against my poor notes", he
wrote, "I had already perched myself on an eminence for the purpose of
enriching them with an Indian battle, and behold I have nothing to write
but this miserable article!... I almost suspected that the savages were
in a league with the gentlemen of the fort to disappoint me."[358]
Peace was maintained during the winter of 1831 on a line of three
hundred and forty miles above and below Fort Snelling, and on one
occasion there occurred the pleasant sight of Sioux and Chippewas
departing in company for their hunting grounds on the Sauk River.[359]
Man-of-the-sky, who was chief of the Lake Calhoun band of Sioux, boasted
that although he was only twenty-five years old at the time, he had
already killed six Chippewas when Fort Snelling was erected, and added:
"Had it not been for that I should have killed many more, or have
been myself killed ere this."[360] It is interesting to note in
connection with the sacredness of these treaties the comment of Major
Taliaferro that "much more reliance is to be placed in the good faith of
the Chippeways than in that of the Sioux."[361]
These spasmodic successes at least acquainted the Indians with
governmental restraint. A paragraph from the manuscript diary of the
agent refutes the argument that Fort Snelling intensified rather than
alleviated these struggles. "From January 1833 up to this day", wrote
Taliaferro, "there has been no difficulty between the Sioux and
Chippeways--I once kept these tribes at peace for two years and Six
Months lacking 15 days. And this between the years 1821 & 1825 till June
8th of the latter year. Colonel Robert Dickson remarked to me that Such
a thing had never occurred before even when he headed the tribes against
Us in the War of 1812."[362]
IX
THE FUR TRADE
The Indian trading-house which had been planned for the agency at Fort
Snelling never materialized. Failure of the houses in operation to pay
expenses and the opposition of the private traders led to their
abolition in 1822. Thereafter, whatever attention the government
directed toward the trade was influenced by the desire to prevent
tampering with the allegiance of the Indians on the part of foreigners
and to control this traffic which could contribute so much good or so
much evil to the lives of the government's wards.[363]
With the Indian trade left to the private traders, great trading
companies developed, since the fur trade easily lent itself to the
corporation system. Cooeperation in the marketing of furs and in the
buying of goods eliminated many of the difficulties which a single
individual would meet. The American Fur Company, so long guided by John
Jacob Astor, had a practical monopoly of the trade during the time that
Old Fort Snelling was in existence. Mendota was the headquarters of a
vast region which extended from the Mississippi to the headwaters of the
streams flowing into the Missouri. At various places throughout this
territory were trading posts called "forts", although they
consisted of no more than a few huts within a stockade. These were all
subsidiary to the post at Mendota.
Goods for the Indian trade were much the same as those given as presents
by the government officials--blankets, trinkets, tobacco, knives, and
the like. These goods were sent in great Mackinac boats from the East to
be distributed among the posts. Each Indian hunter received on credit
goods valued at forty or fifty dollars in payment for which he pledged
the spoils of his winter's hunt. If the trader did not go with his band,
he visited them occasionally or sent his engages to see that they were
hunting and that no other trader was tampering with them to secure their
furs. In the spring the Indian would deliver furs valued at twice the
amount of the goods received. The trading company's profit was,
accordingly, about one hundred per cent. To carry out the details of the
traffic there grew up within the company a complicated system of
factors, clerks, voyageurs, and hivernants.[364]
With the entire system of the fur trade the military officials had
little to do except in the matter of regulation. Not much military
protection was necessary as the Indian looked upon the trader more as a
friend than an enemy.[365] Care in respect to the character of the men
engaged and supervision of the method of carrying on trade were the two
things necessary. According to the act of March 30, 1802, which was
supplemented by the acts of April 29, 1816, and June 30, 1834, no one
could carry on trade with the Indians without obtaining a license
from an Indian agent, which was subject to revocation by the
superintendent of the district.[366]
Many were the problems which Major Taliaferro was obliged to consider
when he granted a license. A license was valid for trade only at a
certain place and among a certain tribe. The trader must be an American
citizen. He was not allowed to carry with him any insignia of a foreign
power. An invoice of his goods was presented to the agent, who had to
certify to its correctness. Liquor was prohibited, and the trader was
responsible for the conduct of all the members of his party in this
matter. To guarantee the fulfillment of all these requirements, bond had
to be given at the time of obtaining the permit.[367]
To examine all the applicants, to keep in touch with them in the field,
and to obtain the truth in regard to their conduct was enough to keep
both agent and officers at Fort Snelling busy. In 1826 twenty-five
licenses were granted; in 1827, eleven; in 1830, thirteen; and in 1831,
fourteen.[368] The amount of this trade was very large, as is indicated
by the case of Mr. Faribault who traded on the Cannon River. One year he
marketed 50 buffalo-robes, 39,080 muskrats, 2050 pounds of deer skins,
125 pounds of beaver, 130 martin, 1100 mink, 663 raccoons, 331 otter, 25
lynx, and 5 foxes.[369]
There was a great deal of vagueness as to the application of the trade
laws--"a mist of uncertainty" as Taliaferro called it.[370] Governor
Cass of Michigan Territory allowed foreigners to enter into
expeditions as interpreters or boatmen, who upon entering the wilderness
took active charge of the crew and all operations.[371] As far as Fort
Snelling was concerned there was little call for the ejection of
foreigners by force. In 1833 it was rumored that a foreigner was trading
on the Sheyenne River--a tributary of the Red River. But with the
despatch of a company of troops and the rumor of their approach, the
culprit immediately decamped.[372]
The building of the fort was in itself enough to impress British
subjects with the firmness of the United States government. Joseph
Renville, Kenneth McKenzie, and William Laidlaw, former employees of the
English companies, in 1822 organized the Columbia Fur Company, and
obtained a license from Major Taliaferro. In five years they had posts
from Green Bay to the Missouri River, with their headquarters at Land's
End, a short distance up the Minnesota River from Fort Snelling. But in
1827 a union with the American Fur Company was brought about.[373]
Traders licensed by the agent at Fort Snelling covered the territory as
far west as the Missouri River. No post could be established without his
approval; and he even attempted to regulate the form in which the
establishment should be built.[374] On the whole, cooeperation between
the factors of the fur companies and the officials at the post was
desired by both parties. The most notable disagreement is that which
existed between Alexis Bailly, the chief factor at Mendota, and
Major Taliaferro. This disagreement continued until September 15, 1834,
when the agent reported that he had refused to allow Bailly to hold
further intercourse with the natives, "not only in Consequence of his
bad tongue, but on account also of his frequent Violations of the
intercourse laws". In this action he was seconded by the authorities of
the fur company, who sent Mr. H. H. Sibley to fill Mr. Bailly's
place.[375] The pleasant relations which existed between Mr. Sibley and
all the government officials--civil and military--is one of the charming
chapters in the history of the fort.[376]
Intimately connected with the fur trade was the liquor traffic. Not that
the traders were always responsible for the introduction of the tabooed
commodity, but they were connected with it to such an extent as to be
always under suspicion. Nor was the attitude of the government
consistent. When Pike ascended the Mississippi he spoke of the evil
effects of rum to the chiefs who ceded to the United States the military
reservation; but the explorer closed with the words: "before my
departure I will give you some liquor to clear your throats."[377] Even
Taliaferro, foe that he was of liquor, knew its power. When a
neighboring chief and thirty of his men visited the agency, he recorded:
"After council--gave him 30 Rats Bread--50 Rats Pork--10 lbs Tobacco--3
gallons of whiskey--the last for good Conduct towards the
Chippeways."[378]
Liquor was an important asset in carrying on the fur trade. The object
was to please the red man, not to stupefy him to such an extent
that he could be swindled. With the growth of the great companies and
the influx of numbers of private traders there were many bidders for
each Indian's furs. Complaint was continual that the British traders
about the Lake of the Woods successfully offered whiskey as an
inducement to get the trade of the American Indians.[379] Governor Cass,
thinking it would be worse to lose the trade than admit the liquor,
allowed its introduction, in "limited quantities", by those engaged in
business along the boundary.[380] But the act of July 9, 1832, provided,
that "no ardent spirits shall be hereafter introduced, under any
pretence, into the Indian country."[381] This put an end to the stock
excuse. At the same time Americans suffered to such an extent that Mr.
Norman W. Kittson at Pembina wanted permission to destroy all liquor and
punish all offenders, promising "that very little would be introduced
after a short time".[382] So acute was the difficulty that it became the
subject of diplomatic correspondence with Great Britain; but the
authorities of the Hudson's Bay Company retorted that "spirits are even
clandestinely introduced into the Company's territories by citizens of
the United States."[383]
During the first years stringent measures were in force at the mouth of
the Minnesota River. At Prairie du Chien, Taliaferro had seen the
barrels rolled out from the river vessels and they foretold to him
coming murders and depredations. His cooeperating friend, Colonel
Snelling, graphically described its evil effects. "Herds of
Indians", he said, "are drawn together by the fascinations of whisky,
and they exhibit the most degraded picture of human nature I ever
witnessed."[384] The drunken Indian did not molest the trader; his
peaceful fellow-tribesman suffered more. "An Indian killed at Al [?]
Faribault's Trading house--whiskey was given the Indian for his furs--by
Mr. F.--The deceased then invited one of his friends to drink with
him--the invitation was accepted--when this friend becoming inflamed
with the Liquor very inhospitably sunk his Tomahawk into the head of his
host--whiskey it is said does no harm in the Trade by persons
interested--but the foregoing is only one of the many hundred fatal
occurrences from its use in procuring furs unlawfully."[385]
In fact, the Indians were continually agitated. If they received the
spirits they naturally revelled. When their supply was exhausted they
raged and fumed until they secured more. Sometimes the disease was more
desirable than the cure. "I have thus far seen but few of the indians of
this place and I am in hopes of passing on North without much trouble
there has just arrived a fresh supply of whiskey which will keep them
busy for a few days and by that time my carts will be almost out of
their reach."[386]
The eagerness for liquor on the part of the Indians made its
introduction all the more easy. For it they were willing to pay much:
eight horses were at one time exchanged for eight kegs of whiskey,[387]
and the current rate at which it sold is indicated by the
complaint which a Chippewa chief poured into the ears of the agent: "My
Father--Is it right for our traders to make us pay 200 Musk Rats, and 3
otters for a 3 gallon keg of mixed whiskey?"[388] They would undergo
extreme physical suffering, lying out in the rain and wading rivers and
swamps, to bring the precious liquid to their villages.[389]
The officers were never successful in entirely banishing the prohibited
article. Conditions depended upon the eagerness of the military and
civil agents, on the number of soldiers stationed at the fort, and on
the wiliness of the culprits. On one occasion liquor "was found secreted
in barrels of corn, buried on the beach and in other secret places, and
destroyed."[390]
Major Taliaferro was not lax in enforcing the laws. Every boat passing
Fort Snelling was searched, and no liquor was allowed to enter the
Indian country.[391] A few stray references seem to indicate what was a
usual occupation of the troops. "The Sub Agent Mr. Grooms left with 10
men on his 2d expedition below Lake Pepin in quest of whiskey
Smuglers--as our Indians even entering the country with it from Prairie
du Chiens and the Traders of the Am Fur Cpy are geting whiskey over the
country by land and water".[392] During May, 1827, the agent called the
attention of Colonel Josiah Snelling to the fact that in Mr. Bailly's
store at Mendota there was whiskey which had been introduced into the
Indian country contrary to law. Accordingly a detachment of
soldiers was sent under the command of Lieutenant J. B. F. Rupel, who
succeeded in finding two barrels which were taken away and stored in the
fort.[393]
The year 1832 saw especial activity in the destruction of liquor. The
boat of one trader passed up the Mississippi during April, having on
board eighteen barrels of whiskey.[394] Later in the season the
vigilance of the officers had direct results. In July eleven kegs of
high wines, very strong in quality, and in quantity amounting to one
hundred and ten gallons, were taken from the boat of Hazen Moores by
Captain J. Vail. The value of this liquor was $330. In October of the
same year, five kegs of high wines and one keg of whiskey were found by
Lieutenant I. K. Greenough in the boat of Louis Provencalle. These
confiscated kegs were stored in the fort, and an interesting side-light
on their ultimate fate is contained in the report of Major Taliaferro "I
am of opinion", he wrote, "from what I hear that the High Wines, and
Whiskey Seized by Lieuts Vail and Greenough, and in Store here will soon
be of little account in Consequence of loss by leakage, and the property
Not in charge of any responsible person--Other than its mere deposite
in the public store." Whether any efforts were made to stop the leaks is
not mentioned.[395]
These energetic movements caused "consternation among those natives who
have not yet joined the temperance Societties".[396] But they also
caused violent opposition from the men whose goods had been
seized. These traders commenced a suit in the courts at Prairie du Chien
against the commanding officer at Fort Snelling, arguing that while the
law prohibited the introduction of liquor into the Indian country, this
seizure had been made on the Mississippi River--"a common highway open
to all the Citizens of the United States".[397]
It is impossible to follow the course of the whiskey traffic through its
ups and downs. Numerous cases are recorded where the soldiers "knocked
in the head" the whiskey barrels.[398] But it was probably true, as the
missionary S. R. Riggs wrote from Lac qui Parle on June 15, 1847, to the
Indian agent: "The whiskey destroyed by the efforts of yourself and the
commanding officer at Fort Snelling forms the glorious exception, and
not the rule."[399]
Under the regulations existing in 1830 the traders were allowed to take
with them into the Indian country one gallon per month for every person
engaged in the party. Under plea of this they brought in high wines
which were later diluted with water and distributed among the Indians.
