Misplaced Pages

#322677

81-590: Ard Godfrey operated the area's first post office in the village of Saint Anthony on the Mississippi's east bank during the early 1850s. At first unpredictably, deliveries came by messenger from Fort Snelling through Saint Paul, Minnesota . Later, mail arrived by stagecoach every ten to fourteen days. The first post office in Minneapolis was built on the west bank on High Street in 1854 and operated by postmaster Hezekiah Fletcher. The present day post office

162-648: A slave market in St. Louis. He is the only known "Minnesota runaway slave " that ran away from the fort and was taken in by the Dakota. He was involved in the Dakota War and was the first defendant on the docket of the military tribunal for hanging. The fort surgeon, Dr. John Emerson, purchased Dred Scott at a slave market in Saint Louis , Missouri, where slavery was legal. Emerson was posted to Fort Snelling during

243-542: A further $ 4,000 to try to settle the matter with the other Dakota band. The issue was raised in subsequent treaty negotiations in the 1850s. In 1863, the US Congress passed an act which "abrogated and annulled" all treaties with the Dakota people. The moral legitimacy of the land title is still disputed. Pike Island , at the mouth of the Minnesota River , was later named after Zebulon Pike. Following

324-496: A hospital unit for employees as well as a rifle range in the basement. 44°59′00″N 93°15′54″W  /  44.983265°N 93.265032°W  / 44.983265; -93.265032 Fort Snelling Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site

405-703: A place where Native Americans would sign treaties with the United States : the 1805 Treaty of St. Peters signed by the Mdewakanton Dakota , the 1837 White Pine Treaty signed by several Ojibwe bands, and the 1851 Treaty of Mendota signed by representatives of the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute Dakota. In 1805, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike signed a treaty he was unauthorized to create, known as Pike's Purchase ( 1805 Treaty of St. Peters ). There were seven Dakota members present, with only two signing

486-512: A recruiting station during the Civil War, Spanish–American War , and both World Wars before being decommissioned a second time in 1946. It then fell into a state of disrepair until the lower post was restored to its original appearance in 1965. At that time, all that remained of the original lower post were the round and hexagonal towers. Many of the important buildings of the upper post remain today with some still in disrepair. The historic fort

567-655: Is in the unorganized territory of Fort Snelling within Hennepin County , bordering Ramsey and Dakota counties. There are now multiple government agencies that own portions of the former fort with the Minnesota Historical Society administering the Historic Fort Snelling site. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources administers Fort Snelling State Park at the bottom of the bluff. Fort Snelling once encompassed

648-506: Is referred to as a common language, Dakota-Lakota, or Sioux . The Dakota include the following bands: The Dakota language is a Mississippi Valley Siouan language, belonging to the greater Siouan-Catawban language family. It is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language , and both are also more distantly related to the Stoney and Assiniboine languages. Dakota

729-663: Is written in the Latin script and has a dictionary and grammar. Before the 17th century, the Santee Dakota ( Isáŋyathi ; "Knife" also known as the Eastern Dakota) lived around Lake Superior with territories in present-day northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. They gathered wild rice, hunted woodland animals and used canoes to fish. Wars with the Ojibwe throughout the 1700s pushed the Dakota into southern Minnesota, where

810-577: The Bdewákaŋthuŋwaŋ , Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ , Waȟpékhute , and Sisíthuŋwaŋ and are sometimes referred to as the Santee ( Isáŋyathi or Isáŋ-athi ; 'knife' + 'encampment', 'dwells at the place of knife flint'), who reside in the eastern Dakotas , central Minnesota and northern Iowa . They have federally recognized tribes established in several places. The Western Dakota are the Yankton , and

891-510: The Minnesota River to end the siege at Fort Ridgely . Ramsey gave him a commission as colonel and turned over four companies of the newly organized 6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment to Sibley at Fort Snelling. The fort became the rendezvous point for the state and federal military forces during the Dakota War of 1862 . During the war, the 6th, 7th, and 10th Minnesota Regiments did garrison duty at Fort Snelling. To deal with

SECTION 10

#1732791193323

972-558: The Minnesota State Fair was held at the fort. With the war over Steele submitted a claim of $ 162,000 for the forts use during the war. He hoped to gain the money's he still owed from the 1857 purchase. In 1873 an agreement was reached giving the Army the fort. In exchange, his debt was cleared and Steele was given title to 6,395 acres of the original Fort Snelling Reservation. On 19 August 1862, after hearing of attacks at

1053-661: The Minnesota Territory . In 1836 the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in her favor making her a free person. The second woman, Courtney, also sued for freedom in St. Louis. When the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in Rachel's favor, Courtney's enslaver conceded her case as well, and freed Courtney and her son William. Courtney had another son named Godfrey that remained in Minnesota when she was sent to

