History of Ramsey County and the city of St. Paul, including the Explorers and pioneers of Minnesota, Part 28

Author: Warner, George E; Foote, Charles M., joint author; Neill, Edward D. (Edward Duffield), 1823-1893. Explorers and pioneers of Minnesota. 1n; Williams, J. Fletcher (John Fletcher), 1834-1895. Outlines of the history of Minnesota
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Minneapolis, North Star Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 684

USA > Minnesota > Ramsey County > St Paul > History of Ramsey County and the city of St. Paul, including the Explorers and pioneers of Minnesota > Part 28

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The reserve, thus purchased by Lieutenant Pike, was not used for military purposes until February 10th, 1819, at which time, to cause the power of the United States government to be ·fully acknowledged by the Indians and settlers of the northwest, to prevent Lord Selkirk, the Hudson Bay Company and others, from establish- ing trading posts on United States territory, to better the condition of the Indians. and to de- velop the resources of the country, it was thought expedient to establish a military post near the junction of the Mississippi and the St. Peters. Accordingly part of the Fifth United States In- fantry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Leavenworth, was despatched to select a site and erect a post. They arrived at the St. Peters in September 1819, and went into cantoment on the south side of it, near where the town of Mendota now stands.

The first monthly report was rendered for Sep- tember, 1819. During the ensuing winter (1819-20) scurvy raged amongst the troops, referring to which, General HI. H. Sibley, in his address before the Minnesota Historical Society, says: " So sud- den 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 May, 1820, the command left their cantonment, crossed the St. Peters, and went into summer camp, at a spring near the old Baker trading house, and about two miles above the present site of Fort Snelling. This was called "Camp Cold Water." During the summer the men were busily engaged in procur- ing logs and other necessary materials for the work. All preparations were being made to com-

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mence building the new post, which was called "Fort St. Anthony;" the site selected being that of the present military cemetery. But in August, 1820, Colonel Josiah Snelling, 5th U. S. Infantry, having arrived and assumed command, selected the site where Fort Snelling now stands.

Work steadily progressed, the troops perform- ing the labor, and on September 10th, 1820, the corner stone of Fort St. Anthony was laid with due ceremony.

During the following winter 1820-721, the buildings of the new post not being habitable, the troops were quartered in the cantonment of the preceeding winter.

The first measured distance between Fort St .. Anthony and Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, was taken in February, 1822, and was given as two hundred and four miles.

Work on the post was pushed forward with all possible speed. The buildings were made of logs, and first occupied in October, 1822.

The first steamboat, the Virginia, arrived at the post in 1823.

A saw-mill was built, the first in Minnesota, by troops from the post, in 1822, and the first lumber ever sawed on Rum river, was for use in the construction of the fort. Minneapolis now includes the mill-site.

The post continued to be called Fort St. An- thony until 1824, when, upon the recommendation of General Scott, U. S. A., who inspected the fort, it was named Fort Snelling, in honor of its founder.

In 1830 stone buildings were erected for a four company infantry post, also a stone hospital and a stone wall nine feet high surrounding the post. These buildings were not actually completed, however, until after the Mexican War.

Notwithstanding the treaty made by Lieuten- ant Pike, the Indian title to the Fort Snelling reservation, did not cease until the treaty of 1837, which was ratified by the senate in 1838, and by which the Indian claim to all lands east of the Mississippi, including said reservation, ceased.

In 1836, before the Indian title ceased, many settlers located on the reservation, on the left bank of the Mississippi.

On October 21st, 1839, the president of the United States issued an order, by virtue of the act of March 3d, 1807, "An act to prevent settle-

ments being made on lands ceded to the United States, until authorized by law," directing the United States marshal to remove squatters from the Fort Snelling reserve, and if necessary, to call on the commanding officer at Fort Snelling for troops to assist him in executing his order. Ac- cordingly, on the 6th of May, 1840, a few of these settlers, having received the necessary notice, were forcibly removed by the marshal, assisted by U. S. troops from the fort.

In 1837, Mr. Faribault presented a claim for Pike Island, part of the reservation purchased by Lieutenant Pike in 1805. This claim was based on a treaty made by him with the Dakotas in 1820.