Of the amount brought in, the employees actually saw only one-third, and
this they paid for at the rate of from eight to sixteen dollars per
gallon.[400] Accordingly, Major Taliaferro issued a circular letter in
which he stated that high wines and whiskey would be allowed to be
brought in "in no case whatever".[401] Actions such as these by the
agent, who was still a young man, brought about the remark which Mr.
Aitkin, a trader among the Chippewas, is reported to have made to
some chiefs: "The Medals and Flags which you received at St Peters are
nothing more than pewter and dish rags, and were given to you by a boy,
and with a boys paw."[402]
Much of the good which should have resulted from the activities of the
officers was lost because the Indian could not be punished. If liquor
was found in his possession and seized there was nothing to prevent his
going back and obtaining more, taking the chance of being more
successful in evading the authorities the second time.[403] Accordingly
prevention as well as cure was tried, and Captain Eastman, Mr. Sibley,
and others sought, with some success, to persuade the Indians to refuse
to accept liquor.[404] Two years later the Indian agent, R. G. Murphy,
organized a temperance society among the Sioux, who, an observer stated,
were careful in living up to the pledge when once taken; and added, "One
such man as Major Murphy does more _real, practical good_ than all the
missionary societies of New York and Boston."[405]
X
SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS
Since the days of Father Marquette the Mississippi Valley has owed much
to the missionaries. Parkman has recounted their sufferings and their
glorious achievements in discovery, in exploration, and in inspiring
others with their stories of the wonderful West. But when the
black-robed Jesuit departed, and mass was no longer said in the log
chapels about the lakes and tributary streams, the influence of
Christianity still abided. There came a new generation of soldiers of
the cross who served the great valley in a later stage of development as
unselfishly and as thoroughly as their predecessors had done in the
earlier days.
The Indian in the Northwest in 1830 was not unacquainted with or hostile
to the whites; he did not fall down in awe to worship one of a different
color. His grandfather had traded with the wandering traveller who often
lived a whole winter in the village, and with his tribe had visited the
great commercial center at Mackinac. His father remembered the day when
the second class of strangers entered--the uniformed soldiers led by
Pike--and now the sound of the big gun in the fort at the mouth of the
Minnesota was no longer a dread portent.
But the missionary was a novelty. His purpose was unknown. He did not
ask for furs; he did not stealthily give them whiskey; he did not come
to summon them to councils at the agent's house; and he did not ask for
cessions of land. If they would respect the white man's "medicine
day"[406] and let their boys and girls attend the school, if they would
listen patiently while he talked to them of things they did not
understand, this newcomer was content. Out in the woods he cleared a
patch of ground and grew corn. If the red men wanted to help he was very
glad. When the winter storms came, and game was scarce, and the small
supply of corn that the squaws had safely cached in the fall was eaten,
then the missionary helped them in their difficulty. He often went with
them on their hunts, shared all their privations, and eased their pain
if accident or sickness befell them. As the activities of the mission
broadened and its personnel enlarged, the Indian became more and more
acquainted with whites who lived on farms and tilled the soil. So when
at last the land was opened to settlement, the transition from the
missionary's establishment to that of the American farmer was not
sudden.
Much has been written of the degeneration which came to the Indians
about a fort through their association with the soldiers. That such
degeneration did result is true, but it came about in spite of the
efforts of the officers. On the other hand, distinct steps were taken to
improve the condition of the neighboring tribes; and although these
efforts were soon transferred to the missionaries, yet these
missionaries depended so much on support and encouragement from the
soldiers that their enterprises may be considered as part of the history
of Fort Snelling. The freedom from annoyance enjoyed by the missionaries
living near the fort as compared with those at a distance indicates the
influence of the post.[407]
Soon after Fort Snelling was established, Taliaferro attempted to
persuade some Indians to undertake farming in order to supplement their
hunting. But they preferred leaving this work to the rather desultory
efforts of the squaws. One chief, however, remembered the advice during
the next winter. Far out on the plains that border on the Missouri River
he and his party were overtaken by a blizzard. Each one wrapped himself
in his blanket and let the snow drift about and over him. With a little
dried buffalo meat which they divided among them, they kept alive until
the storm was over. While lying here, knowing not whether his companions
were dead or alive, expecting himself to be a victim of either the cold
or hunger or both, Chief Cloud Man resolved that if he ever returned to
the vicinity of Fort Snelling he would not depend entirely upon the hunt
for his living, but would also engage in farming under the direction of
the Indian agent. This was no mere death-bed conversion. Many of his
companions refused to follow him in the movement; other chiefs openly
opposed him; but in the spring eight Indians settled upon the shores of
Lake Calhoun to begin the life of agriculturists. This community
was named Eatonville in honor of Secretary of War John H. Eaton.[408]
On September 1, 1829, there arrived at the fort, the Reverend Alvan Coe
and the Reverend Jedediah I. Stevens, two missionaries on a religious
exploring expedition to locate a site for an establishment. They bore
with them letters of introduction from Joseph M. Street, the agent at
Prairie du Chien, who commended them to Taliaferro's care with a
convincing array of scriptural quotations.[409] The agent offered them
the use of the buildings connected with the grist mill and the saw mill
at the Falls and his own colony at Eatonville. After preaching a few
times to the garrison, the ministers left. It was not until 1835 that
Mr. Stevens located permanently near the post.[410]
Major Taliaferro was left alone to carry on the difficult enterprise of
civilizing the natives. In 1830 he wrote to the Secretary of War telling
of the progress he had made and of his plans for a log village in which
the Indians could live, instead of in the flimsy bark houses, and a log
house for the protection of the Indians' property. He begged for
financial aid, saying that "Six or eight hundred dollars would mature
what has happily been begun, and this sum from the Civilization fund
would enable me to progress with great efficiency, and without further
tax on the Government."[411] The need for his supervision was constant.
From his diary can be seen how continual was his interest in the
experiment. On April 18, 1831, he ordered the hoes and plows
repaired, and on May 1 he went to the colony taking the implements with
him. Here he found "most of them at work--Cuting down trees, Grubbing
out the roots &c--What was more encouraging some few of the Men were at
this unusual kind of labour for them--they laughed when they saw Me--I
praised them, in every agreable way that could be conveyed to them in
their language." Again on June 8th he was pleased to see the Indians all
at work hoeing their corn and potatoes.[412]
The success of the colony was gratifying. In 1833 they raised from eight
hundred to a thousand bushels of corn, and the population of the village
was one hundred and twenty-five. Only one death had occurred in three
years.[413] There was much to contend with, however, since the traders
were "violently opposed to Indians commencing to seek a living in this
way."[414] One trader stated that it was a loss to him of five hundred
dollars whenever an Indian learned to read and write.[415]
With all his duties it is no wonder that the agent was anxious to
receive the help of the missionaries, and although he was himself "a
Deacon in the 'Old School Presbyterian Church'",[416] his basis for
aiding the red men, as he expressed it in a report, was that he had
"endeavored to impress all missionaries with the true fact that
Christianity must be preceded by civilization among the wild tribes. I
hazard nothing in this, for an Indian must be taught all the _temporal_
benefits of this life first, before you ask him to seek for eternal
happiness; teach him to worship the true and living God through
the self-evident developments of his mother earth. In fine, let
agriculture and the arts precede the preaching of the gospel, after
which, Christianity inculcate if practicable."[417]
The men who were to be Taliaferro's first helpers were living in the
little village of Washington, Connecticut--two brothers, one
twenty-three years old and the other twenty-one. Here a great revival
occurred and among those whose lives were changed were Samuel Pond and
Gideon Pond. The next year the older of the two went to the West and
drifted into the frontier town of Galena. Hearing from a traveller from
Red River of the Sioux about Fort Snelling he decided to dedicate his
life to uplifting them. Upon broaching the subject to his brother the
latter agreed, and on May 1, 1834, they left Galena on the "Warrior". No
missionary society was supporting them; they had only a little money;
they did not know a word of the "Dakota" tongue; they were uneducated
for missionary work. Living the roving life of the Indians as members of
the tribe, they hoped to be able to gradually influence their lives and
religion.[418]
On May 6, 1834, the "Warrior" reached Fort Snelling. At the agency
house, Mr. Grooms, who was the acting agent in the absence of Major
Taliaferro, rented them a room. Major Bliss, then in command at the
fort, immediately summoned them to appear before him and explain their
presence in the Indian country without permission.[419] When he heard of
their plans, they fitted immediately into a problem that had been
puzzling him. Big Thunder, chief of the Kaposia village, wanted to raise
more corn. But by using the customary Indian method of hoeing up the
ground before planting, it was impossible to get much land under
cultivation. At Fort Snelling were oxen and a plow, but there was no one
to do the plowing or teach the art to the Indians. Accordingly Samuel
Pond volunteered to take charge of the proposition.
