USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Minneapolis > Personal recollections of Minnesota and its people : and early history of Minneapolis > Part 4
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The Fourth of July was observed all through the territory, but the chief attraction was in St. Paul, when St. Anthony, Stillwater, and other hamlets, joined the St. Paulites in the celebration. Sauk Rapids furnished the orator, the newly- appointed Judge B. B. Meeker; St. Paul the reader of the Declaration of Independence, Billy Phillips ; Fort Snelling the chaplain, Rev. Dr. Gear, and also the marshal, Franklin Steele. Unquestionably Mr. Steele was as fine a specimen of manhood as any state ever produced. Tall, well-propor- tioned, pleasing, courteous, gentlemanly, an accomplished rider-no wonder that upon a fine horse on this occasion he attracted universal attention and admiration. It was said, at the time, that this was the most successful celebration ever
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OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE.
held in the northwest. It requires lots of people to make a successful celebration. They had them in St. Paul that day. Many of them were newly-arrived immigrants.
FROM THE RED RIVER OF THE NORTH.
The Red-river caravan arrived soon after the celebration. of the Fourth. Our old friend, Hon. Norman W. Kittson, was with the company. This train brought in an immense quantity of furs, pemmican, dried buffalo-tongue, and all the products of the great northwest. Lively times we had for the next four weeks ! Buffalo-robes, martin, fisher, otter, musk- rat, fox, badger, bear, wolf, wild-cat, lynx, beaver, and all other kinds of fur incident to a high northern latitude, was brought from the extreme north to exchange for merchandise or cash. Whole cart-loads of the handiwork of the squaws were in the train. There were moccasins, gloves and mittens, worked in every conceivable manner. Beads, porcupine- quills, and birds' feathers, were worked into them. These rare articles proved that the native women of the extreme north possessed artistic taste. It plainly indicated that they had instructors superior to the savages.
The arrival of these Red-river carts, so called, added much to the life and trade of the territory. This was the beginning of the wholesale. trade of St. Paul. "Tall oaks from little acorns grow." Many of these small traders who accompanied the train brought considerable money with them, which they paid for goods. It was the "coin of the realm", mostly British sovereigns. It was seldom that an American dollar, half-dollar or a quarter, half or whole eagle, came into the possession of these Red-river merchants. The transportation of the products from the far north by the Red-river carts, cost but little. A solitary ox was harnessed to a cart, and one man had charge of several oxen. The teams were fed exclu- sively on grass. The carts were made wholly of wood, the harness of raw-hide-everything being of the utmost simplic- ity, and of little expense. Not a bit of iron about the carts ; not a buckle about the harness !
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CHAPTER VII.
During the season of 1849 several changes were made in the command at the Fort. Brevet-Major Lewis A. Armistead, first lieutenant of company E, arrived and assumed command of the company. Major Armistead was a son of a famous general in the army. A Virginian by birth, he followed the destinies of his state in the war of the rebellion, became an officer of high rank in the confederate army, and was killed in Pickett's celebrated charge at Gettysburg. General Armistead, near the close of the charge placed his hat on his sword, rallied what men he could, and rushed on to the conflict, where he fell pierced with bullets.
Another arrival early in October was that of Brevet-second- lieutenant 'Richard W. Johnson, assigned to company C. Lieutenant Johnson was just from West Point. He was the youngest officer at the Fort. Full of bright hopes and antici- pations, his presence added much to the interesting events that always occur in garrison life. There is nothing that causes young officers to be so completely contented with their work, when first assigned to duty, (usually at some distant frontier post, ) after graduating at West Point, as the society of beautiful and accomplished young ladies. The vicinity of the Fort, during Lieutenant Johnson's first year at that place was particularly fortunate in this respect. He became engaged to, and eventually married, one of the most charming of them-Miss Rachel Steele, a sister of Franklin Steele and of Mrs. General Sibley and of Mrs. Dr. Potts. Lieutenant Johnson's promotion in the army was rapid. He passed through all the different grades of rank, and retired in conse- quence of severe wounds received in battle, with the rank of
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OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE.
major-general. Minnesotians are proud of his record, as he is identified with us. Since he retired from the army he has been one of our best citizens. His home is in St. Paul. Having led an eventful and useful life, he is now reaping the fruits of his labor, honored by the whole community.