A military reservation of seven thousand acres, at Fort Snelling. Minnesota, was set aside by the president, on May 25th, 1853. In November fol- lowing, the president amended his act of May 25th, and reduced the reservation to about six thousand acres.

The first map of the Fort Snelling reserve was made by 1st Lieutenant James W. Abert, corps engineer, in October, 1853.

Pursuant to the act of March, 3d, 1857, which extended the provisions of the act of March 19th, 1819, authorizing the sale of certain military sites, the secretary of war sold the Fort Snelling reserve, excepting two small tracts, to Mr. Frank- lin Steele.

The articles of agreement between the board appointed for the purpose on the part of the United States, and Mr. Steele, were dated June 6th, 1857, and were approved on the second day of July, following. The reservation and build- ings thereon were sold for ninety thousand dol- lars, one-third to be paid on July 10th, 1857, and the balance in two equal yearly installments. The first payment, $30,000, was actually made, July 25th, 1857, on which date Mr. Steele, in pur- suance of military authority, took possession of said property. The troops were withdrawn from the post previous to Mr. Steele's occupancy there- of. Mr. Steele having made default in the two remaining payments, the United States entered into possession and occupancy of the reservation and post, on April 23d, 1861.

By act of August 26th, 1862, the Fort Snelling reservation was reduced and defined as follows: "Beginning at the middle of the channel of the

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Mississippi river below Pike's Island; thence ascending along the channel of said river in such directiou as to include all the islands of the river to the mouth of Brown's creek, thence up said creek to Rice lake; thence through the mid- dle of Rice lake to the outlet of Lake Amelia; thence through said outlet and the middle of Lake Amelia to the outlet of Mother lake; thence through said outlet and the middle of Mother lake to the outlet of Duck lake; thence through said outlet and the middle of Duck lake. to the southern extremity of Duck lake; thence in a line due south to the middle of the channel of the St. Peter's river; thence down said river so as to include all the islands to the middle of the channel of the Mississippi river; reserving further, for military purposes, a quarter section on the right bank of the St. Peter's river, at the present ferry, and also a quarter section on the left bank of the Mississippi river, at the present ferry across that stream."

Mr. Steele presented, on February 6th, 1868, a claim against the United States government for the possession and occupancy by United States troops, of said post and reservation; which claim exceeded in amount the original purchase with interest.

By act of May 7th, 1870, the secretary of war was authorized "to select and set apart for a per- manent military post, so much of the military reservation of Fort Snelling, not less than one thousand acres, as the public interest may require for that purpose, and to quiet the title to said reservation, and to settle all claims in relation thereto, and for the use and occupation thereof, upon principles of equity." In pursuance of which act, the secretary of war set apart for a permanent military reservation, fifteen hundred and thirty-one and twenty hundredths acres, de- fined as follows:

"Beginning at a point where the south line of the north-east quarter of the north-east quarter of section thirty-two, township twenty-eight north, of range twenty-three west of the fourth principal meridian, intersects the middle of the main chan- nel of the Minnesota river; thence west to the south-west corner of the north-west quarter of sec- tion thirty-two, town and range aforesaid; thence north to the north-west corner of section twenty, town and range aforesaid; thence east to middle

of the main channel of the Mississippi river; thence along the main channel of the Mississippi river and the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers at the head of Pike Island and the middle of the Minnesota River, to the place of beginning, including the officers' quarters, bar- racks, &c."

A reserve of ten acres granted by the United States to the Catholic Church at Mendota for a cemetery, was also reserved. Mr. Steele executed full release of all claim whatsoever to this prop- erty, and for the use or occupation of all property sold to him per agreement dated June 6th, 1857; in consideration of which, the United States re- leased Mr. Steele from all indebtedness on the purchase made by him, and granted and con- veyed to him the remainder of the so-called Fort Snelling reservation excepting one small tract, which is defined as follows:

