FORT SNELLING FROM ITS FOUNDATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. BY GEN. RICHARD W. JOHNSON. That portion of Minnesota lying west of the Mississippi river was acquired by the Louisiana purchase of December 20, 1803. Thomas Jefferson was president of the United States at that time, and took steps to bring it under the authority of the general government. To this end Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike was detailed to visit this region, drive out the British traders, and make alliance with the Indians. Pike ascended the Mississippi river in a batteau in the month of September, 1805, and arrived on the 21st of September at the trading house of J. B. Faribault, believed to have been under the bluff a short distance below the present site of Mendota. On September 23d he held a council with the Sioux where the town of Mendota now stands, and obtained from them a grant of land embracing 100,000 acres, which Pike valued at $200,000. This land was to be used for military purposes. There seems to have been nothing paid for this large tract of land except $200 worth of presents and 60 gallons of whiskey. It was designed to establish a military post at the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Peter rivers, but for various reasons it was delayed. Among those reasons was the war of 1812-'15 with England. The planting of Selkirk's colony on the northern border of the United States called attention to it again, and resulted in an order issued by the Commanding General of the Army for the concentration at Detroit, Michigan, of the Fifth Infantry, preparatory to its transfer, under the command of Lieut. Col. Henry Leavenworth, to the junction of the two rivers named, for the purpose of establishing a military post in that vicinity. *Read at the monthly meeting of the Executive Council, March 8, 1897. After a long and tedious journey, Leavenworth and his command arrived some time in September, 1819, and debarked on the Mendota side of the Minnesota (St. Peter) river, where a cantonment was formed for occupation during the winter of 1819-20. There are some reasons for believing that it was the intention of Leavenworth to place permanent improvements on or near the site of his cantonment; but in the spring of 1820 the river, which had been held in icy chains for months, was unloosed by the floods, and an overflow of the cantonment was threatened. Securing all the boats possible, Col. Leavenworth transported the command across the river and pitched his tents near the spring from which the present garrison obtains its supply of water. This camp was called "Camp Cold Water." It was not a difficult matter to determine where the permanent post should be erected, as nature had fortified two sides of it; and so upon this projecting point the work of construction began. Col. Leavenworth designated it "Fort St. Anthony." All the materials used in its construction were gathered by the soldiers, who performed all of the labor necessary to house themselves, the officers, and the public stores. A saw mill was established at the Falls of St. Anthony, where was manufactured all the lumber used in the construction of the fort. The first federal grand jury ever assembled in the Territory of Minnesota on the west side of the Mississippi river convened in this old mill, and the late Franklin Steele was foreman thereof. I have in my possession an old military map showing the location of all United States forts in 1840. At that date Fort Snelling was the most extreme northwestern point occupied by white men. All west of a north and south line running through that point was then an unexplored country, known only to the Indians. The Census of 1890 shows a population of ten millions of people west of that line. What growth in a period of fifty years! Away beyond that line cities have been built, churches erected, schools and colleges established; and far beyond all these the reaper is heard in the season of harvest on every plain and in every valley. The iron horse inflates his lungs on the Atlantic seaboard and rushes onward with the rapidity of the winds, through mountain passes, over hills, along the valleys, and in six days quenches his thirst in the blue waters of the Pacific ocean. Contrast this with the time it took Col. Leavenworth to bring his command from Detroit, at the rate of twenty-five miles a day, and we can form some idea of our country's development in the means of transportation. Before the work on the fort was completed, Col. Leavenworth was promoted to another regiment, and Col. Snelling succeeded him. Gen. Winfield Scott visited the fort, and was so pleased with the energy and activity with which Col. Snelling had pushed forward the work of construction that he recommended that the post be called "Fort Snelling," in honor of its builder. Gen. Scott's recommendation was approved, and an order was issued to that effect in 1824. Let us consider the conditions surrounding this remote station at that time. The country was occupied by large bands of Indians, and the troops were constantly on the alert to avoid surprise and consequent massacre. There were no settlements north or west; those on the south and east were many miles away, and were separated from the fort by an immense district occupied and roamed over by numerous tribes of warlike savages. Surrounded as we are to-day by every comfort and convenience, can we conceive of the desolation, destitution, and loneliness of those early military pioneers? They had no libraries, no lectures, no churches, no amusements outside of themselves, and only an occasional mail, by no means regular. If those old walls could only speak, how many tales they could tell of joy and sorrow! Joseph R. Brown and James McClellan Boal came to the fort as drummer boys with Col. Leavenworth's command. Both of these men were known to most of the members of this society. The former, by self-education, became one of the most forcible political writers of his day. For some time he was the editor of the St. Paul Pioneer, and his writings, full of thought, concise in diction, were eagerly looked for and read with pleasure and profit. The latter was usually called McBoal. He was a man of character and influence in his day and generation. McBoal street in St. Paul was named for him, and thus the error in his name is perpetuated. For security against a sudden attack from Indians, the buildings were surrounded by a high stone wall, as shown on the accompanying map kindly furnished me by Capt. Arthur Williams, Third U. S. Infantry. Through these walls were loop-holes for firing from within in case of an assault. In the west corner a round house was erected, which still stands, and through its vine-clad walls can be seen the loop-holes and other arrangements for defense. The stone walls were removed a few years since, and thus some of the old landmarks connected with Fort Snelling were destroyed by the vandalism of civilization. I am indebted to the Adjutant General of the army for the following list of the commanding officers of Fort Snelling from the establishment of the post in 1819 to May 27, 1858, when the troops were withdrawn: COMMANDING OFFICERS, 1819 TO 1858. Lieut. Colonel Henry Leavenworth, from September, 1819, to June, 1821. Colonel Josiah Snelling, 5th Inf., June, 1821, to May, 1825. Captain Thomas Hamilton, 5th Inf., to June, 1825. Lieut. Colonel Willoughby Morgan, 5th Inf., to December, 1825. Colonel J. Snelling, 5th Inf., to November, 1827. Major J. H. Vose, 5th Inf., to May 24, 1828. Lieut. Colonel Zachary Taylor, 1st Inf., to July 12, 1829. Captain J. H. Gale, 1st Inf., to May 28, 1831. Captain W. R. Jouett, 1st Inf., to October 1, 1832. Lieut. Jefferson Vail, 1st Inf., to May 30, 1833. Major John Bliss, 1st Inf., to May 9, 1836. Lieut. Colonel William Davenport, 1st Inf., to July 15, 1837. Lieut. Colonel Henry Wilson, 1st Inf., to September 18, 1844. Captain E. Backus, 1st Inf., to September 21, 1845. Major G. Dearborn, 1st Inf., to April 24, 1846. Captain S. Eastman, 1st Inf., to September 30, 1848. Captain Samuel Woods, 6th Inf., to June 21, 1849. Lieut. Colonel Gustavus Loomis, 6th Inf., to February 22, 1850. From a survey and draft by CAPT. ARTHUR WILLIAMS, Third U. S. Infantry. The buildings of the fort and the inclosing wall are shown as they |