The first general election after the organization of the ter- ritory was held in August. Hon. H. H. Sibley was elected territorial delegate to congress. The few citizens at Fort Snelling went to Mendota to vote. Hon. Martin McLeod, of Lac-qui-parle, was honored, on the occasion, with a seat in the upper house of the legislature ; and the respected Dakota missionary, Rev. G. H. Pond, and Alex. Bailey, were elected delegates to the lower house.
In June, Colonel James Hughes arrived in St. Paul, from the east, with an outfit for a first-class weekly newspaper. He soon disposed of his interest in it to Major N. McLean and Colonel John P. Owens, who issued the Chronicle and Register-a rival to the Pioneer.
A United States court was held August 20th, 1849, in the old government mill on the west bank of the Falls of St. Anthony. Judge B. B. Meeker presided. The jurisdiction of the court covered many thousand square miles of territory. Franklin Steele was foreman of the grand jury. After a session of two days, the court adjourned without transacting any business. This was the first court ever held in what is now Minneapolis. Thirty-nine years after this event there are four district judges almost constantly in session at the court-house, a few blocks distant from where the first court was held, beside two municipal judges who hold daily sessions, and all are crowded with business. To the best of my knowledge, there is not a member of the first court held in that old mill alive to-day. The judge and all the jury have crossed the silent river.
Judge Meeker was born in Connecticut, on the 13th of March, 1813, and died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, while on his way east, February 3, 1873, aged sixty years. Previous to his appointment as one of the judges in Minnesota, he had for some years resided in Kentucky, and was appointed from that state. He was closely identified with Minnesota during his residence here, and largely contributed to its prosperity.
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The county of Meeker took its name from him. He was a member of the constitutional convention which was held in St. Paul in 1857. Although never married, he took a great interest in the schools of the State and labored incessantly for their benefit. He was fond of agricultural and horticult- ural pursuits. He purchased and worked a farm just below and bordering on old St. Anthony. He was a good lawyer, an honest judge, a valuable citizen, unusually respected, and his death was regretted by the community.
VISIT OF MRS. SNELLING TO THE FORT.
One of the most interesting events of the summer at Fort Snelling, in 1849, was the arrival of Mrs. Abigail Hunt Snelling, widow of Colonel Josiah Snelling, from whom the Fort derived its name, and who commanded the troops during its erection. Mrs. Snelling was the mother of the second white child born in what is now Minnesota. The parentage of the first white child born in the territory was a soldier and his wife. The wife was a laundress who accompanied Colonel Leavenworth's command, and the little one was born soon after the arrival of the troops near the junction of the St. Peter river with the Mississippi, early in September, 1819.
Mrs. Snelling was a daughter of an army officer, Colonel Hunt. She was fifty-one years old at the time of her visit to the Fort, but had been a widow many years. She was with her husband when he commenced building the Fort in 1820, when only twenty-three years of age. Mrs. Snelling remained some time at the Fort, the guest of the commanding officer, Colonel Loomis. On her first visit with Colonel Loomis after her arrival, to the cemetery which contained the grave of her little girl who was gently laid to rest so many years before, she was greatly overcome with grief, and could not be comforted. The little grave had been well cared for ; the sod upon it was green, the little stone monument was in place, with the loved letters E. S. as plain as on the day the memorial of love was placed over the precious remains so many long years ago. The sad scenes attendant upon the sickness and death of the dear little one, "in life's early march, when her bosom was young", were all brought back
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OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE.
to the fond mother as vividly as they were more than a score of years previously.
.
The whole garrison, and the citizens around the Fort, endeavored to make Mrs. Snelling's visit pleasant. In leaving the grand old fortress which her husband built, she gratefully tendered her thanks to those who had contributed to her comfort during her visit to her early home.
REV. E. D. NEILL.