1134-769: The War of 1812 , the United States Department of War built a chain of forts and installed Indian agents from Lake Michigan to the Missouri River in South Dakota. These forts were intended to extend the United States presence into the northwest territories following the Treaty of Ghent and the demarcation of the 49th parallel . The treaty restricted British-Canadian traders from operating in

1215-694: The Yanktonai ( Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ and Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna ; "Village-at-the-end" and "Little village-at-the-end"), who reside in the Upper Missouri River area. The Yankton-Yanktonai are collectively also referred to by the endonym Wičhíyena ('Those Who Speak Like Men'). They also have distinct federally recognized tribes. In the past the Western Dakota have been erroneously classified as Nakota , who are located in Montana and across

1296-641: The anglicized spelling Yankton (Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ: "End village") and Yanktonai (Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna: "Little end village") divisions consist of two bands or two of the seven council fires. According to Nasunatanka and Matononpa in 1880, the Yanktonai are divided into two sub-groups known as the Upper Yanktonai and the Lower Yanktonai (Húŋkpathina). They were involved in quarrying pipestone . The Yankton-Yanktonai moved into northern Minnesota. In

1377-452: The "Country Club of the U. S. Army". In 1921 the 3rd Infantry was in Ohio and ordered to report to Fort Snelling with no designated transport. They marched the 940 miles only to have the 2nd and 3rd Battalions inactivated upon arriving at Fort Snelling. The following June the 1st Battalion was inactivated only for a short time. The regiment would remain at Fort Snelling until 1941. Also in 1921

1458-477: The "hostile" faction during the war. An encampment was created below the fort on Pike Island . The Dakota had brought their own tipis and household goods with them, and set up more than 200 tipis. The military leaders had a palisade erected around the encampment to protect the Dakota from angry settlers, some of whom had attacked the women and children as they passed through Henderson en route to Fort Snelling. Shortly after they arrived, soldiers raped one of

1539-459: The 1830s and brought Scott north with him. There Scott meet and married Harriet and had two children as slaves at Fort Snelling from 1836 to 1840. Dr. Emerson's wife Irene, returned to St. Louis taking the Scotts and their children in 1840. In 1843 Scott sued for his family's freedom for illegally being indentured in free territory. Although he lost that first trial, he appealed and in 1850 his family

1620-757: The 18th century, they were recorded as living in the Mankato ( Maka To – Earth Blue/Blue Earth) region of southwestern Minnesota along the Blue Earth River . Most of the Yankton live on the Yankton Indian Reservation in southeastern South Dakota. Some Yankton live on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation and Crow Creek Reservation , which is also occupied by the Lower Yanktonai. The Upper Yanktonai live in

1701-507: The 1st Infantry Regiment was re-designated the 135th Infantry . It is the direct descendant of the 1st Minnesota formed at the fort in 1862. Once the United States entered the war the fort became a recruit processing station. For WWI the 41st Infantry was constituted at the fort in May 1917 and inactivated in September 1921. The army established an officer training school which closed when

SECTION 20

#1732791193323

1782-633: The Civil War. A longstanding precedent in freedom suits of "once free, always free" was overturned in this case. (The cases were combined under Dred Scott's name.) It was appealed to the United States Supreme Court. In Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), Chief Justice Taney ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that enslaved Africans had no standing under the constitution, so could not sue for freedom. The decision increased sectional tensions between

1863-517: The Civil war Minneapolis began to expand into the fort's surroundings. In March 1869 the 20th Regiment was transferred from Louisiana to the Department of Dakota. Headquarters, band and E Company were posted to Fort Snelling. The United States Army assigned the 7th Infantry to garrison the fort in 1878 and six companies arrived in September. That year Congress approved $ 100,000 to be spent on

1944-759: The Coldwater Spring unit of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (29 acres), the Upper Post Veterans Home, Minneapolis St Paul International Airport and the Minneapolis-St Paul Joint Air Reserve Station (2,930 acres). When Fort Snelling was built in 1820, fur traders and officers at the post, including Colonel Snelling, employed slave labor for cooking, cleaning, and other domestic chores. Although slavery

2025-441: The Dakota people began to return to Minnesota, creating the present-day reservations in the state. The Yankton and Yanktonai Dakota ( Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ and Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna ; "Village-at-the-end" and "Little village-at-the-end"), collectively also referred to by the endonym Wičhíyena , resided in the Minnesota River area before ceding their land and moving to South Dakota in 1858. Despite ceding their lands, their treaty with

2106-680: The Dakota who made it to Crow Creek were forced to move again three years later to the Santee Sioux Reservation in Nebraska . For the women it was an extended period of hardship and degradation. The descendants of the displaced Dakota reside there today. A memorial is outside the Fort Snelling State Park visitor center commemorating all the Native Americans who died during this period. Because of

2187-514: The Dakota women. The Dakota wintered there in 1862–63. An estimated 102 to 300 Dakota died due to the harsh conditions, lack of food, measles and cholera . In May 1863, the Dakota who survived were loaded on two steamboats and taken down the Mississippi and up the Missouri River to Crow Creek by the Great Sioux Reservation . Three hundred more died on the way and three to four a day for weeks after they arrived. Some of

