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.