The plow was taken down the river in a canoe, while the oxen were driven
by land. But the warriors were reluctant about touching the plow until
Big Thunder, chief of the band, had seized the handles himself. For a
week Samuel Pond continued the work. But the dogs had stolen the
provisions he had taken from the fort, and so he was obliged not only to
sleep in the Indian tepee, but also to live upon the ordinary Indian
fare.[420]
This task of plowing had just been performed when Major Taliaferro
returned from the East. The success of the work done by Big Thunder led
him to ask the Ponds to take charge of the Eatonville colony. As this
would give them an opportunity of carrying out their plans, the brothers
accepted. Their position is indicated by the following entry in
Taliaferro's diary: "I am to furnish out of my private funds--Hay for
the Oxen--belonging to the Indians, & those young men are to have Charge
of them for the Winter--They will plough some this fall and again in the
Spring for the Indians, & go on thereafter to instruct them in
the arts & habits of civilized life."[421]
Cloud Man, chief of the Calhoun band of Indians, chose a site near the
lake, where a cabin was erected which cost a shilling--for nails. The
walls were of tamarack logs from a neighboring grove; slabs obtained at
the mill at the Falls of St. Anthony furnished a roof; and Major
Taliaferro presented the missionaries with a window. Major Bliss gave
them some potatoes, and Mrs. Bliss presented them with a ham. Knowing
the thievishness of the natives, the Indian agent also added a padlock
to the newly-finished cabin.[422]
Near the house about four acres of land were cleared and fenced with
logs. A quarter of a mile distant was the Indian village of fourteen
bark lodges, each containing two or three families. This village was
surrounded by corn fields and was reached through a narrow lane made by
putting up posts and tying poles to them with strips of bark.[423]
According to Featherstonhaugh, who visited the establishment a year
later, thirty acres were under cultivation and the yield of corn
amounted to eight hundred bushels. It is interesting to note that this
critical traveller found only one thing about Fort Snelling to commend
and that was the self-sacrifice of the two Pond brothers.[424]
They entered immediately into the life of the Indians. An extract from a
letter written by one of the brothers shows the wide variety of their
duties. "One Indian," he said, "has been here to borrow my axe,
another to have me help him split a stick; another now interrupts me to
borrow my hatchet; another has been here after a trap which he left with
me; another is now before my window at work with his axe, while the
women and children are screaming to drive the black-birds from their
corn. Again I am interrupted by one who tells me that the Indians are
going to play ball near our house to-day. Hundreds assemble on such
occasions."[425]
The work that was thus started soon expanded. In the spring of 1835 Rev.
Thomas Smith Williamson arrived at Fort Snelling with his wife, a child,
Miss Sarah Poage, and Alexander G. Huggins. At about the same time Rev.
Jedediah I. Stevens returned to the post he had visited in 1829, and
with the help of the Pond brothers built a mission school at Lake
Harriet. Dr. Williamson went up the Minnesota River to Lac qui Parle,
where another station was established. On May 19, 1837, Rev. Alfred
Brunson came to Fort Snelling for a similar purpose, and after
consulting with the agent and the commandant he chose the village of
Kaposia for his headquarters. But these mission stations and their
personnel were not permanent. The work of the Ponds was soon amalgamated
with that of Mr. Stevens. In 1839 when the Sioux-Chippewa feuds were at
their height and the Indians were afraid to remain at Lake Calhoun, Mr.
Stevens tore down the little cabin the Ponds had built and used the
material for breastworks and moved down the river to Wabasha's
village--outside the influence of Fort Snelling. At the same time
the Ponds moved nearer the fort, where they remained until in 1842 they
established a mission at Oak Grove, eight miles up the Minnesota River.
This same war spirit and the hostility to the missionaries who preached
against it led to the abandonment of the Kaposia enterprise in 1841. In
1846, however, Little Crow asked for a school, and Dr. Williamson came
from Lac qui Parle to take charge of it. These missions remained in
existence throughout the period of Old Fort Snelling.[426]
The activities of the missions took on two forms--industrial and
educational. By the treaty of 1837 a farmer was provided for the Sioux
about the fort. This position was offered to Gideon Pond who in 1838
accepted. In return for his salary of six hundred dollars he had to plow
the cornfields, cut hay for the cattle and feed them during the winter,
and build such shelters as the animals might need. As he could not do
all this work alone--and he wanted it thoroughly done--much of his
salary was spent in hiring others to help him. His services were offered
in the same spirit of sacrifice which first brought him to the
region.[427]
Blacksmiths were maintained at some of the villages. In 1849 Mr. Chatel,
blacksmith for Good Road's village, made among other things, 73 chains
to hang kettles on for cooking, 23 traps, 230 axes, 50 rat spears, 208
pairs of fish spears, 24 pairs of stirrups, 63 crooked knives, and 199
hoes. During the same year, Mr. Robertson, the farmer for Little Crow's
village, ploughed 75 acres of land, made 500 yards of fence, put
up 20 tons of hay, and hauled corn for seventeen days. To be sure,
Robertson and Chatel were not missionaries, but they were part of the
movement for civilizing the Indians which was fostered and encouraged by
the officers of the fort.[428]
In 1837 at Lake Harriet there was an Indian boarding-school, where some
half dozen half-breed girls were learning to read, write, and sew.[429]
The Pond brothers had made the beginnings of an alphabet of the Sioux
language, and books and primers for the use of the scholars were soon
printed.[430] At all the stations surrounding Fort Snelling schools were
maintained, but here as elsewhere "the children in pleasant weather
prefer playing to reading".[431] Some progress was made, however, as is
indicated by the school reports. In 1851 at the school maintained at
Kaposia it is reported that Daniel Renville, Gustavus A. Robertson,
Rosalie Renville, and Fat Duty Win can spell and read in English in
_McGuffy's Eclectic Primer_, and can spell and read in the Sioux
language in _Wowape Metawa_.[432]
The success of these pioneer efforts depended much on the encouragement
received at the beginning; and by a coincidence this encouragement was
brought about the second summer that the Ponds were in the vicinity.
During the winter Major Gustavus Loomis initiated "a red-hot revival
among the soldiers", and although many of the converts backslid with the
simultaneous appearance of spring and whiskey,[433] yet there were so
many that remained faithful that on June 11, 1835, when Dr.
Williamson arrived, a church was organized in one of the company rooms
at Fort Snelling. This church was composed of soldiers, missionaries,
and fur traders and was a basis of support in the difficult task of
civilizing the Indians.[434] The officers protected and encouraged the
workers under all circumstances, the post doctor gave his services to
them free, and once a month Mr. Stevens preached at the fort.[435]
In 1838 the church was strengthened by the appointment of a chaplain,
Rev. Ezekiel Gear of Galena. But on December 11, 1838, as he was leaving
Fort Crawford in a sleigh, the horse started up sooner than was expected
and he was thrown out, breaking his right thigh bone. He was kept at the
hospital at Fort Crawford for some months and did not arrive at Fort
Snelling until April 28, 1839.[436] As there was no room large enough to
hold all the soldiers, they were at first not compelled to attend the
services. In 1841, however, the chaplain reported that all the soldiers
attended regularly, but answered feebly to the responses, although the
chaplain believed they were attentive to what was said. These movements,
which were undertaken to elevate the character of the soldiers, could
not but have an effect upon the success of the missionaries.[437]
Under the protection of Fort Snelling efforts were also made to do
religious work among the fur traders. The inhabitants of Mendota were
old voyageurs and traders, French and half-breeds, and most of them,
having lived long without the ministrations of the church, remembered
the faith of their childhood days in Canada. When in 1838 the
Minnesota country west of the Mississippi was made a part of the
Territory of Iowa, the Diocese of Dubuque was extended to correspond
with the political area. In the following summer Bishop Loras of Dubuque
visited the upper Mississippi and was entertained at the fort and by the
faithful Catholics at Mendota. These amounted in number to one hundred
and eighty-five, fifty-six of whom were baptized, eight were confirmed,
and four couples were given the nuptial benediction. The need for
permanent work was great. Plans were made to bring one or two Sioux to
Dubuque to pass the winter and teach the language to some worker. In the
spring of 1840 Rev. Lucian Galtier was sent up to be the pastor of this
flock.[438]
It was often with despair that the missionaries saw the Indians still
clinging to their heathen rites, and the few additions to the churches
do not indicate any great transformation of an Indian nation. But if the
lives of the natives were not elevated by their contact with the whites
it was not because they had no opportunity. The forces which led to
their degeneration had the start of the civilizing forces, and they also
appealed more to the Indian's nature. At the same time both romance and
lustre is added to the relations of Old Fort Snelling with the
surrounding Indians by the story of the attempts of the men who had a
vision of what Indian life could be, and who unselfishly tried to make
that vision a reality, encouraged and supported by the military men at
the fort.
XI
THE FASHIONABLE TOUR
George Catlin, whose wanderings in the West had acquainted him with the
most beautiful and the most accessible scenic spots of the country,
urged upon his readers the adoption of a trip to the Falls of St.
Anthony as the "Fashionable Tour".[439] Primitive life and unspoiled
landscapes could be seen from the comfortable decks of the steamboat.
The objective point of these trips was the Falls of St. Anthony, but it
was at Fort Snelling that the passengers were dropped. Only because of
the necessity of bringing supplies to the troops at the post did the
steamboats make the journey. It is in the writings of these visitors
that there have been preserved many pictures of life in and about Fort
Snelling. Moreover, these visits from the outside world brought pleasure
and satisfaction to the smaller world about the fort.
In the month of May, 1823, occurred an event which was epochal, not only
in regard to the commercial development of the Northwest, but also in
respect to the growth of the upper Mississippi as a Mecca for
travellers. The steamboat "Virginia", one hundred and twenty feet long
with a twenty foot beam, commanded by Captain Crawford, left St. Louis
with supplies for Fort Snelling; on the tenth of May it was
received by the soldiers at the fort with a salute of cannon and by the
assembled Indians with awe and consternation.[440] "I know not what
impression the first sight of the Phoenician vessels might make on the
inhabitants of the coasts of Greece," wrote one who was a passenger on
that eventful voyage, "or the Triremi of the Romans on the natives of
Iberia, Gaul, or Britain; but I am sure it could not be stronger than
that which I saw on the countenances of these savages at the arrival of
our steam-boat."[441]
The man who wrote these words was J. C. Beltrami, an Italian refugee,
who for political reasons had fled from his native land. In 1823 he met
Major Taliaferro at Pittsburgh and requested permission to accompany him
to the Falls of St. Anthony. This was granted, and in company with the
Indian agent he arrived at Fort Snelling on the first steamboat to brave
the current of the upper Mississippi.[442] Here for almost two months he
was entertained by the officials at the post, visiting the Indian bands,
attending their councils, writing letters to "My Dear Countess",[443]
and conversing with Mrs. Snelling who alone could speak French with
him.[444] He was on the point of setting out overland for Council Bluffs
when another party arrived at the post.
In the list of the exploring expeditions which traversed the region
about the head of Lake Superior, by far the most important was the one
led by Stephen H. Long and conducted under the auspices of the War
Department. The permanent members of the party were Major Long of
the Topographical Engineers, Thomas Say, zooelogist and antiquary,
William H. Keating, mineralogist and geologist, Samuel Seymour,
landscape painter and designer, and James E. Colhoun, astronomer and
assistant topographer. The start was made at Philadelphia on April 30,
1823, and the route led by way of Wheeling and Chicago to Fort Crawford
at Prairie du Chien. From this point Major Long and Mr. Colhoun
travelled by land and the others by water, the two parties arriving at
the fort on July 2nd and July 3rd respectively. After a few days wait
the journey was again resumed late on the afternoon of July 9th.[445]
In the meantime much had been done. The orders issued to Major Long had
authorized him to call upon the commanding officer at any post for men,
horses, camp equipage, provisions, boats, clothing, medicines, and goods
to the value of three hundred dollars to be distributed among the
Indians.[446] Biscuits were baked in the ovens of the fort; Joseph
Renville was engaged as an interpreter; and the detachment of troops
which had accompanied them from Prairie du Chien was exchanged for a new
guard, consisting of a sergeant, two corporals, and eighteen soldiers
under the command of Lieutenant St. Clair Denny.[447]
But these preparations did not prevent them from enjoying the scenic
views about Fort Snelling. On the sixth of July a walk was taken to the
Falls of St. Anthony. An island in the river which divided the falls
into two parts tempted Mr. Say, Mr. Colhoun, and Mr. Keating to
cross, the water being only two feet deep. But the ford was located only
a few feet above the ledge of the rock, and the slippery footing
rendered the exploit extremely dangerous. When this had been safely
accomplished, Mr. Say and Mr. Colhoun crossed in the same way the
eastern half of the falls, while Mr. Keating with great difficulty
returned to the western bank. Later when the others were crossing the
dangerous passage, they were seen to be in great difficulties whereupon
one of the soldiers went out and aided them to the shore. Only after
they had been strengthened by a dinner, prepared by the old sergeant who
was in charge of the government mills, were they able to return to the
fort.[448]
The expedition went up the Minnesota River to its source, then down the
Red River to Lake Winnipeg and returned to the East by way of the fur
trader's route along the international boundary and Lake Superior. Fear
of the Indians living about the mouth of the Blue Earth River, one of
whose number had been arrested and sent to St. Louis for murder, had
suggested the necessity of the military escort. But when the place was
reached no trouble resulted, as the Indians had gone on their summer
hunt. Accordingly nine of the soldiers were sent back with canoes--some
of the supplies having been destroyed by accidents. Those who remained
had no easy task. There were only nine horses, and these were reserved
for the officers and "gentlemen" of the company, so that the privates
were obliged to walk.[449]
On August 9th when the party left Pembina behind, their number had
dwindled. Joseph Snelling, son of Colonel Snelling, who had gone with
them thus far, returned by the same route with three soldiers. J. C.