After Colonel Loomis assumed command in 1849 he fre- quently invited the different ministers of the gospel to occupy Dr. Gear's pulpit in the little chapel, when it was not filled by the doctor himself. Rev. E. D. Neill, then a young man, who had just come to St. Paul, gave us an occasional sermon. He was a great favorite with Colonel Loomis and the rank and file of the old Sixth Infantry. One pleasant mid-summer Sunday we were greatly alarmed when informed that Mr. Neill, who was accompanied by Mrs. Neill, while on his way to preach to us had, in consequence of an accident, fallen over the precipice on the opposite side of the river from the Fort. Fortunately they received but little injury. As usual Mr. Neill gave us a useful and instructive sermon. The next day Colonel Loomis came to Philander Prescott and myself and said he had taxed himself twenty dollars, Mr. Prescott ten, and myself five, to be handed to Mr. Neill as a small "thanksgiving token" for the providential escape of his wife and himself when thrown from the carriage the previous day. We accordingly waited upon Mr. and Mrs. Neill, who were at Colonel Loomis' headquarters, but Mr. Neill would only · accept the small tribute as a bestowal to the American Board of Missions, under whose auspices he was preaching the gospel in the then far-northwest.
Minnesota was peculiarly fortunate in the advent of many of its early settlers ; but to no one is the state more indebted for a combination of everything that is desirable in one per- son, than to Mr. Neill. As a Christian minister, writer, patriot, and philanthropist, his name will be handed down to future generations, and his memory will be ever revered by those who have the good of the world at heart. To him we are greatly indebted for. perfecting our system of common schools.
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Once in a while Dr. Williamson was with us. He had been so long a missionary with the Indians that his style of preach- ing was different from that of most sermonizers of the day. His language was so simple that every one could readily: understand what he said. His sermons were mostly composed of words of one syllable -- but they were always effective.
Major R. G. Murphy was the United States Indian Agent. at Fort Snelling in 1849. He was a native of Tennessee, but had been a resident of Pinckneyville, in southern Illinois, from boyhood. He was a member of the Baptist church- and a democrat of the firmest type ; a man of strong preju- dices, but thoroughly honest. He made a good agent for the Dakotas. Their interests were looked after and righteously cared for. No trader was suffered to take advantage of them.
Most of the Indian tribes on the continent are improvident. The Dakotas are perhaps more so than many others. If
7 their hunger is satisfied to-day, they are likely to neglect to provide that which will be necessary for their stomachs to- morrow. Major Murphy had been brought up to observe the rule that it is necessary to look out for the future needful supply of the wants of the "inner man", and he could not understand why his Indians should neglect such an important requisite that they might not suffer from hunger. He found it quite impossible to instill into them the habits or principles of economy, and as a result the agency was besieged daily by a lot of beggars for bread and meat.
Having from boyhood lived on the frontier, which was more or less traversed by the Winnebagoes, Sacs and Foxes, Pot- tawatomies, Chippeways and other tribes, I found the Dakotas more given to fault-finding than any other tribe. In fact they gave their agent but little rest. In those early days the office was anything but a pleasant one. In order to better their condition, Indians must be taught the important lesson that manual labor is not degrading. When they shall be convinced of this, it will not be a great task to civilize them. They must be brought to the knowledge that to hold the plow is an honorable as well as a necessary occupation. The idea that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian", is simply absurd. There is a blossom in the wilderness of the heart of almost every Indian. Yet when aroused the red man is capable of committing the most horrible outrages.
CHAPTER VIII.
In 1849 there were only two garrisons in the territory -- Fort Snelling and Fort Ripley. The latter was first called Gaines, but was changed to Ripley. It was commanded by Captain J. B. F. Todd, Co. A of the Sixth. Previous to the advent of the Winnebagoes at Long Prairie the military post in the extreme upper valley of the Mississippi was ample for the protection of the white and red population. Fort Ripley was commenced in the fall of 1848, and finished the next yea
Captain Todd was a cousin of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. He was transferred from Fort Ripley to the Missouri, and was one of the founders of Yankton, for some time the capital of Dakota. He retired from the army, and was twice elected a delegate to congress from Dakota. On the breaking out of the rebellion he was made a general in the army, and died during the war. A county in Minnesota takes its name from General Todd.
Captain Dana, another officer at Fort Ripley, rose also to the rank of major-general during the war. Brevet-Captain Geo. W. Long, at one time military secretary to General Scott, was lieutenant in Captain Todd's company. He became a confederate general, but did not survive the war. All of these officers were frequent visitors at Fort Snelling during the year 1849.
