Produced by K Nordquist, Sigal Alon, Leonard Johnson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net [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.