USA > Minnesota > Goodhue County > History of Goodhue county, including a sketch of the territory and state of Minnesota > Part 7
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The third fort was completed on the 14th of October, 1700, and was located at the month of St. Remi, a small tributary of Blue Earth River. It was founded by LeSueur, who visited that country to search for copper. This fort was " called L'Huiller, after the Farmer-General in Paris, who had aided the project " of searching for copper mines.
The fourth and last French post or fort, of which there is any known .record, was built by LaPerriere du Boucher, in the fall of 1727. This post was located on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi, opposite Maiden Rock. Boucher is known to American history as the leader of the Indian attack on Haverhill, Massachusetts, a few years before the building of this fort. Haverhill was completely sacked by the red fiends and their devilish white leader. The puritan minister of the vil- lage was killed, his wife was scalped, and the brains of their infant child dashed out against the ground.
FORT SNELLING.
ADVANCE GUARD OF AMERICAN OCCUPANCY.
"On the 10th of February, 1819," says Mr. NEILL, in his History of Minnesota, " an order was issued from the War Department, concen- trating the Fifth Regiment of Infantry at Detroit, with a view to trans- portation by way of Fox and Wisconsin rivers to Prairie du Chien. After garrisoning that post and Rock Island, the remainder were to proceed to the mouth of the Minnesota, then designated as the Saint Peter's, to establish a post at which the headquarters of the regiment were to be located. About the time of this order, the portion of Illi- nois territory not included within the State of that name was attached to Michigan, of which Lewis Cass was governor. Crawford county,
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THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
Wisconsin, was organized under an act of the territorial legislature of Michigan, approved October 16, 1818,* and when the Fifth Regiment above quoted, set out from Detroit for its new field of service on the banks of the Mississippi, Colonel Leavenworth, its commander, was entrusted with commissions in blank for the county officers. He was also empowered to set the machinery of the county in motion, and by form of election or otherwise, submit the choice of officers to the inhab- itants. After some difficulty, he succeeded in getting John W. Johnson, United States factor, to consent to serve as chief justice of the county court ; Michael Brisbois and Francis Bouthillier were chosen as asso- ciates ; Wilfred Owens was appointed judge of probate ; John S. Findlay was designated as clerk of the court; and Thomas McNair was selected to serve as sheriff."
After completing this trust, Colonel Leavenworth left Prairie du Chien on Sunday morning, the eighth of August, with a detachment of ninety-eight men, twenty men as laborers, boatmen, etc., and fourteen batteaux and two large keel boats, for the site of the first American fort to be erected within the limits of Minnesota. In consequence of the low stage of water which prevailed at that time, more than a month was consumed in making the trip, as the expedition did not arrive at its point of destination until the seventeenth of September. While rude huts and pickets were being erected, the officers, and such of their wives and children as accompanied them, lived in the large boats." " Before the quarters were completed," remarks Minnesota's historian (Neill,) the reign of winter was felt, and the removal from the open boats to the log cabins, plastered with clay, was considered a privilege." During the winter the scurvy appeared among the troops,t and raged so extensively, that for a few days military duty was suspended. It is said that " so sudden was the attack, that soldiers apparently in good health when they retired at night, were found dead in the morning. One man who was relieved from his tour of sentinel duty, and stretched himself upon a bench, when he was called four hours after to resume his duties, was found lifeless."
In the month of May, 1820, the command "entered into summer encampment at a spring not far from the old Baker trading house. The camp was named Coldwater."
Colonel Leavenworth remained in command at the new cantonment until August, 1820, when he was relieved by Colonel Josiah Snelling, and on the 10th of September following the corner stone of Fort St.
* Williams' History of Ramsey County and St. Paul.
+ Sibley.
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Anthony was lowered to its place. The first barracks were log struc- tures. When the winter of 1820-21 came in, no part of the fort was far enough advanced to afford protection from the cold and storms, and the troops were forced to retreat to the quarters occupied during the pre- vious winter.
The pine lumber used in the construction of the fortifications was cut on Rum River by the soldiers, and was the first ever cut in the territory.
In the fall of 1822, the fort was so far completed as to admit of its occupancy, and from that time to the present it has never been un- occupied.