RETURN OF THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
The command of Major Woods returned from the Red river expedition early in October. The object of the expedi-
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tion was to establish the exact boundary line between Minne- sota and Canada ; to set monuments thereon ; to locate the site of a military post on or near the line ; to gather informa- tion in regard to the prospective agricultural resources of the valley of the Red river of the North, and the country between the Fort and the northwest, and to make a thorough topo- graphical survey of the whole country. The report of Captain Pope contained so much valuable information in regard to the new country that it was deemed necessary by congress to publish it. The command during the long and tedious jour- ney had excellent health, and enjoyed rare sport in hunting buffalo, several herds of which they found. Lightning struck Lieutenant Nelson's tent one night while encamped on the borders of a lake in the northern portion of the territory. He received a serious injury therefrom, and did not entirely recover from the stroke for many years.
FIRST SESSION OF THE TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.
The first legislature of the territory convened in St. Paul on the 3d of September, in the old Central hotel, where Gov- ernor Ramsey delivered his message. Some nine counties were created, viz : Istaska, Waubashaw, Dahkotah, Wahnah- tah, Mahkakto, Pembina, Washington, Ramsey, and Benton. The names of many of these counties have been changed by legislation. Some have been blotted out altogether ; while a decided improvement in the spelling of all of them of Indian origin has been made. Hon. David Olmstead, of Long Prairie, was elected president of the council, and Hon. Joseph W. Furber was elected speaker of the house.
NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE INDIANS.
There was a great gathering of the Indians in October on the flats between the St. Peter or Minnesota river and the trading posts at Mendota. They had concentrated to meet Governor Ramsey, and ex-Governor Chambers of Iowa, who had been appointed commissioners, on the part of the govern- ment, to make a treaty in relation to ceding their lands west of the Mississippi. The proposed treaty was a failure in con- sequence of the absence of a majority of the Indians ; but the
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OF MINNESOTA AND ITS PEOPLE.
half-breed tract, so called, bordering on Lake Pepin, was secured.
· FORMATION OF A LITERARY SOCIETY.
The St. Anthony Library Association, incorporated by an act of the legislature, late in the fall inaugurated a series of lectures. Rev. E. D. Neill, Rev. Dr. Gear, Hon. Wm. R. Marshall, and Lieutenant R. W. Johnson, among others, lectured before the association.
During the season of 1849 St. Anthony made great progress in the erection of houses, and in other improvements. Most of the immigration was from Maine. The people brought their habits of industry and economy with them ; nor did they leave behind their fondness for reading, and for attend- ing church. The people at that early day set a good example to their contemporaries in other portions of the new northwest.
PHILANDER PRESCOTT.
During the year I boarded with the United States Indian interpreter, Philander Prescott, whose residence was just outside of the Fort and next to that of the Indian Agent. Mr. Prescott came up with the troops in 1819, as a clerk for the sutler. He soon became a trader among the Indians, and was a member of the Columbia Fur Company. Like many of the early traders, he purchased a Dakota girl for his wife. She accompanied him in visiting his numerous trading outfits, where he exchanged goods for furs. Children were born to him. He became dissatisfied with his northwestern posses- sions. He had never married the Indian woman except in the Indian fashion : that is, he gave a pony and some goods for her to her parents. It did not seem difficult or cruel to abandon her. Other traders left their wives and children- why should not he ? She was abundantly able to care for herself, his and her children, for their wants were few ; and she had well-to-do relatives-Indians of course, but Indians are fond of their kith and kin. He had made some money ; he would sell his interests and make more ; then he would leave all and go south to Texas or some other place, and start anew without incumbrances-wife, child, or chick. He made his way down the Mississippi, traversed Texas and
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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
Louisiana, visited the Choctaw, Creek, and Chickasaw Indians, but found poor prospects for starting a new busi- ness in the lower country. He spent two or three years in hunting and traveling. It is probable that, discouraged, once in a while he indulged in fire-water to a greater extent than was for his good.
A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING.