"All of section nineteen, thirty and thirty- one, and all that part of section eighteen lying south of Minnehaha creek, and all that part of section seventeen lying south of Minnehaha creek and west of the Mississippi river; all that portion of section twenty, lying east of the main channel of the Mississippi river, including the islands east of said main channel, and the south- west quarter of the northwest quarter, and all that portion of the southwest quarter and of the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of sec- tion twenty-one which lies east or northeast of the main channel of the Mississippi river, and all those portions of sections twenty-one, twenty- two and twenty-eight lying on Pike's Island so- called, being the entire island, and all that other portion of section twenty-eight which lies east and south of the Minnesota river, except twenty acres, being the south half of the southeast quar- ter of the northeast quarter of said section, the same being reserved for a Catholic Church and burial ground, where the church and burial ground now are; all that portion of the south half and of the south half of the north half of section thirty-two which lies west or north- west of the Minnesota river; all the above described lands being in township twenty-eight north, of range twenty-three west of the fourth principal meridian. Also all that portion of sec- tion thirteen, lying south of Minnehaha and Rice Lake and east of the creek running between said

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Rice Lake and Lake Amelia and east of said Lake Amelia, and all land in section twelve that may be included in said boundaries. All of sec- tion twenty-four lying east of the western bound- ary of said reservation ("reserve selected") and any portion of section twenty-three that lies east of the creek joining Mother Lake and Lake Ame- lia, and the east half of section twenty-five and the east half of section thirty-six, all in township twenty-eight north, of range twenty-four west of the fourth meridan. Also all that portion of sec- tion five which lies west or northwest of the Min- nesota river; all of section six ; all that portion of section seven which lies north of the Minneso- to river, and all those portions of sections eight and eighteen which lie west and north of the Min- nesota river ; all in township twenty-seven north, of range twenty-three west.

Also the east half of section one, and the east half of section twelve, and all that portion of the east half of section thirteen which lies north and east of the Minnesota river ; all in township twen- ty-seven north, of range twenty-four west.

The action of the secretary of war in selecting said reservation and buildings and conveying the above specified lands to Mr. Steele, was approved by the president on January 4th, 1871.

A stone prison was erected during the war of the rebellion, which is now used as a commissary storehouse.

The old stone hospital is now used for offices and laundress' quarters. The new hospital is just completed.

Fort Snelling is situated on a high bluff on the right bank of the Mississippi, in latitude 44 deg. 52 min. 46 sec. north, and longitude 93 deg. 4 min. 54 sec. west. It is an irregular shaped bastioned redoubt.

A wagon road runs entirely around the post, and is eight feet below the parade at the gorge, but gradually arives on the same level at the shoulder angle.

The old post is almost enclosed by five build- ings, and in form is nearly a rhombus, with a tower at each angle.

A new two-story barracks for six companies of infantry and sixteen sets of officers' quarters was built during 1878. The east tower, stone wall, and old guard house, have been torn down.

The commanding officer's quarters have been re- modeled during the current year.

The water is obtained from a spring about three-quarters of a mile from the post, by means of water wagons. Water is also obtained from the Minnesota river, being forced through pipes by an engine, into a large tank on the west side of the parade ground, but the water thus obtained is unfit for drinking purposes. During extreme cold weather the water pipes freeze up, rendering it impossible to refill the tank except during the open weather.

There is a post-office, a telegraph office and a railroad station at the post.

* * * *

The nearest supply depots are at St. Paul, four miles distant from the post, by wagon road, and six miles by railroad. A bridge is building across the Mississippi river at the post.

Forage and fuel are obtained by contract. The post and company garden supply vegetables for the garrison.

The armament consists of two three-inch rifled cannon, with carriages, model of 1861. The present strength of the garrison is sixteen com- missioned officers and three hundred and fourteen enlisted men.

It is impossible to obtain from the records of the post, the various expenditures for barracks and quarters, and repairs of same, for any defiinite period. All that I have been able to obtain is that thirty-five thousand dollars was appropriated for barracks and quarters in 1878. It is presumed, however, that the required in- - formation can be obtained at the quartermaster general's office. The work, practically, with few exceptions, has been performed by the labor of the troops, and the cost to the government cannot be correctly estimated.

A site has been selected on the Fort Snelling reservation upon which to erect buildings for the headquarters of the department.

The records of the post are very incomplete. It seems, from all attainable evidence, that the records were removed in 1857, when the troops were withdrawn, and have not been returned. It further appears that these records had not been received by the adjutant general of the army prior to July 18th, 1866. The last board. of officers appointed to investigate claims on the

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Fort Snelling reservation met pursuant to S. O. No. 278 A. G. O. dated October 17th, 1870. I have been unable to find any general order re- ferring to the reservation of 1853 or 1862, or re- ferring to lands sold in 1857 and 1870.