During the summer of 1820, Governor Cass, of Michigan ; Dr. Wolcott, Indian agent at Chicago and surgeon ; Captain Douglass, military engi- neer ; H. R. Schoolcraft, mineralogist; Lieutenant Mackay ; James Doty, Esq., secretary ; Major Forsyth, private secretary to the governor ; C. C. Trowbridge, topographer, besides the voyageurs, soldiers and Indians accompanying the party, and amounting in all to about forty persons, after visiting the upper part of the country, came down to Fort St. . Anthony. The object of the visit (which originated with Governor Cass and was approved by John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War,) was for the purpose of becoming better acquainted with the Indian tribes and the mineral and agricultural resources of this district of country, then included in Michigan Territory, of which Cass was gover- nor. The party arrived at the garrison at "Camp Cold Water" on the 30th of July, when all was busy, and were received with the customary national salute. In addition to the work that had been done on the fort, ninety acres of ground had been broken and were under cultivation. Green peas had been ready for the table on the fifteenth of June; corn was ripe enough for roasting ears on the fifteenth of July, and wheat was ripe for the harvest.
In 1824 General Winfield Scott visited Fort St. Anthony on a tour of inspection, and at his suggestion the name was changed to Fort Snel- ling, the reason for the change being fully explained in the following extract from his report to the War Department :
"This work, of which the War Department is in possession of a plan, reflects the highest credit on Col. Snelling, his officers and men. The defenses, and for the most part the public storehouses, shops and quarters being constructed of stone, the whole is likely to endure as long as the post shall remain a frontier one. The cost of erection to the government has only been the amount for tools and iron, and the per diem paid to soldiers employed as mechanics.
" I wish to suggest to the General-in-Chief, 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 [Fort St. Anthony] is foreign to all our associations, and is
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geographically incorrect, as the work stands at the junction of the Mississippi and St. Peter rivers, eight miles below the great falls of the Mississippi, and called after St. Anthony."
The suggestion of Gen. Scott was adopted and orders were issued accordingly, since when the name of Fort St. Anthony only exists in history.
Col. Henry Leavenworth, under whose direction the beginning of Fort Snelling was commenced, was born in Connecticut, December 10, 1783, and was educated to the profession of the law. When the war of 1812 broke out he was commissioned Captain in the twenty-fifth Infantry in April, 1812; promoted to Major of ninth Infantry in August, 1813; brevetted Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel for distinguished services at Chippewa, July 5, 1814, and at Niagara Falls, where he was wounded. He was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the fifth Infantry in February, 1818, and became Brevet Brigadier General in July, 1824, and Colonel of the third Infantry December 16, 1825. He established various mili- tary posts on the frontier, one of which, the flourishing city of Leaven- worth, Kansas, perpetuates his name. He died at Cross Timbers, Texas, July 21, 1834.
It will not be inappropriate to remark here that the first white women to visit Minnesota were the wives of army officers. The first of these came in September, 1819, with Col. Leavenworth. On Saturday, " the 28th of September," as related in Major Forsyth's narrative, that gentleman, " accompanied by Col. Leavenworth, Major Vose, Dr. Pur- cell, Lieutenant Clark and Mrs. Gooding ( the wife of Captain Gooding of the Fifth regiment,) set out to visit St. Anthony's Falls." Conse- quently there is no reason to doubt that Mrs. Gooding was the first white woman who ever saw that rushing, roaring cataract. Mrs. Clark, the wife of the commissary of the post, came in 1820, bringing an infant that was born at Fort Winnebago, Wisconsin. Besides these there were others, for Mrs. Ellet, in a sketch of Mrs. Clark, says: " Huts had also to be built, though in the rudest manner, to serve as a shelter during the winter, from the rigors of a severe climate. After living with her family in the boat for a month, it was a highly appreciated luxury for Mrs. Clark to find herself at home in a log hut, plastered with clay and chinked for her reception. It was December before they got into winter quarters, and the fierce winds of that exposed region, with terrific storms now and then, were enough to make them keep within doors as much as possible. Once in a violent tempest the roof of their dwelling was raised by the wind, and partially slid off; there was no protection for the inmates, but the baby in the cradle was pushed under
.
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the bed for safety. Notwithstanding these discomforts and perils, the inconveniences they had to encounter, and their isolated situation, the little party of emigrants were not without their social enjoyments ; they were nearly all young married persons, cheerful and fond of gayety, and had their dancing assemblages once a fortnight."
Mrs. Snelling accompanied her husband when he came to relieve Col. Leavenworth, and a few days after their arrival at Mendota, a daughter was born unto them. After a brief existence of thirteen months the little one passed beyond the shadows, and was buried in the graveyard of the fort. "It was the first interment," says Mr. Neill, " and the stone which marks its remains can still be seen."