Beltrami, who had been allowed to cast his lot with theirs, and who had
been equipped and supplied by the Indian agent, who had presented him
with the "noble steed 'Cadmus'",[450] also left them. In company with
two Chippewas and a _bois-brule_ of Red River, he set out for the
southeast with the purpose of there finding the source of the
Mississippi. Upon a small lake, which he named Lake Julia, he conferred
the honor of being the head of the great river, while it seemed to him
that the "shades of Marco Polo, of Columbus, of Americus Vespucius, of
the Cabots, of Verazani, of the Zenos, and various others, appeared
present, and joyfully assisting at this high and solemn ceremony".[451]
After a journey of great suffering he was welcomed at Fort
Snelling--wearing a hat made of the bark of a tree, and clothes of
skins.[452]
Not until late in the fall did the connection of Fort Snelling with this
expedition cease, when the soldiers who had accompanied the party as far
as Sault Ste. Marie returned to their post by the Fox-Wisconsin route
after a journey rendered exceedingly disagreeable by the cold.[453]
In the summer of 1835 George Catlin and his wife spent several months at
Fort Snelling. Mr. Catlin was an artist who made a specialty of Indian
scenes, and his time was occupied in painting scenes of Indian
life and portraits of Indian chiefs. His studio was a room in the
officers' quarters, and his models were the natives who lingered about
the agency.
Mr. Catlin was extremely desirous of painting some pictures of Indian
dances and ball-plays. In order to persuade the Indians to do their
part, Lawrence Taliaferro told them on July 3rd that if they would come
the next day and entertain the visitors, the great gun at the fort would
be fired twenty-one times for their amusement. As this was the salute
for the national holiday, he was safe in making the prophecy.
Accordingly, on the fourth of July the prairie near the fort, for two
hours, rang with the excited shouts of the ball-players; and when this
pastime was finished the "beggar's-dance", the "buffalo-dance", the
"bear-dance", the "eagle-dance", and the "dance-of-the-braves" furnished
entertainment for three hours more.[454]
On the sixteenth of July General Robert Patterson of Philadelphia with
his sister and daughter arrived on the steamboat "Warrior". For their
amusement the Indians staged the "dog-dance", using for their victims
two dogs which were presented to them by the officers of the garrison.
Accompanied by a soldier George Catlin left for Prairie du Chien on July
27th. "About this lovely spot", he wrote, "I have whiled away a few
months with great pleasure, and having visited all the curiosities, and
all the different villages of Indians in the vicinity, I close my
notebook and start in a few days for Prairie du Chien, which is three
hundred miles below this; where I shall have new subjects for my
brush and new themes for my pen, when I may continue my epistles."[455]
In the thirties began that series of geological surveys which has
continued ever since, under both the national and State governments. In
the fall of 1835 George William Featherstonhaugh and William Williams
Mather, geologists in the service of the government, made a survey of
the Minnesota Valley. The detailed scientific report of the survey was
published by the government;[456] while a popular description of the
trip, written by Mr. Featherstonhaugh, appeared in London in 1847
entitled, "A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor".
From September 12th to September 15th on the up-journey and from October
16th to October 22nd on the return, the scientist was entertained at the
fort. The reception which he received did not impress him with its
cordiality. "I could not but reflect upon the contrast betwixt the very
kind attentions I had received at the other American posts, and the want
of them I experienced here."[457] But the feeling was mutual. The keen
Indian agent characterized him by saying: "He attempted to pass current
for that which he possessed not--superior talent and modesty in his
profession."[458] Mr. Featherstonhaugh was an Englishman in whose
narrative American institutions were not praised. Even the presence of
his American co-laborer, Mr. Mather, is not suspected by reading the
entertaining story, for his name is not mentioned once.
It is difficult, therefore, to judge how accurate the account of
his stay at Fort Snelling really is. The room which was given to him for
his use was "an old dirty, ill-smelling, comfortless store-room", and
Major L---- (Loomis?) who was asked by the commandant to provide
accommodations for the visitor bored him with his psalm-singing and
exhortations, being "a living rod in soak to tickle up sluggish
Christians". But, probably unwittingly, Featherstonhaugh admitted that
Fort Snelling was of some service to him. For the supplies and
vegetables taken from the post gardens brought the gunwale of the canoe
to within four inches of the water![459]
Further exploration of the upper Mississippi was made by Joseph N.
Nicollet during the summer of the next year. This French scientist was
aided in part by the War Department, and in part by the fur traders, P.
Chouteau, Jr., & Co., of St. Louis.[460] While at Fort Snelling he
determined to visit the sources of the great river, and in his
enterprises he was greatly assisted by Lawrence Taliaferro, H. H.
Sibley, and the officers at the fort. Some of the soldiers wished to
accompany him, but the absence of many of the garrison at Prairie du
Chien made their presence at the post necessary. Some Chippewa Indians,
some half-breeds, and a Frenchman, Desire Fronchet, were his only
companions when the ascent of the river was commenced. But at the first
stopping place, near the Falls of St. Anthony, a band of thieving Sioux
robbed him of many of his supplies, and the attempt would have been
given up had not Major Taliaferro made good the loss from his own
means.[461] Nicollet visited Lake Itasca and indicated its principal
tributary, so that some authors have credited him with being the
discoverer of the true source of the Mississippi.[462]
After the return from this perilous journey, the winter was spent at
Fort Snelling in working over the notes and a map. For the kindness
shown him Mr. Nicollet expressed great appreciation, though the rude
hospitality of the frontier post could provide no supper better than
wild rice, mush, and milk, and no sleeping quarters better than the
storehouse. But here he was entertained, as the agent wrote, in Virginia
fashion where a call lasts six months and a visit one year; and the
nights were made merry with the music of the violin and piano, and with
the animated conversation of Taliaferro and Nicollet. For many hours on
cold winter nights he studied through his telescope the stars in the
clear heavens.[463]
Mr. Nicollet devoted two more seasons to examining the country between
the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in company with John C. Fremont. In
1838 a trip was made from Fort Snelling to the pipestone quarry; and in
1839 his party ascended the Missouri River to Fort Pierre, and then
passed over the prairies to the Mississippi.[464] The accounts of these
journeys were widely read, and coming from the pen of such an able
scientist and pleasing writer, the interest of the country was turned to
the rich possibilities of this new Northwest.[465]
In addition to these well-known travellers there was a host of
people who made the trip as a vacation jaunt. On June 1, 1836, the
"Palmyra" arrived with thirty passengers. The steamboat "Burlington"
tied up at Fort Snelling on June 13, 1838, having among its many
passengers Captain Frederick Marryat, the popular English novelist. Only
two days later the "Brazil" was moored near the "Burlington", the
presence of two boats at the same time being considered a novel sight.
The family of Governor Henry Dodge was on this second boat.[466]
On June 26, 1838, the "Burlington" was again at Fort Snelling. Among the
tourists on this trip was Mrs. Alexander Hamilton who had embarked at
Galena where she had been visiting her son, W. S. Hamilton, who was
connected with lead mining enterprises in Wisconsin. The fact that Mrs.
Hamilton had been a belle in society during the time of George
Washington, and the general sympathy felt for her ever since the tragic
death of her husband in 1804, caused her to be received with more
attention than was usually bestowed on tourists. At nine o'clock she was
taken in a carriage to the Falls of St. Anthony, and when she returned
to the fort in the afternoon the officers met her at the gate and led
her to a chair placed upon a carpet in the center of the parade ground.
After the troops had been reviewed she was entertained at the
headquarters of the fort until the "Burlington" left that same
evening.[467]
The extent of this tourist traffic is well illustrated in the newspapers
of the time. Advertisements tell of the interesting features to
be seen on a trip to the upper Mississippi, of the pleasures of
steamboat travel, and promise that "A first rate band of music will be
on board."[468] An editor paused long enough in the exciting
presidential "Log Cabin" campaign of 1840 to remark that "Pleasure trips
to these Falls appear to be quite the go. Large parties of ladies and
gentlemen have passed up on the steamboats Loyal Hanna and Malta. And we
noticed in a late St. Louis paper, the advertisements of the Valley
Forge, Ione, Brazil and Monsoon, all for 'pleasure excursions to St.
Peters'. We see also in the same paper, that the steamboat Fayette is
advertised 'for Harrison and Reform'--rather an extensive country we
should think, at the present time."[469] Even as far away as Louisville,
Kentucky, steamboats were chartered for trips to the upper waters of the
Mississippi River.[470]
The pleasures of such a journey, the scenery enjoyed, the people met,
the events of the day spent at Fort Snelling are well illustrated by two
letters written by the Right Reverend Jackson Kemper, who was the
missionary bishop of the Northwest of the Episcopal Church.[471] In the
month of August, 1843, he was the guest of Captain Throckmorton on the
steamboat "General Brooke"; and he made the trip to Fort Snelling to
confer with Rev. Ezekiel Gear who was the chaplain at the post. The
first letter was dated August 25, 1843, and was written to his daughter.
"Here we are snug and almost dry on a sand bar and not more than
13 miles below St. Peters", he wrote. "While the Captain and his men are
using all kinds of methods to get us off--the chief of which is to put
our freight into a large barge aside of us--I will write you a few
lines. It is now past 8 o'c. P. M. We still hope to get to the fort
before night (mid-night I mean). Then the Captain says he will give us
an early breakfast tomorrow and send us off to see the falls (5 Miles
distant) and we must return so as to start down the river by noon. This
is too bad in many respects; but what can we do? I have not time to stay
with Mr. Gear until the next boat arrives; that may not be for a week or
two; so I will say to Mr. G. when I see him: Here I am, & I have come
not to see the falls but you, and I am at your disposal as long as I am
here. If you choose to take me to the falls, it is well; if you prefer
that I should remain in your house I am content. It is still probable
that I shall be at Potosi next tuesday Morning. To travel on Sunday, and
particularly to do so without an opportunity of preaching, will be very
hard. There will probably be only 4 passengers besides myself on the
return. There was a little boat the other [day?] a-head of us, and I
hoped she might be detained at the fort until Monday--but that prospect
has vanished, for she has just past us descending to Galena.
"It is supposed to be 500 miles from St. Louis to Prairie du Chien and
300 from there to St. Peters. We stopt at Prairie du Chien for some
hours and a Judge Lockwood came on board who with his wife is an
Episcopalian. He told me there are several in and about the town & he
thought the prospect of organizing a church a fair one if a Missionary
could be obtained (We are off the sand bar). From the prairie our voyage
has been delightful. At the distance of a mile or two from the river on
each side are ranges of lofty hills, in a great variety of shapes. Many
of them appeared as if the river had flowed for ages near to their tops.