The reservation of 1870 was announced in General Order No. 66, Adjutant General's office of that year, and was first surveyed by Captain D. P. Ileap, corps of engineers, on April 16th, 1871. A new line for the southern boundary was run by First Lieutenant Edward Maguire, corps of engineers, on May 7th, 1877.

* * ** * * * * *

I respectfully submit the foregoing, believing it will cover a few of the points required.

I am, sir, very respectfully your obedient ser- vant.

S. R. DOUGLAS,

Second Lieutenant Seventh Infantry.

It has already been intimated that Fort Snell- ing was the point of departure for every enter- prise connected with the north-west, and in addi- tion to the matter already given with reference to events that there took place, we may with in- terest add others. Missionary enterprise for the north-west began among the Ojibwas of the north, in 1831. The region of country about Lake Superior and along the northern borders of the United States, had been longer open by reason of trading-posts, and the safer and more approachable character of the tribes. The fierce, wild traits of the Sioux had repelled the Jesuit missionaries, as well as all other efforts for their good, until 1834, when two determined young men appeared on the scene, destined to prove superior to all obstacles. These were the mission- aries now so well known to all acquainted with the history of the north-west, by their clerical names, Rev. S. W. Pond and his brother, Rev. Gideon II. At this time, however, they were young adventurers in the Christian work, without profession or patronage save that of the Master in whose vineyard they set at work, devoting their lives to His service.

They arrived by steamboat at Fort Snelling, May 6th, 1834, self-equipped and commissioned to labor for the Sioux. Major Taliaferro, the In- dian agent, was absent on their arrival at the fort, but they obtained a room in one of the agency houses of the post, by feeing the mercenary sub- agent in charge. To exhibit some of the trials

to which the brothers were immediately exposed, we give some of Rev. S. W. Pond's reminiscences.

" We had not been at the agency house at the fort long, before Major Bliss sent his orderly, re- quiring us to appear before him and give an ac- cout of ourselves. I, of course obeyed the man- . date, and he told me it was his duty to exclude from the Indian country all who were not author- ized to be here. Having no authority to show, I handed him Mr.Kent's letter, which he pronounced unsatisfactory, for he said though Mr. Kent was a reliable man being the Presbyterian cler- gyman at Galena, his acquaintance was too short for him to know much about me. I then handed him a private letter from General Brinsmaid, a man well known in New England, and also a let- ter from the postmaster of my native place. These letters he said were perfectly satisfactory, so far asour character was concerned. He then asked me what our plans were. I told him we had no plans except to do what seemed most for the benefit of the Indian. He told me then that the Kaposia band wanted plowing done, and had a plow and oxen, but could not use them, so I volunteered to go down and help them, and then hastened back to the agency house to tell Gideon how I had succeeded with the major, for I knew that his mind would be in a state of anxious sus- pense. These little things may seem now hardly worth relating, but whether we were to stay here or be driven away, depended on the result of that interview with the major. We were in fact in- truders, and had no right to be here. The mis- sionaries of the board did not come here without. authority from the secretary of war. Major Plympton, who succeeded Major Bliss in com- mand, received orders to remove all persons from this region who were not authorized to be here, but we were not molested. From the time of my first interview with Major Bliss, he and Mrs. Bliss were our true friends and when I returned from Kaposia, they invited me to reside in their family, and instruct their son, a boy eight or ten years old, but I had other work to do. When the Indians learned that I would plow for them they took down the plow in a canoe, and I drove down the oxen. At Kaposia, the chief was Big Thunder, the father of Ta-o-ya-te-du-ta, called by the whites erroneously Little Crow, and the chief soldier was Big Iron These two held the plow