THE SWISS COLONY AND FIRST FARMERS-FORCIBLE REMOVAL FROM THEIR FARMS -DESTRUCTION OF THEIR HOUSES AND HOMES.
Closely associated with the early days of Fort Snelling is the history of a small Swiss colony of farmers that settled in the vicinity. " Before the eastern wave of emigration had ascended above Prairie du Chien," says Mr. Neill, " the Swiss had opened farms on or near St. Paul, and should be recognized as the first actual settlers in the country."
These early first farmers were industrious and thrifty, and rapidly accumulated stock and other evidences of prosperity. Their settle- ments were made in 1836, before the Indian title to the land on the east side of the river, between Minneapolis and St. Paul, was extin- guished. " By the treaty of September, 1837, made by the Dakotahs with the United States, which was ratified by the Senate, on the fifteenth of June, 1838, the Indian title to the tract in question ceased. In March, 1838, the commander at Fort Snelling selected this land as a part of a military reservation ; consequently it was withheld from sale. Those who had made claims upon it were much dissatisfied, and evinced a disposition to resist, and orders were issued from the War Depart- ment to the United States Marshal of Wisconsin, to remove the intrud- ers. The greater portion of the settlers were Swiss, and after all their migrations from Switzerland, via Hudson Bay Company's possessions, to the present desirable location, they were loath to depart. The troops were summarily called out from the fort on the tenth of May, 1840, and the settlers, with undue haste, removed, and on the next day the troops destroyed their cabins to prevent reoccupation."
Mr. Stevens, in an address on the early history of Hennepin county, says : "This colony consisted of Louis Massy, Mr. Perry, Pierrie Garvas and others. * * Some had their houses torn down ; others were more unfortunate, and had their buildings
4
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burnt. To the latter class Mr. Garvas belonged. Mr. Perry was the Abraham of Hennepin county. He resided in front of the slaughter- house, near the landing. He pitched his tent, after being driven off his first home, on the bank of the brook between the Cave and St. Paul. Here he attended to his numerous flocks, and cultivated a field, and, I think, died below St. Paul near where the large hotel was burnt, a year or two since. He was a Swiss by birth. At one time he owned more cattle than all the rest of the inhabitants of what is now Minnesota, if we except Mr. Renville."
After being removed from their homes, the Swiss colonists scattered to different parts of the country. Some of them remained in Minne- sota, some went to Wisconsin, and a few, we believe, found their way to Vevay, Indiana, a town that was founded by their countrymen.
Such was the beginning and ending of the first attempt at farming in Minnesota.
FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS-POPULATION IN 1849.
The permanent occupancy of Minnesota by American civilization commenced when Col. Leavenworth arrived at Mendota with a detach- ment of the Fifth Regiment U. S. Infantry on the 17th of September, 1819. More than a quarter of a century passed after that date, how- ever, before the land began to be occupied for purposes of agriculture. In all these years the country remained an unbroken and undisturbed wild, inhabited only by native red men, the animals natural to the climate, herbs and grasses, and a few Indian traders scattered here and there through the territory. Steamboats and steamboating were unknown on the Upper Mississippi previous to 1823, and up to May 26, 1826, only fifteen steamboats had ascended the " Father of Waters" as far as Fort Snelling. Even as late as 1849, when the Territory of Min- nesota was organized, the settlements were "few and far between." West of the Mississippi River, and north from the Iowa State line to the British possessions, the country was still owned and occupied by the Indians.
At Wabasha there was a trading post in charge of Alexis Bailly, where was also the home of the old voyageur, A. Rogue. F. S. Richards kept a store house at the foot of Lake Pepin, probably at or near the site of the fort built by Perrot. An eccentric character, named Wells, whose wife was a bois brule, and the daughter of the old-time trader Duncan Graham, lived on the west side of the lake. Wells lived in a stone house, probably the first of the kind erected in any part of the territory. At Red Wing there was a cluster of bark wigwams and a
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Presbyterian Mission House. The next nucleus of settlement was at Kaposia, also an Indian village, and the residence of Rev. T. S. William- son, M. D., a Presbyterian missionary.
On the east side of the Mississippi River, settlements commenced at Point Douglas, at the mouth of the St. Croix River. There were also a few settlers and farmers at Red Rock, the site of a former Methodist station. St. Paul was just emerging from a semi-barbarous condition- Indian whiskey shops and birch-roofed cabins of half-breed voyageurs. A few frame tenements had been erected ; and under the management of H. M. Rice, who had secured an interest in the townsite, some ware- houses were being constructed, and the foundations of the American House were laid. There was, perhaps, a population of two hundred and fifty or three hundred people, for the rumor had become current that the new town might be named in the act creating the territory as the capital thereof.