Some of them looked as if they had been cut in two; and on the peaks of
several were large blocks of rock. As we were woodding I spoke of going
up to one of them but was told it was dangerous on account of
rattle-snakes. There is a curious fact connected with that reptile.
Cannon river flows into the Mis^i from the west--it is a long & narrow
stream--nine miles above Lake Pepin. They are never found north of that
stream, although they abound below it. One of the hills we saw yesterday
had 3 or 4 large blocks of rock upon it, called the pot and kettles from
their resemblance to those useful utensils. The prairies were frequent &
some peculiarly attractive. On Wabasa's we saw a Sioux village--and a
farmer's establishment--he being sent there by the U. S. to civilize the
Indians. This morning we passed another village called Red Wings but saw
very few of the inhabitants. The corn field was very ... [illegible] and
there were in it elevated frames where the boys are kept to scare away
the blackbirds. I saw smoke near the frames, the boys having kindled a
fire to roast ears of corn for their comfort. The Sioux have winter &
summer houses. The latter are conical made of buffalo robes
covering poles. The summer lodges looked something like poor log huts &
are made of poles & elm bark. Near Red Wings village there is a Miss^y
establishment from Switzerland.--Lake Pepin is a beautiful sheet of
water thro wh the M. flows or is an expanse of the M. & is 25 miles by
3. It apparently abounded in large fish, for they were constantly
jumping out of the water. Its banks you know are celebrated for
agates--but we have not time to stop a moment.--The settlements above P.
du Chien are very few--now and then a solitary dwelling & a wood yard.
At one of these places the man told me his nearest neighbor was 20 miles
off. In winter there is a good deal of travelling on the river in
sleighs. About half way up Lake Pepin is the lover's rock of which you
have heard, the Chippeway river enters from the East just below the
commencement of the Lake, & its Mouth is 100 Miles below St. Peters. Up
it & like wise up the St. Croix are saw mills, as that country abounds
with Pine. The Mouth of the St. Croix is 30 miles below St. Peters. Here
is a beautiful lake as large as L. Pepin thro' which the St. C. flows
just before it joins the M.--We have a Mr. Akin on board whose trading
establishment is 300 Miles north of the St. Peters & 60 west of Lake
Superior. Then he has been among the Chippeways 33 yrs. He has been
thro' Lake Superior 30 times to New York for goods & returned as often;
and now for the first time he has traded with St. Louis. He knows
perfectly all the languages around him. The most copious is the
Chippeway. He says they have some what of a written language, and he has
frequently seen an Indian write off a ... [illegible] for another on a
piece of bark. He thinks the characters are something like those of the
Mexicans.--Now I suppose you would like to receive a letter with the S.
Peter's post Mark; and if I ascertain it will not take more than a Month
on its journey you shall receive this thro that channel; otherwise I
will reserve it for the p. o. of P. du Chien".[472]
The narrative is continued in a letter of August 29, 1843, written from
Potosi, Wisconsin, to his son:
"Although you may not have a very high opinion of the West, yet I think
you would have liked to be with me in my late trip to St. Peters. The
weather was delightful and the scenery grand and very novel. You have
probably seen my letter to your sister; I will therefore say, we arrived
at the end of our voyage last friday night, and as the fog was very
thick the next morning we could not see where we were until 8 oclock.
Then the fort on a high hill, with its flag flying, had a fine
appearance. Mr. Gear the chaplain soon called at the boat and appeared
greatly rejoiced to see me. I accompanied him to his quarters and saw
his family and some of the officers and ladies of the garrison, and then
he and I rode out 8 miles to the falls of St. Anthony. Though very
inferior to those of Niagara, they are still well worth seeing. The
scenery is wild--there are many immense rocks in the river, evidently
broken off from the precipice over which the water is dashed with
considerable noise--the water in its fall is frequently broken--but even
when it is not so, the height is not more than 17-1/2 feet. Returning we
went to a hill from whence we could see the whole of the fall for there
is an island in the middle of the river which hides one half of it when
you are near. A mile or two further brought us to a most beautiful and
lofty cascade on Nine Mile river. The quantity of water was not large,
but it fell amidst the wildest scene, unbroken, over a ledge of rock
which extended far beyond its foundation.--There were not many Indians.
The few I saw were Sioux who looked much degenerated by their contact
with the Whites. The families of the officers appeared very happy; the
ladies told me they were like sisters. For months they have no visitors
but wild Indians--Sioux or Chippeways. An old Scotchman who had been in
this country 50 years told me that all the tribes to the North and West
speak the Chippeway language or its dialects; that the Sioux is entirely
different from it, but that a dialect of it is spoken by the
Winnebagoes, with this difference that the Sioux language has not the
sound of the letter R in it while almost every word of the Winnebago
abounds with Rs. He thinks that a person knowing the two languages--the
C. and S. could travel through the indian country from Mexico to the N.
Pole and make himself understood.--We had to return to the boat by one
oclock, and soon after we started down the river. Near the Mouth of the
St. Croix--about 45 miles below St. Peters, I saw on a prairie a
large stone painted a bright red, to which the Indians offer sacrifices
of tobacco &c. and consider a _Wa-Kon_ or Spirit.--As we were on our
journey sunday afternoon I saw a bark canoe paddling towards us with
great rapidity containing as I first thought an Indian and a white Man.
The steamer was stopt, and soon the chattels (kettle, coffee-pot, &c)
then the men afterwards the boat itself were on board. They proved to be
a miner who had gone from Galena and a stout lad. Eight months ago a
number of persons were induced by offers of land from Government to go
to Lake Superior in search of copper; and a large party had lately been
occupied in removing an immense block of copper from the bed of a river
which empties into the Lake. This miner had been thus occupied; and he
informed me that the task was done--that the block weighed three
tons--that it was to be taken to New York &c as an object of curiosity.
A fortnight ago he had started from the spot--skirted the Lake to a
certain river, ascended that to its source, then carried the canoe with
its contents 2 or 3 miles on their shoulders until they met the head
waters of the St. Croix, and descended that river to the
Mississippi."[473]
XII
THE CHIPPEWA TREATY OF 1837
The relations of the United States government to the Indians prior to
1871 shows a dual attitude. On the one hand, the Indians were the
government's wards. By the ninth of the Articles of Confederation,
Congress was given the right of "regulating the trade and managing all
affairs with the Indians who were not members of any of the
states";[474] and by the act regulating Indian trade no cession of land
could be valid unless made by treaty or convention.[475] On the other
hand, these treaties were negotiated and proclaimed with all the pomp
and ceremony which would appeal to the Indian's mind and impress him
with his importance as a member of a sovereign nation. This was
distinctly a "legal fiction", but it continued as the customary method
of procedure until the act of March 3, 1871, abolished the practice of
considering the tribes as independent nations.[476]
As the nation increased in strength and the agricultural and commercial
forces of the country were pushing westward and coming into contact with
the distant tribes, the treaties increased in number and importance.
Urged by the cries of hungry land-seekers the cession of land by the
natives gradually became the most important phase of all treaties; and
in order that the new settlements might be protected from
vengeful Indians the title to the land rested on legal cession rather
than on conquest. It is stated on the authority of the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs that "Except only in the case of the Sioux Indians in
Minnesota, after the outbreak of 1862, the Government has never
extinguished an Indian title as by right of conquest; and in this case
the Indians were provided with another reservation, and subsequently
were paid the net proceeds arising from the sale of the land
vacated."[477]
The negotiation of a treaty was not an easy affair. There were no
recognized representatives of the tribe. In order that a treaty might be
satisfactory it was necessary that all factions be consulted; and the
braves who gathered often numbered into the hundreds. Thus, in planning
the negotiations a satisfactory place and an opportune time must be
selected, while the red men must be supported while away from home and
protected from lurking enemies. It was in these phases of treaty-making
that the military posts showed their importance.
The first important treaty with which the tribes living about Fort
Snelling were concerned was that made at Prairie du Chien in 1825. The
little frontier village presented a gala appearance during the month of
August when the great convocation was held. There were Chippewas, Sioux,
Sacs and Foxes, Menomonies, Iowas, Winnebagoes, and a portion of the
Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawattomie tribes living on the Illinois River
gathered to consult with Governor Lewis Cass of Michigan and
General William Clark, the government's commissioners. Of the 1054
drawing rations on the last day, 386 were of the delegation of Sioux and
Chippewas gathered by Major Taliaferro at Fort Snelling and brought down
in safety to make a triumphal entry in true Indian style with flags
flying, drums beating, and guns firing.[478]
Although there was no cession of land, distinct progress was made in
that the territories of the various tribes were defined, thus making
negotiations easier for the future. Of especial importance was the
Sioux-Chippewa boundary line, which made clear the territory of each
tribe, so that when the year 1837 arrived and treaties were made to
obtain the lands east of the Mississippi, the areas with which each was
concerned were clearly understood.[479]
By the year 1837 many conditions called for the cession of these lands.
The forests, the water-power, the mines of lead and other ores aroused
the desires of speculators. Settlers were thronging to Wisconsin, and it
was felt that if the land could be purchased and the Indians removed,
the people would be safe from any attacks, and the Indians would be
removed from the contaminating influence of many of the undesirable
whites.[480] There were also the traders who for years past had given
credit to many worthless Indians who had never brought back from the
hunt furs sufficient to pay for the goods advanced them; and they hoped
that in the payment for the lands certain sums would be reserved
for the liquidation of these debts.[481]
In the early summer of 1837 Major Taliaferro was ordered to organize a
delegation of Sioux Indians who could be taken to Washington, where the
Sioux negotiations would take place. At the same time orders were issued
to summon the Chippewas of the upper Mississippi to a council to be held
at Fort Snelling. To both of these groups the subject of the purchase of
the Indian lands east of the Mississippi would be broached.[482]
Miles Vineyard, who was the sub-agent at Fort Snelling, was immediately
sent to the villages of the Chippewas. Early in July the red men began
to arrive, and by July 20th about a thousand men, women, and children
had pitched their tepees near the fort. Many were the notable chiefs
gathered there with their warriors. With the Pillager band from Leech
Lake was Chief Flat Mouth, who had twenty-five times been on the warpath
without receiving a wound, who had delivered his English medal to Pike
in 1806, and whose band had been attacked by the Sioux under the walls
of Fort Snelling in 1827. The most famous of the Chippewa chiefs, he was
still living in 1852, being then seventy-eight years old.[483]
The chief of the bands from Gull Lake and Swan River was
Hole-in-the-Day. Energetic, brave, and intelligent, he gained a great
influence over the Chippewas of the upper Mississippi. His name, which
literally meant a bright spot in the sky, is often written
Hole-in-the-Sky. He was a frequent visitor at Fort Snelling and came to
his death at that place in 1847 when he fell from a wagon, breaking his
neck and dying instantly.[484] His brother Strong Ground or Strong Earth
was also present at the council. He had been a member of Flat Mouth's
band at the time of the massacre in 1827. Thirty-six eagle plumes waved
from his head-dress at the time of his death, each of them representing
the scalp of an enemy. The first of these he obtained when as a small
boy he dashed into the ranks of the Sioux during a conflict and scalped
a fallen warrior.[485] Chiefs and warriors from the St. Croix River,
Mille Lac, and Sandy Lake, with their followers, were also encamped near
the fort.