While Mr. Prescott was near the head-waters of the Sabine river, he visited a religious protracted-meeting, which was attended pretty much by Crackers. He became, through the influence of the preacher, a changed man. Although several thousand miles away from the Dakota wife and chilcren that he had abandoned-who were wandering with the mother's tribe over the plains-he determined to return to them at once, and do what he should have done at first-marry the woman according to the rules of Christianity. After a long journey he landed at the St. Peter agency, when he found that the mother of his children was away beyond the coteaus in the buffalo range of the Missouri valley. With his pack on his back he started in search of her. It was mid-summer when he found her. Poor Indian woman that she was, she was overjoyed to see him, but could not understand why he would not live with her any more as his wife, until after a long journey should be made to find a regularly ordained minister of the gospel, and they should be married in the same manner as the white folks. After urging, coaxing, and praying, he persuaded her to leave her people and, with her children, the broad prairies were crossed, the home of a mis- sionary was found, the solemn marriage rites were performed, and at the same time and by the same holy ordinance his children were made legitimate.
Mr. Prescott has often spoken to me of the great privation and suffering that attended this (to him) sacred pilgrimage. That Indian woman was an excellent housekeeper, fond of her domestic duties, an affectionate wife, and a good mother. It could not well be otherwise when we consider that she had a noble, Christian husband. Her hospitable house was always full of people. It was the only roof at Fort Snelling that afforded a stopping-place for travelers and strangers.
CHAPTER IX.
A FRONTIER WEDDING.
At the period mentioned in the last chapter, the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Philander Prescott had grown to womanhood. Her father had sent her abroad for an educa- tion. She was like a bird about the old stone building, singing and making everyone happy. I never wondered that her father so fondly loved her.
A young man of excellent character from Illinois was employed around the missionary grounds and the Indian farms. He was a Christian man; she was a Christian girl. His heart yearned for her ; his life needed her ; she alone could be its strength, its beauty, its crown. It was the same old, old story, but ever new-the story Adam first told to Eve in the world's fresh morning, among the first fair flowers and the harmonies of Eden-the story that man has told to woman ever since; as sweet, as solemn, as all-consecrating and all-comprehending now as when it was first whispered under skies which no storm-cloud had ever darkened. The result was that one evening, just at the close of the old year and the beginning of the new, there was a large gathering at the old weather-beaten homestead. There were officers of high rank in the army, in full uniform, with their wives ; officers holding high trusts in civil positions, with their wives and daughters ; gentlemen, with their ladies, in full evening costume ; and men and women whose fathers were white and mothers were red ; Dakota relatives and friends of the bride in their blankets-making in all about as curious an
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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
assembly, as unique a gathering, as ever attended a wedding feast, and one that, as Rev. Mr. Neill (who officiated on the occasion ) says, "could only be seen on the outposts of civilization."
AT THE MARRIAGE FEAST.
A varied feast followed the wedding ceremony-one which pleased the white people, and delighted the red guests. The father was seemingly the happiest man in the territory that night-scarcely excepting the groom. What a shadow of the memory of the past was thrown over the father of the bride that eventful evening ! None of us could persuade the mother to appear in the parlor during the marriage cere- mony, but immediately afterwards she waited on the guests, and was doubtless as pleased as was her husband that her daughter was wedded to a white Christian. The bride's Indian uncles, aunts, and cousins were present, wrapped in their blankets, and viewed the ceremony with seemingly cold, weary, and stolid countenances, through the parlor doors.
OTHER INCIDENTS AND CHARACTERS AT THE FORT.
During September there were two deaths at Fort Snelling. One of them was that of an old discharged soldier, Charles Wilson, formerly of the First infantry, who had been in the employment of Mr. Steele for several years. Previous to the death of his wife, he had lived in St. Anthony, holding a claim for its owner. It is said, on pretty good authority, that he was the first actual white resident of the eastern bank of the Falls, and I am inclined to think that the assertion is true. He was a faithful man, a native of Maryland, and in early life enlisted in the army, served many years in it, and was discharged at Fort Snelling, when he took charge of the teams necessary for the use of the sutler's store. He always forded the Mississippi river, with his teams, at the Falls just above the precipice. When the dam was built, on the east side, it became necessary to have a ferry, as the old roadway from the east side of the island to the main shore was occu- pied by the dam. He never became reconciled to the idea of the public highway, as he called it, being obstructed in the manner that it was, and lamented the signs of civilization and
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