There was also a settlement at and around Stillwater, as already men- tioned. Joseph R. Brown had secured the organization of St. Croix county when a member of the Wisconsin Territorial Assembly, and his town of Dakota had been named as the county seat. Then came the McKusicks and their associates, who laid the foundations of the present city of Stillwater. There was also a settlement at Mendota, and several beginnings of settlements in other parts of the territory-but they were scattering. When the census of the territory was taken in the summer of 1849, as required by the organic act, the total population was 4,940, including the soldiers and women and children in the forts.
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS.
PIONEER MISSION WORK-THE CATHOLICS.
The following account of early religious movements is based upon an article prepared by Rev. C. Hobart, for the Minnesota Historical Soci- ety, in 1851.
The first effort to establish Christianity in this territory was probably made by the Roman Catholic Church. And although names and dates cannot be furnished by me, yet it is inferable, from the known zeal of her priesthood, and the fact that almost the entire trade with the Indi- ans for more than fifty years, was in the hands of the French voyageurs, who were mostly French Catholics. Chapels were built at Lake Pepin, St. Paul and Mendota. They were rude, primitive structures, built
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mostly of logs, and appear to have been erected many years ago. Rev. Mr. Ravoux officiated at St. Paul and Mendota, and a missionary was sent to Pembina in 1850.
INDIAN MISSIONS-AMERICAN BOARD.
The first in the territory, so far as I can learn, was established at Sandy Lake, in 1832-Edmund F. Ely, teacher and catechist. The second, at Leech Lake, in 1833-William T. Boutwell, missionary and teacher. In 1834 a mission was commenced at Fond du Lac, at the head of Lake Superior-E. F. Ely, teacher and catechist. In 1835 another mission was established at Pokegoma (Snake River.) The above were intimately connected with missions at LaPointe and Yel- low Lake, now within the bounds of Wisconsin. All the missions within the territory alluded to above were continued with some varia- tions, until within a few years, when they were given up.
In 1835 Dr. Williamson visited this country for the purpose of estab- lishing missions among the Sioux. Sometime after that, in connection with Messrs. G. H. and S. W. Pond, Stevens, Riggs and Huggins, and perhaps others, missions were established at Lac qui Parle, Traverse des Sioux, and at several other places along the St. Peters. Also at Kapo- sia and Red Wing on the Mississippi. These missions were still con- tinued when this article was prepared by Mr. Hobart, the missionaries having labored amid difficulties and privations with an amount of zeal worthy of all praise.
METHODIST MISSIONS.
Missions were established by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1837, by Rev. Alfred Brunson and Rev. David King, at Kaposia and St. Peters among the Sioux. In 1838 these missions were continued ; and in 1839 Rev. S. Spates, - Huddleston, George Copway and John Johnson, (the two last named converted Chippewas,) were sent to Crow Wing and Sandy Lake as missionaries to the Chippewas. The Crow Wing mission, after a few years, was given up, and a mission established at Fond du Lac.
The mission at Kaposia was changed to Red Rock, and continued until 1842, when it was discontinued. In 1851 there were but two missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church to the Indians within the bounds of the territory, viz., at Sandy Lake and Mille Lac,-the last named was established in 1850. In addition to the missionaries already named, Rev. Messrs. B. F. Kavenaugh, H. Kavenaugh, J. W. Pope, G.
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Whitford, H. J. Brace and -- McReynolds labored more or less in the territory among the Indians.
OBERLIN MISSIONS.
In 1843 Rev. F. Ayer and wife, assisted by Messrs. Spencer, Wright, Barnard and Dr. Lewis, were sent out by a Presbyterian Missionary Society, located at Oberlin, Ohio. After that time missions were estab- lished by them among the Chippewas, at Red Lake, Cass Lake, and Little Lake Winnepeg. These missions were still in operation in 1851.
SWISS MISSION.
This mission was established at Mount Trempeleau, by Rev. Messrs. Denton and Gavan, in 1837, and removed to Red Wing village at the head of Lake Pepin, in 1838, where it was continued until Mr. Denton's health failed in 1846, when it was given up to the American Board. From 1846 to 1848 it was unoccupied, but in the year last named Revs. John Aiton and Joseph W. Hancock were appointed to the work. Mr. Aiton commenced his labors soon after his appointment. Mr. Hancock arrived June 13, 1849. The two men did not co-operate many months until they separated-Mr. Aiton going elsewhere. Mr. Hancock re- mained and continued the mission work until the Indians were removed in 1853.