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alternately, while I drove the oxen. I suppose they were the first Dakotas who ever held a plow. The dogs, or Indians, stole my provisions the first night I was there, and I did not 'fare sumptu- ously every day,' for food was scarce and not very palatable. About the time I returned from Kaposia, Major Taliaferro arrived and seemed glad to find us here. No more was said about rent, and we kept the key to our room till our house was finished at Lake Calhoun. This was a great convenience for us, for before that time, neither provisions nor clothing were safe at the lake. We told the agent that we wished to build a house near some village, and he advised us to build at Lake Calhoun, and after my brother plowed for the Indians a few days, we commenced building where the pavillion now stands. Owing to our inexperience we wasted a great deal of labor. We put up a building of large oak logs that might have stood fifty years, but we could have built a more comfortable house afterwards with half the labor. Five years after, we used the timber to build a breastwork for the Indians. While building we occupied a temporary shelter in the woods, where we were constantly sur- rounded by a cloud of musquitoes, and, as my brother's health was not good that summer, the laborious days and restless nights almost wore him ont, but when our house was finished it seemed like a palace to us after living a few weeks in that kennel, and we were no longer compelled to walk eight miles and back every week, to the agency-house to get a supply of food, for we now had a safe place to store our clothing and provisions. Major Taliaferro gave us a window-lock and an ax, and Mrs. Bliss sent us a ham, and Major Bliss gave us potatoes to plant the next spring. That was all the pecuni_ ary aid we received or wished to receive, and when the agent offered us a stove we preferred to build a fire-place, for while we felt grateful for the favors we received, we wished to maintain a spirit of independence. We had the use of oxen, but we used them chiefly for the Indians and to take care of them through the winter. But though we did not receive and should not have accepted much pecuniary aid if it had been offered us, the influence of friends in our favor was of great advantage to us, for it was needed to coun- teract the efforts of others to excite the prejudice

of the Indians against us, and we congratulated ourselves on the timely arrival of Mr. Sibley at Mendota."

Lake Calhoun was within the Fort Snelling reservation and thus was established the first mission, not only for the fort, but for the whole country of the Sioux.

Rev, T. S. Williamson, M. D., and Rev. J. D. Stevens, with their wives and associates, Mr. Huggins and Miss Poage, arrived at Fort Snell- ing in May, 1835, under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Dr. Williamson came by the Missis- sippi from the mouth of the Ohio, and Mr. Stevens came through Lake Michigan to Green Bay, thence by the Fox and Ouisconsin (then so spelled) rivers to Prairie du Chien, thence to Fort Snelling by the Mississippi. Major Bliss in com- mand, Major Loomis, Major Taliafero, and all at the fort welcomed their arrival. During their continuance at the fort and before proceeding to the stations selected at Lac qui Parle and Lake Harriet, about a month elapsed.

In June they organized a Christian church, to which eight persons connected with the garrison and who had been hopefully converted during the preceding winter and spring, were admitted on profession, together with six others, who had been members of other churches. The elders of the church were Col. Gustavus Loomis, Hon. H. H. Sibley, then a young man who had lately as- sumed charge of the trading post at Mendota, A. G. Huggins and S. W. Pond. "On the second Sabbath in June, these with the members of the mission families, amounting to twenty-two in all, sat down in the wilderness to communicate the . dying love of the Savior of sinners, hundreds of miles in advance of where a similar scene had ever before been witnessed or enjoyed." It is in- teresting to follow out this feeble beginning. Suffice it to say, the First Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, of which D. M. Stewart, D. D., is pastor, is a continuation or perpetuation of the old church at the fort.

In 1822, to supply the demand of the fort, a mill was erected at the Falls of St. Anthony to saw lumber, and to this was added, in 1823, stones for grinding corn for provender. Thus the fort opened enterprise in the direction of manufac- tures. This old stone mill, partially hid by shrub-

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bery, was long a land mark, but its simple struc- ture produced small results in the way of sawing or grinding. A small house was built near the mill for the occupany of those employed in its operation; and here, when the settlement after- wards began, was a small, cultivated tract, which, with the mill, was under the charge of one called "Old Maloney," who was aided, as required, by soldiers from the fort.

Hon. Robert Smith, member of congress from Alton district, Illinois, wrote, February 15th, 1849, from the house of representatives, to the commissioner of Indian affairs, expressing a wish "to lease for five years the old government house and grist and saw-mill, on the west side of the Mississippi river, opposite the Falls of St. An- thony." In the letter he adds: "I shall move into the territory of Minnesota after the adjourn- ment of congress, and I wish to procure this house for my family to live in, and to fix up the old grist mill to grind corn and other grain, there being no grist-mill now in that region of coun- try .??

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