There were also notables among the white men gathered there. The United
States commissioner was Henry Dodge, known as an Indian fighter, and at
that time Governor of Wisconsin Territory. General William R. Smith of
Pennsylvania, who had been appointed by the President to serve as a
commissioner with Governor Dodge, was unable to come. Lawrence
Taliaferro, the Indian agent, was busied with many duties connected with
the safety of the visitors. Four hundred Sioux hovered about, and these
had to be kept at a safe distance to avoid conflicts. Verplanck Van
Antwerp, the secretary of the commission; J. N. Nicollet, the explorer;
H. H. Sibley; and many other fur traders watched the negotiations and
put their names to the treaty as witnesses.[486]
The council began on July 20th. It was with the chiefs that Governor
Dodge parleyed, but the warriors and braves felt that they also should
have some part in the proceedings. On one occasion several hundred of
them, streaked with their brightest paint, waving their tomahawks and
spears and carrying the war flag of the Chippewas, together with the
flag of the United States, interrupted the council with their whoops and
drums; and when they had approached the chair of the Governor, paused
while two of the warriors harangued the crowd on the kindness of the
traders and the debts owed them.[487]
The negotiations were carried on in a bower near the house of the agent.
The chiefs were assembled daily; the peace pipe was smoked; and the red
men, dressed only in leggings and breech cloths, with their long hair
hanging over their shoulders under the eagle feathers upon their heads,
and medals dangling from their necks, spoke of lands, of the traders,
and of wars. The speeches of the Indians seemed interminable. From day
to day action was postponed as they were waiting for other bands to
arrive.
To prolong the council as long as possible was satisfying to the
appetite of the Indian. The rations issued by the commissary at Fort
Snelling were not to be eagerly exchanged for the fare of a Chippewa
lodge in the northern woods. But at first the menu was not satisfactory.
Nadin (the Wind) complained on July 24th: "You have everything around
you, and can give us some of the cattle that are around us on the
prairie. At the treaty of Prairie du Chien, the case was as
difficult as this. The great Chief then fed us well with cattle."[488]
Evidently this hint was acted upon, as the old records show that by July
30th ten beeves weighing 6123 pounds had been furnished the Chippewas
who were assembled to the number of 1400.[489] The amount of supplies
used on such an occasion is indicated by instructions given to Alexander
Ramsey and John Chambers who in 1849 were commissioned to treat with the
Sioux Indians at Fort Snelling. They were authorized to obtain from the
commissary at Fort Snelling 15,000 rations of flour, 10,000 of pork,
10,000 of salt, 10,000 of beans, and 5000 of soap.[490]
At the first meeting Governor Dodge spoke to the Chippewas of the
purpose of the council. Their lands east of the Mississippi, he informed
them, were not valuable in game and were not suited for agricultural
purposes. They were said to be covered with pine trees, which the white
men were eager to obtain, and accordingly the government was willing to
pay the Chippewa nation for them. Thus, by selling the land they could
obtain money for that which actually was of little value to them.[491]
There evidently was no intention on the part of the Indians not to sell
the lands, but the council was protracted, pending the arrival of other
bands. Not until July 27th did they make any movement to close the deal.
On that day, Ma-ghe-ga-bo, a warrior of the Pillager band, dressed in
his most fantastic costume, covered a map of the land in question with a
piece of paper, remarking that when the paper was removed the
land would be considered sold. He added a final request: "My father, in
all the country we sell you, we wish to hold on to that which gives us
life--the streams and lakes where we fish, and the trees from which we
make sugar."
Finally he asked all the chiefs who agreed to sell the land to rise.
About thirty arose at his word. Immediately Ma-ghe-ga-bo raised the
paper from the map and seized the hand of Governor Dodge. The sale was
made. There remained only to agree upon the terms of the cession.[492]
During the negotiations, reference had been made continually by the
Indians to the traders and the payment of the debts owed them. Pe-she-ke
said: "I have been supported by the trader, and without his aid, could
not get through the winter with naked skin. The grounds where your
children have to hunt are as bare as that on which I now stand, and have
no game upon them.... We have not much to give the traders, as our lands
and hunting grounds are so destitute. Do us a kindness by paying our old
debts." That he was coached to make the remark is evident from his
statement that "No-body--no trader has instructed me what to say to
you."[493]
On July 29th the terms were finally agreed upon, and while the secretary
was writing out the treaty the braves of the Chippewas held a dance
under the walls of Fort Snelling. This indicated not only their
satisfaction at the successful conclusion of the council, but was also
intended as a compliment to the commissioner. Three hundred
warriors circled about in their gaudy costumes, recounting during the
pauses of the dance the deeds of bravery they had done and the number of
Sioux scalps they had obtained. At a distance a great number of Sioux
looked upon the scene, not daring to interfere when the troops of the
fort were so near.[494]
By this treaty the Chippewas ceded an immense tract of land east of the
Mississippi. In return the United States agreed to pay annually for
twenty years $9500 in money, $19,000 in goods, $3000 for blacksmiths,
$1000 for farmers, $2000 in provisions, and $500 in tobacco. One hundred
thousand dollars was to be paid to the half-breeds, and $70,000 was set
aside to pay the claims of the fur traders. The privilege of hunting,
fishing, and gathering wild rice along the lakes and rivers of the ceded
territory was reserved for the Indians.[495]
This cession of land by the Chippewas had its counterpart in a treaty
concluded by Sioux chiefs on September 29, 1837, in Washington, whither
they had been taken by Major Taliaferro. All their lands east of the
Mississippi--the land between the Black River and the Mississippi River
as far north as the Sioux-Chippewa boundary line was given up for
various considerations amounting in total to almost one million
dollars.[496]
By these two treaties all the lands east of Fort Snelling were opened to
settlement and commercial exploitation. As soon as the news of their
ratification came, developments immediately began--developments
which had an important bearing upon the future history of Old Fort
Snelling. The days when the Chippewa treaty was being drawn up are
important, not only because they present an interesting sight of the
picturesque features of an Indian council, but also because they show
how Fort Snelling was assisting in the opening up of the rich timber
lands and fertile prairies that border the Mississippi River.
For many years the payment of annuities that had been promised the Sioux
was an annual reminder of these treaties. It was necessary that each
Indian receive his portion of the goods and money in person in order to
prevent fraud. In the late summer of each year all the warriors of Red
Wing's and Wabasha's villages would leave their homes for the fort. In
the agency building the United States officers, with the roll of the
Sioux nation before them, called the names of the individuals, who one
by one stepped up, touched the pen of the secretary, received the money,
and deposited it in the box of his band. Outside was the typical Indian
group--squaws, children, dogs, and braves smoking their pipes and
talking of past achievements. And in order that the Indians might always
be conscious of the presence of the soldiers of the "Great Father", the
band of the fort played patriotic and thrilling airs.[497]
With the transfer of the Indians to reservations higher up on the
Minnesota River the payment of these annuities became a task which could
no longer be performed at the fort. But the guarding of the funds
was a necessity. Captain James Monroe spent the latter half of the month
of November, 1852, at Traverse des Sioux with one subaltern and
forty-seven men of the dragoons and infantry, protecting the money from
bandits and Indians. William T. Magruder was ordered on October 23,
1853, to proceed in command of a detachment of troops to escort the
money being sent to Fort Ridgely; and exactly a year later, an officer
and thirteen men were detailed to perform a similar task.[498]
XIII
CITIZENS AND SOLDIERS
"The frontier army post," writes Professor F. J. Turner, "serving to
protect the settlers from the Indians, has also acted as a wedge to open
the Indian country, and has been a nucleus for settlement."[499] When
the Fifth Infantry built its cantonment on the Minnesota River there
were no other habitations in the neighborhood. Traders yearly frequented
the region and wintered on the banks of the Mississippi and Minnesota
rivers, but their headquarters were located at Prairie du Chien.
Immediately after the beginning of the military establishment, however,
the movement mentioned by Professor Turner was initiated.
In the spring of 1820 J. B. Faribault came up with cattle for the
garrison and decided to locate in the vicinity as a fur trader. On
August 9th the Indians granted Pike's Island to his wife, Pelagi
Faribault, who was the daughter of a Frenchman and a Sioux woman.
Faribault immediately built houses upon the island, but high water
washed them away. Thereupon he removed to the east side of the
Mississippi. It is probably to this establishment that Beltrami referred
in 1823 when he wrote that "there are no buildings round the fort,
except three or four log-houses on the banks of the river, in
which some subaltern agents of the Southwest Company live among the
frogs."[500] This position was also upon low land, and on April 21,
1826, when the ice began to move, Faribault's houses were carried away,
while he and his family escaped in canoes.[501] After this second
disaster Faribault's establishment was erected at Mendota, where Alexis
Bailly had already located.[502] The growth of this village was very
slow. But gradually old fur traders settled about it with their
families; voyageurs, when not employed on the rivers, lounged about the
trading house; and the agents and clerks of the American Fur Company had
their permanent homes in the rude log cabins which were clustered about.
In the meantime a new element had been added to the surroundings of the
fort. It was already three-quarters of a century since the traders had
erected the first trading post upon the Red River of the North. The
early French voyageurs had left a race of half-breeds, popularly called
_bois-brules_, who were the vassals of the two great companies. When
their strength had been spent in the labors of hunting and trapping,
they retired to the vicinity of some post--the largest of these
settlements being Fort Garry, the germ of the modern city of Winnipeg,
which as early as 1823 boasted of a population of about six
hundred.[503]
But not all of these half-breeds were traders. Thomas Douglas, the fifth
Lord Selkirk had secured from the Hudson's Bay Company the grant of an
immense tract of land on the Red River, and in 1811 he began the
colonization of the region with poor immigrants from Scotland and
Ireland. But the knowledge of the internal troubles of the company put
an end to the immigration from these two countries, and Lord Selkirk
turned to Switzerland for new recruits. In 1821 a ship full of Swiss
sailed for Fort York on Hudson's Bay, and late in the fall the party
reached the Red River after a toilsome journey up the Nelson River and
across Lake Winnipeg. Being artisans and city-dwellers they were unable
to endure the rough agricultural labors in the bleak north. Cold,
floods, grasshoppers, and uncongenial neighbors rendered the location
unpleasant.[504]
Travellers from the south brought news of a better locality, and towards
this place there soon began a movement which, while not great in any one
year, was long continued. In 1821 five families made the journey to Fort
Snelling, and their success inspired others. In 1823 thirteen families
made the perilous journey of four hundred miles. From year to year, as
families became discouraged they left the colony. Four hundred and
eighty-nine persons had arrived at Fort Snelling up to 1835.[505]
The many hardships endured by these travellers, and their pitiful
condition, appealed to the sympathy of the Americans,[506] and they were
welcomed and aided by the officers at Fort Snelling. During their stay
one party was granted the use of the old barracks at Camp Cold Water.
Employment was given the men upon the reservation, and those who
preferred to remain were allowed to settle upon the military
grounds. Comparatively few, however, made their homes here, the greater
number proceeding to Galena, Illinois, and Vevay, Indiana. On one
occasion provisions for the down-river journey in government keel-boats
were issued by Colonel Snelling.[507]
A third class of settlers around the fort was composed of discharged
soldiers. Men stationed at Fort Snelling saw the agricultural value of
the surrounding lands, or the possibility of riches in the fur trade.
Joseph R. Brown, who came as a drummer boy with Colonel Leavenworth in
1819, entered the employ of the post sutler when he ceased his
connection with the army, and later he became an Indian trader.[508]
Edward Phelan, John Hays, and William Evans, whose terms of service at
Fort Snelling expired about this time were among the first settlers on
the land ceded in the treaty of 1837.[509]
In the fall of 1837 it was revealed by a survey that there were one
hundred and fifty-seven white persons, not connected with the fort,
living on the reservation. Of these, eighty-two had their homes in the
vicinity of Camp Cold Water and seventy-five at the fur trading
establishments. Approximately two hundred horses and cattle were owned
by these persons.[510]
For many years pleasant relations existed between the officers at the
post and the civilians. The physician of the garrison willingly
responded to calls for his aid made by the people living outside the
fort.