MISSIONS TO THE INHABITANTS OF MINNESOTA TERRITORY.
METHODIST MISSIONS.
The first missionary sent to this country to preach to the white settlers was the Rev. Mr. Hurlbrest, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He came in the fall of 1844, and left in the spring of 1846. In Sep- tember, 1846, Rev. J. W. Putnam, of the same church, was appointed to the St. Croix mission, which included all the settlements on the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, above Point Douglas. He was con- tinued two years, and was succeeded in 1848 by Rev. Benjamin Close.
In 1849, three missionaries were sent to the territory, and stationed as follows: Stillwater, James Harrington; St. Anthony Falls, Enos Stevens; St. Paul, C. Hobart. Mr. Hobart was the presiding elder of the Minnesota district at that time.
In 1850, Rev. James Harrington was re-appointed to Stillwater; Rev.
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L. Dickens, to St. Paul; Rev. C. A. Newcombe, to St. Anthony Falls. Point Douglas was supplied with Rev. L. Nobles. J. Harrington died in August, which caused the removal of L. Nobles to Stillwater, and the appointment of Rev. J. W. Dow to Point Douglas. C. Hobart was appointed presiding elder of Minnesota district, including all of Min- nesota Territory and that part of Wisconsin north of the Wisconsin River.
BAPTIST MISSIONS.
In February, 1849, Rev. M. Parsons was appointed by the American Home Mission Society as missionary to St. Paul, and arrived May 17th. In the fall of the same year, Rev. Mr. Brown was sent out by the same society, and stationed at Stillwater. In 1850, Mr. Parsons was contin- ued at St. Paul; Mr. Brown appointed to St. Anthony Falls ; and Rev. Mr. Webber sent to Stillwater.
PRESBYTERIAN AND CONGREGATIONAL MISSIONS.
In May, 1849, Rev. E. D. Neill visited St. Paul and preached once, when he returned to Illinois and then to Philadelphia ; was appointed missionary to this place by the Home Missionary Society, and returned with his family in July. Rev. Mr. Whitney came to Stillwater in the fall of the same year. In 1850, Mr. Neill was continued at St. Paul, and Mr. Whitney at Stillwater. During the fall, Rev. Mr. Secombe arrived at St. Anthony Falls, and the Rev. Mr. Hall was sent to Point Douglas and Cottage Grove. Messrs. Secombe and Hall were Congregationalists.
EPISCOPAL MISSION.
In the summer of 1850, Rev. Messrs. Breck, Wilcoxson and Merrick located themselves at St. Paul as missionaries of the above-named church to the territory. They visited every neighborhood on foot, once in three weeks, from Fort Ripley to Point Douglas, and thence to the falls of St. Croix, besides maintaining regular service at St. Paul.
ORGANIZATION OF CHURCHES.
The first Protestant church organized in the territory was organized at Fort Snelling, in 1833 or 1834, according to the statements of Dr. Williamson, Hon. H. H. Sibley and Col. Loomis. This church was dissolved soon after. The first permanent organization was of the Methodist church, in 1844, by Rev. Mr. Hurbut.
The following table will show when and by whom churches were organized in St. Paul:
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CHURCHES.
WHEN ORGANIZED.
MINISTERS.
NO. WHEN ORGANIZED.
NO. AT PRESENT.
Methodist E. Church .. . .
Dec. 31, 1848.
Rev. B. Close .
8
52
Baptist Church
Dec. 29, 1849.
Rev. J. C. Parsons.
12
14
Presbyterian Church .. .
Jan. 6, 1850.
Rev. E. D. Neill .. . .
9
15
Episcopalian Church .
Not organized
Rev. Mr. Breck.
CHURCH ORGANIZATION AT ST. ANTHONY FALLS.
CHURCHES.
WHEN ORGANIZED.
BY WHOM.
NO. WHEN ORGANIZED.
NO. AT PRESENT.
Methodist E. Church . . ..
October, 1849.
Rev. E. Stevens . . . .
13
24
Baptist Church ..
July 13, 1850.
Rev. W. C. Brown.
13
18
Presbyterian Church
Sept. 1, 1850.
Rev. Mr. Wheeler ..
12
15
Episcopalian Church .. . .
Not organized
MORALITY OF THE EARLY SETTLERS.
[From Hon. H. H. Sibley's Reminiscences of the Early Days of Minnesota. ]
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