"I am compelled", wrote Joseph Renville to H. H. Sibley, "to ask you for
some assistance in regard to a disease which is very bad here--the
whooping cough. I pray you to ask the doctor for some medicine,
particularly for some camphor."[511] Many a time Lawrence Taliaferro
presided at a frontier wedding, when in one of the rude huts on the
reservation the picturesque figure of the fur trader mingled with the
glittering uniform of the officer, and dusky faces peered in at the
windows awaiting the end of the ceremony when they also could partake of
such a feast as only the prairies, lakes, and sutler's store could
provide.[512]
In the troubles which naturally arose between the settlers and the
Indians, the agent was the mediator. Thirty of Peter Musick's cattle
were killed by Indians who, wanting only powder horns, left the
carcasses to the wolves.[513] On July 13, 1834, Jacob Falstrom came to
the agency bringing the feet and hams of an ox which he claimed had been
shot by a Sioux Indian at Mud Lake. He claimed thirty-five dollars from
the Indian Department for the loss which he had sustained. As he was a
poor man and had a large family to support Major Taliaferro was moved to
make an effort to aid him. "I proposed", he wrote in his diary the same
evening, "to contribute $5 for the benefit of J. Faustram to Several of
the Gentlemen of the Post--but not meeting with a corresponding
Sentiment--the poor fellow must be informed of my bad success in his
behalf".[514]
Only a week later Joseph R. Brown asked to be paid for a hog
which the Indians had killed.[515] During the summer of 1837 Louis Massy
claimed $150; Abraham Perry $50; and Benjamin F. Baker $750 for similar
damages.[516] Many years later the agent wrote of these unpleasant
duties: "The traders would make a detective of the agent if practicable.
All thefts on each other were reported to the agent for justice.
Deserting boatmen (fed on corn and tallow) must be forced to proceed up
the St. Peter's with their outfits for the trade, right or wrong. Every
ox, cow, calf or hog lost by persons on the Indian lands, the agents
were expected to find the culprits or pay for these often fictitious
losses."[517]
A new era in the history of these settlers began when the treaties of
1837 opened the lands east of the Mississippi to settlement. Some time
before they had heard rumors of the coming negotiations at Washington,
and those living west of the Mississippi sent a memorial to the
President stating that they had settled upon the land thinking it was
part of the public domain and believing that they would have the right
of preemption upon their claims. But now, if a new treaty was made and
the land west of the Mississippi purchased for a military reservation,
they asked that they be allowed reasonable compensation for the
improvements they had made. However, in the treaty no mention was made
of a military reservation, the title to the land around the fort being
allowed to rest upon Pike's treaty of 1805.[518]
But to Major J. Plympton, who became the commanding officer at Fort
Snelling during the summer of 1837, the presence of these people
was undesirable, and so in a letter written to the Adjutant-General he
called attention to the settlement and complained of the difficulty of
obtaining fuel for the garrison when the squatters were also engaged in
the same task. In his reply on November 17, 1837, the Adjutant-General
directed that a reservation be marked off--the extent of Pike's purchase
being indefinite.[519]
On March 26, 1838, Major Plympton sent a map of the territory which he
chose to have considered as a military reservation. This reservation,
contrary to the expectations of many, included land on the east side of
the Mississippi. Thus there were many who thought that they had been
using their legal rights of preemption when in reality they were only
squatters. Order No. 65 issued at the post on July 26, 1838, forbade the
erection of any buildings or fences upon the reservation, and prohibited
the cutting of timber except for public use.[520] During this same time
there seems to have been, on the part of those living on the west bank
of the Mississippi, a movement to the east side. Mrs. Abraham Perry came
to Agent Taliaferro on October 18, 1838, and complained that the Indians
had killed three of her cattle "just below the stone cave"--that is,
Fountain Cave which was on the east bank of the river.[521] Yet her
husband was among those who had signed the petition of August 16, 1837,
as residents on the west side.
Within these lands were also a number of shacks along the river
bank a few miles below Fort Snelling. Here whiskey was clandestinely
transferred from the boats before they proceeded upstream. During the
winter of 1839 the presence of these resorts had a deteriorating effect
upon the garrison. Surgeon Emerson wrote to the Surgeon General of the
United States on April 23, 1839: "Since the middle of winter we have
been completely inundated with ardent spirits, and consequently the most
beastly scenes of intoxication among the soldiers of this garrison and
the Indians in its vicinity, which no doubt will add many cases to our
sick-list.... I feel grieved to witness such scenes of drunkenness and
dissipation where I have spent many days of happiness, when we had no
ardent spirits among us, and consequently sobriety and good conduct
among the command."[522]
Brigadier General John E. Wool inspected Fort Snelling on June 2nd, and
in a letter on June 28th he urged that the settlers be driven off the
reservation. "Such is the character of the white inhabitants of that
country", he wrote, "that if they cannot be permitted to carry on their
nefarious traffic with the Indians, it will sooner or later involve them
in a war with the United States."[523]
Influenced by these letters and reports Secretary of War J. R. Poinsett
determined to compel all the settlers to leave. It is, however, wrong to
suppose that all were guilty of whiskey-peddling. In a letter in which
he commented on the number of persons present at the Sunday services in
the fort the chaplain wrote that "Some of the inhabitants also in
the vicinity who were regular in their attendance have removed."[524]
The instructions for the removal were made out on October 21, 1839, and
sent to Edward James, Marshal of the Territory of Wisconsin. They stated
that if force should prove necessary to compel the people to leave, the
Marshal should call upon the commanding officer at Fort Snelling for
such aid. In that case he was instructed to act "with as much
forbearance, consideration, and delicacy as may be consistent with the
prompt and faithful performance of the duties hereby assigned to
you".[525]
The orders were not received by Marshal James until February 18, 1840,
and he immediately forwarded them to his deputy, Ira B. Brunson of
Prairie du Chien. As soon as navigation opened in the spring he left for
Fort Snelling. Notice was at once given to the settlers to move, and
when they refused a detachment of soldiers was called out on May 6th and
under the direction of a lieutenant and Marshal Brunson the household
goods of the settlers were carried out and their cabins destroyed.[526]
These ejected settlers found new homes a few miles down the river. In
the midst of their rude homes a log chapel was dedicated in November,
1841, to the Apostle St. Paul by the Reverend Lucian Galtier.[527] As
the ceded lands were more and more occupied, the little village enjoyed
a corresponding growth. Gradually the name of the chapel was adopted as
the name of the settlement. In 1849 the Territory of Minnesota
was organized with the seat of the legislature at St. Paul. The new
community prospered, and the town swarmed with settlers, Indians,
travellers, and adventurers who lived in tents or slept in barns in lieu
of better accommodations. There were also capitalists, tradesmen, and
officials who here made their homes.[528]
It was inevitable that between this new community and Fort Snelling
close relations should exist. The Territorial government was weak; to
enforce order it was necessary for the Governor to make requisition on
the fort for troops.[529] The jail at Fort Snelling was also utilized
for the punishment of many undesirable characters always drawn to a new
region. James Higby who sold a promissory note which had already been
paid, and Jacob Shipler who was arrested on a charge of assault and
battery were both given terms in the jail at the fort. John R. McGregor,
who became angry and threw his wife against a cooking stove, was
separated from his help-meet for a period of three months while he
languished in the fort.[530]
The soldiers, in return, visited the frontier town, conducting
themselves in the eyes of one observer "with much dignity and
sobriety".[531] Not always, however, could their actions be thus
described. Two soldiers who had just returned from an expedition to the
Indian country, started for St. Paul on the evening of their return,
carrying with them their blankets which they meant to sell for
"refreshment". But their birch canoe upset and before aid could
reach them they were drowned.[532]
But relations of a more innocent and more desirable sort also existed.
In the officials of the Territory the officers at the fort found
congenial spirits. One of the popular pastimes of the little city was to
ride out upon the frozen Mississippi in sleighs to Fort Snelling. "This
command", narrates an official report, "had the honor of receiving His
Excellency W. A. Gorman Gov. of Minnesota and the Hon. James Shields
late of the U. S. Senate, on the 9th inst. by whom the Command was
reviewed &c. in presence of a large concourse of Citizens."[533] The
band of the Sixth Regiment which had paraded through the streets of
Mexico City playing "Yankee Doodle" now found occupation in playing for
the balls and parties of the frontier town. Even the inhabitants of
Stillwater, twenty-five miles distant, called on the fort to furnish the
music for the Valentine Ball on February 14, 1850.[534] During the same
month a concert was given, the proceeds going to the Washington Monument
Association. A year later the ladies who had arranged to give a tea
party to raise money for the benefit of the poor children of the
community changed their plans and accepted the offer of the band who
volunteered to give a concert for the purpose.[535] The value of this
association of citizens with the soldiers led to the remark of an editor
that "We consider this band as well as the whole garrison, with its high
intelligence--but especially the band, of infinite value to St.
Paul--in fact, it is the most powerful element of influence amongst us,
for our good, next to the pulpit and the press."[536]
The tourists who for many years had been frequenting the upper
Mississippi now increased in numbers. In the "Drive of All Visitors"
were included the Falls of St. Anthony, Lake Harriet, Minnehaha Falls,
and Fort Snelling.[537] From the lookout tower of the fort on the edge
of the cliff, could be viewed the same scenery which had charmed Carver
a hundred years before. Undoubtedly many thought as did the newspaper
man who wrote: "In the contemplation of this scene from Ft. Snelling,
one is ravished with a desire to get upon it; and to appropriate a
little domain for his home. It has the look of home. How can the Sioux
ever consent to part with these lands?"[538]
But two years later they did part with them. The two treaties in which
the cession was acknowledged were brought about without military
aid.[539] This was in itself prophetic of the new status of the fort.
With the growth of the Territorial organization, one by one the duties
connected with Indian affairs, liquor troubles, and the protection of
life and property were taken over by the civil officers, with the
military men as the executors of their laws only when the regular forces
of administration were unable to handle the difficulties.
And now the fort which had so long looked down upon the canoes of the
Indians and traders saw on its two rivers a new procession.
Flatboats, steamboats, and canoes bore upstream the hardy pioneers and
their families, and returned loaded with the products of the farm and
the forest. The post which could have successfully resisted the attack
of Indian warriors, or even the siege of a civilized enemy was to fall
before the invasion of the pioneers. The frontier had suddenly leaped
far to the westward. In 1858, when the troops were withdrawn, there was
no need of an establishment such as had existed during the first forty
years. It was the passing of Old Fort Snelling which for so many years
had been the remotest outpost of American law.
The development of the Northwest was not brought about by the
spectacular and romantic incidents which the chroniclers loved to
record. So gradual was its progress that the factors contributing to it
can be seen only in the perspective of fifty years. It was the result of
the monotonous details of the life of the fur trader who was the
unwitting explorer of the Northwest, and the forerunner of the permanent
resident. The routine duties of garrison life and expeditions to the
Indian country, often barren of any visible result, added to its
progress, as also did the weary marches of the explorer and the minute
notations of the scientist who accompanied him. The patient sacrifices
of the missionary who toiled at unaccustomed labors in the half-cleared
cornfield and taught his primitive pupils in the log mission-house,
introduced a new civilization. The daily contact of the Indian
and the white man at the fort and agency were prophetic of a new
relationship between the two races.
But because these events were so commonplace the contemporary
chroniclers have bequeathed only a brief though eloquent epitome of this
old Mississippi River post. It was the exception and not the rule to
note that a company of soldiers was up the river watching the movements
of the Indians, that a missionary had been presented with a ham, or that
an explorer took with him so many vegetables from the gardens of the
fort that the gunwale of his boat was brought within four inches of the
water. But such are the stray references which indicate the almost
complete dependence upon the fort of all the factors in the development
of the Northwest.
In the preceding pages an attempt has been made to gather together from
all sources the references which bear upon each particular phase of the
process. In most cases they are few, not because the military men were
not concerned with them, but because at every post in the Mississippi
Valley conditions were practically the same and the public, being
acquainted with these routine duties, was more interested in the
picturesque Indian legends or in the duels between the officers. Of
these latter incidents the pages of the history of Fort Snelling are
full and in this respect it was typical of the American army post. But
it is also an example of that which is of more importance--the
contribution of the army to the transformation of the Mississippi
Valley.
In many ways Fort Snelling is unique in the list of American forts. The
British flag was borne in triumph to wave from the flagstaff of Fort
Ticonderoga after it had been evacuated by the colonial patriots during
the dark days of 1777; but never was a foreign flag borne into Fort
Snelling except to be burned in the sight of awestruck Indians. The guns
of Fort Sumter announced the opening of the Civil War; never were the
cannon at Fort Snelling fired at a foe. Mackinac was successively
garrisoned by French, English, and American soldiers; whenever occupied
by troops Fort Snelling flew the stars and stripes. The stockades at
Boonesborough and Harrodstown were besieged by hundreds of savages who
fought to gain entrance and obtain the scalps of the pioneer men and
women there gathered for safety; no hostile demonstration was ever
staged near Fort Snelling. Its history was not made by the rifles and
sabers of the soldiers; the axe and the plow of the pioneer who worked
in safety beneath its potential protection have left their history upon
the landscape of the great Northwest.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
CHAPTER I
[1] Carver's _Travels through the Interior Parts of North-America_, pp.
vii, viii.
[2] To the region lying on the upper waters of three great river
systems--the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, and the Red River of the
North--the writer has applied the name "Upper Northwest" to distinguish
it from the "Old Northwest" and the "Pacific Northwest".
[3] For a summary of the French explorations see Folwell's _Minnesota_,
pp. 1-29. Thwaites's _France in America_, p. 74, contains an excellent
map of the French operations in the West.
[4] The report of Louis Antoine Bougainville, written in 1757 and based
on the reports of Canadian officials, shows the extent of French
commerce at the close of the period of French control. At Green Bay (La
Baye) trade was carried on with the Folles-Avoines, Sacs, Foxes, Sioux,
and other tribes, the annual output being from five to six hundred
packages of furs. In the North, extending westward along what is now the
international boundary to the Lake of the Woods and then along the lakes
and rivers of the Lake Winnipeg system, was the territory of the post
known as "The Sea of the West". This included seven forts and produced a
yearly supply of from three to four hundred packages. "These regions are
everywhere vast prairies; this is the route to take for the upper
Missouri."--_Wisconsin Historical Collections_, Vol. XVIII, pp. 167-195.
A picturesque account of the life of the French traders is given in
Neill's _The History of Minnesota_ (Fourth Edition), pp. 115-119.
[5] _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, Vol. XVIII, p. 251; Turner's
_The Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin_ in the
_Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science_,
Vol. IX, pp. 584, 585.
[6] Thwaites's _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_,
Vol. VII, p. 373. In 1792, Peter Grant built a trading house on the site
of St. Vincent, Minnesota, on the east bank of the Red River, and in
1800-1801 the fort of Pembina was erected by the great traveller,
Alexander Henry, the younger.--_South Dakota Historical Collections_,
Vol. I, p. 138.
[7] _American State Papers, Indian Affairs_, Vol. I, p. 684.
[8] Thwaites's _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_,
Vol. I, pp. 227, 228. Traders of the Hudson's Bay Company also
frequented the spot. Sergeant John Ordway records in his journal for
December 1, 1804, that "a Scotsman who is tradeing at the Mandens came
to visit us. he belonged to the hudson bay company.... he brought over
Tobacco Beeds & other kinds of Goods. & traded with the Mandens for
their furs & buffalow Robes. they bring Some Guns to trade for horses &.
C. this hudsons bay comp^y lay Garrisoned near the N. W. Comp^y....
Eight or 10 days travel by land a North course from this."--_Wisconsin
Historical Collections_, Vol. XXII, p. 169.
[9] Chittenden's _The History of the American Fur Trade of the Far
West_, Vol. II, p. 556.
[10] Coues's _The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_, Vol. I, pp. 279, 280.
[11] Coues's _The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_, Vol. I, p. 286.
[12] Coues's _The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_, Vol. I, p. 280.
[13] Coues's _The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_, Vol. I, p. 156.
[14] Coues's _The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_, Vol. I, p. 171.
[15] Coues's _The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_, Vol. I, p. 252.
[16] Wilkinson's instructions to Pike are printed in Coues's _The
Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_, Vol. II, pp. 842-844. Before the
founding of Fort Snelling the Minnesota River was called by the French
voyageurs the "St. Pierre". When the Americans were established on its
banks they anglicized this name into "St. Peter's". The fort, the
agency, and the fur traders' establishment are commonly referred to in
early literature as "St. Peter's". By a joint resolution of Congress on
June 19, 1852, the name Minnesota was ordered to be used in all public
documents in which the river was mentioned. This was the Indian name for
the river.--_United States Statutes at Large_, Vol. X, p. 147. In
mentioning this river use is made in this volume of the modern name,
except when quoting.
[17] The account of the treaty is given in Coues's _The Expeditions of
Zebulon M. Pike_, Vol. I, pp. 83, 84. The treaty itself is printed on
page 231 and Pike's speech on pages 226-230. Article I contains the land
cession: "That the Sioux nation grant unto the United States, for the
purpose of establishment of military posts, nine miles square at the
mouth of the St. Croix, also from below the confluence of the
Mississippi and St. Peters up the Mississippi to include the falls of
St. Anthony, extending nine miles on each side of the river, that the
Sioux nation grants to the United States the full sovereignty and power
over said district forever." The meaning of all this is extremely vague.
[18] _American State Papers, Indian Affairs_, Vol. I, p. 798.
[19] _Publications of the Canadian Archives, No. 7, Documents Relating
to the Invasion of Canada and the Surrender of Detroit, 1812_, pp. 11,
13.
[20] A petition of the London merchants to the English government stated
that before the war the annual export of furs from Canada amounted to
L250,000. Updyke's _The Diplomacy of the War of 1812_, p. 204.
[21] _Publications of the Canadian Archives, No. 7, Documents Relating
to the Invasion of Canada and the Surrender of Detroit, 1812_, pp. 72,
73.
[22] _Publications of the Canadian Archives, No. 7, Documents Relating
to the Invasion of Canada and the Surrender of Detroit, 1812_, pp.
66-69. The figures are given on page 69.
[23] _Publications of the Canadian Archives, No. 7, Documents Relating
to the Invasion of Canada and the Surrender of Detroit, 1812_, p. 184.
[24] The best account of the massacre at Fort Dearborn is given in
Quaife's _Chicago and the Old Northwest_, 1673-1835, pp. 211-231.
[25] _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, Vol. XIX, p. 323.
[26] Coues's _The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_, Vol. I, pp. 120, 194.
[27] _Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections_, Vol. XV, p. 219. It
must be stated that the British in no way sought intentionally to use
the Indians for the purpose of massacreing the whites. The instructions
to Dickson declared that he "should restrain them by all the means in
your power from acts of Cruelty and inhumanity". On March 16, 1813,
Dickson reported to the military secretary at Quebec that he had taken
steps to redeem the soldiers, women, and children of the ill-fated Fort
Dearborn garrison, who were still captives.--_Michigan Pioneer and
Historical Collections_, Vol. XV, pp. 258, 259.
[28] _Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections_, Vol. XV, pp. 321,
322.
[29] There is a summary of Dickson's activities in the _Wisconsin
Historical Collections_, Vol. XII, pp. 133-153.
[30] _Niles' Register_, Vol. VI, p. 176.
[31] _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, Vol. XIII, p. 10; _Niles'
Register_, Vol. VI, p. 242.
[32] _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, Vol. XI, pp. 254-270.
[33] _Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of
America and other powers since July 4, 1776_, pp. 404, 405.
[34] _American State Papers, Indian Affairs_, Vol. II, pp. 10, 11;
Chittenden's _The History of the American Fur Trade of the Far West_,
Vol. II, p. 561.
[35] These treaties were concluded: on July 18th with the Pottawattomies
and Piankashaws; on July 19th with the Tetons and Sioux of the Lakes,
Sioux of St. Peter's River, and Yankton Sioux; September 2nd with the
Kickapoos; September 8th with the Wyandots; September 12th with the
Osages; September 13th with the Sacs of the Missouri; September 14th
with the Foxes; September 16th with the Iowas. The treaties are
published in Kappler's _Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties_, Vol. II, pp.
110-123. The reports of the commissioners and also the treaties are
printed in the _American State Papers, Indian Affairs_, Vol. II, pp.
1-11.
[36] _American State Papers, Indian Affairs_, Vol. II, p. 9.
[37] For these migrations see the _Michigan Pioneer and Historical
Collections_, Vol. XXIII, pp. 97, 443; Kingsford's _The History of
Canada_, Vol. IX, p. 69; _Report on Canadian Archives_, 1896, p. 157.
During the negotiations at Ghent the British commissioners had
sought to have established a permanent Indian territory to be a barrier
state between the two powers.--Updyke's _The Diplomacy of the War of
1812_, p. 204.
The Indians felt they had been abandoned by the English. Hence the
liberality in gift distribution was an attempt to appease them.
[38] See the reports of W. H. Puthuff in the _Wisconsin Historical
Collections_, Vol. XIX, pp. 430-433, 472-474.
[39] Schoolcraft's _Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with
the Indian Tribes_, p. 19.
[40] Irving's _The Sketch-Book_ (Hudson Edition), p. 489.
[41] Carr's _Missouri_, p. 121.
[42] _Niles' Register_, Vol. VIII, p. 436, August 19, 1815.
[43] _American State Papers, Indian Affairs_, Vol. II, p. 86.
[44] _United States Statutes at Large_, Vol. III, p. 332. John Jacob
Astor of the American Fur Company has received the credit for the
passage of this law.--Folwell's _Minnesota_, p. 54; Coman's _Economic
Beginnings of the Far West_, Vol. I, pp. 344, 345. This is neglecting
the fact that there was a unanimous outcry against foreign traders--one
of the signs that the War of 1812 marks the rise of American
nationality. The legislation of April 29, 1816, was not wholly
satisfactory to Astor. "I have seen a letter", wrote William H. Puthuff,
Indian agent at Mackinac, "addressed by J. J. Astor to a Mr. Franks a
British trader now at this place in which Mr. Astor expresses surprise
and regret at the passage of a law forbidding British subjects from
trading with Indians, within the American limits etc."--_Wisconsin
Historical Collections_, Vol. XIX, p. 423. What Mr. Astor wanted was the
prohibition of trade by American private citizens as well as by British
private citizens. If his American Fur Company were given a monopoly as
he desired, he also wanted to be free to employ such persons--American
or British--as he needed.
[45] Or, more correctly from the point where a north and south line
drawn through the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods would
intersect this parallel.--_Treaties and Conventions concluded between
the United States of America and other powers since July 4, 1776_, p.
416.
[46] _Treaties and Conventions concluded between the United States of
America and other powers since July 4, 1776_, p. 377.
[47] Coues's _The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_, Vol. I, p. 279.
[48] _Niles' Register_, Vol. XIV, pp. 387-389.
[49] There is an excellent account of the United States trading house
system in Quaife's _Chicago and the Old Northwest, 1673-1835_, pp.
289-309.
[50] Coues's _The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike_, Vol. I, p. 228.
[51] _American State Papers, Indian Affairs_, Vol. II, p. 6.
[52] _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, Vol. XX, p. 39.