2268-675: The Dakotas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Montana in the United States; and in Manitoba , southern Saskatchewan in Canada. The earliest known European record of the Dakota identified them in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. After the introduction of the horse in the early 18th century, the Sioux dominated larger areas of land—from present day Central Canada to the Platte River , from Minnesota to

2349-530: The Department of Dakota and the old fort's walls were torn down for reuse in the new construction. The following October the remaining four companies of the 7th Infantry arrived and took over garrison duties. The six companies that had been the garrison departed to fight the Utes at White River , Colorado. They returned to Fort Snelling in 1880. In November 1882 the 7th was relieved by the 25th Infantry (colored) . The 25th's HQ, band and four companies would garrison

2430-530: The Governor of Iowa named Henry Sibley his replacement. The Agency was used to hold court, and those incarcerated were sent to Fort Snelling's round tower. The town of St. Paul also sent its criminals to the tower until it built its first jail in 1851. Both Fort Snelling and Fort Ripley provided this civil service for internment of criminals until the territory developed the civil infrastructure needed. There were 21 enslaved people with Taliaferro, one of whom

2511-793: The Lehmann Center on Lake Street , the Young-Quinlan Department Store on the Nicollet Mall and the former home of Teener's Theatrical costume and props store on Hennepin Avenue among other buildings in Minneapolis. The firm was later known as Setter, Leach & Lindstrom, acquired by Leo A. Daly in 2003. The main building is 540 feet (165 m) long. Its interior is unchanged and postal customers still utilize its original bronze teller cages and fixtures, marble terrazzo floor and sandstone walls. Perhaps

Martin Olav Sabo Post Office - Misplaced Pages Continue

2592-556: The Lower Sioux Agency the day before, Governor Alexander Ramsey immediately went from St. Paul to Fort Snelling to assess military preparedness. Ramsey immediately ordered troops training at or near the fort to be detained from being sent east to fight in the American Civil War . On the same day, he asked his long-time friend and political rival, former Governor Henry Hastings Sibley , to lead an expedition up

2673-568: The Minnesota River the St. Peter's and the Indian Agency would be a part of Fort Snelling from 1820 to 1853. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Leavenworth commanded the expedition of 5th Infantry that built the initial outpost in 1819. That cantonment was called "New Hope" and was on the river flats along the Minnesota River. Col. Leavenworth lost 40 men to scurvy that winter and moved his encampment to Camp Coldwater because he felt

2754-716: The Missouri River in what is now South Dakota. In 1864 some from the Crow Creek Reservation were sent to St. Louis and then traveled by boat up the Missouri River, ultimately to the Santee Sioux Reservation . In the 21st century, the majority of the Santee live on reservations and reserves, and many in small and larger cities in Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Canada. They went to cities for more work opportunities and improved living conditions. The Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ-Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna, also known by

2835-729: The North and South. When the American Civil War broke out the Government commandeered the fort for the War Department as an induction station. At the time Steele was in arrears, having made only one payment. When Governor Ramsey offered President Lincoln 1000 troops to fight the South the volunteers he got were organized at Fort Snelling into a regiment, the 1st Minnesota . More than 24,000 recruits were trained there. Minnesota units mustered in at Fort Snelling: In 1860 and 1863

2916-621: The U.S. government allowed them to maintain their traditional role in the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ as the caretakers of the Pipestone Quarry , which is the cultural center of the Sioux people. They are considered to be the Western Dakota (also called middle Sioux), and have in the past been erroneously classified as Nakota . The actual Nakota are the Assiniboine and Stoney of Western Canada and Montana . Migrations of Ojibwe people from

2997-599: The US Army created the 88th Divisional area in Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota. Fort Snelling became a Citizens Military Training Camp (CMTC) for the 351st Infantry Regiment of the 88th Division. The Officers of the unit worked with the CCC program at Fort Snelling. When Pearl Harbor happened the regiment's officers were immediately activated for active duty units so that when the 351st was called up it had very few officers to meet

3078-567: The US. The forts were intended to enforce that, as well as to keep Indian lands free of white settlement until permitted by treaty. The forts were seen as the embodiment of federal authority, representing law and order, and provided protection to pioneers and traders. The Fort Snelling garrison also attempted to keep the peace among the Dakota and other tribes . Also built on army land was the St. Peter's Indian Agency at Mendota. The Anglo-Europeans called

3159-501: The Western Dakota (Yankton, Yanktonai) and Teton (Lakota) were residing. In the 1800s, the Dakota signed treaties with the United States, ceding much of their land in Minnesota. Failure of the United States to make treaty payments on time, as well as low food supplies, led to the Dakota War of 1862 , which resulted in the Dakota being exiled from Minnesota to numerous reservations in Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Canada. After 1870,

3240-557: The border in Canada, where they are known as Stoney . The word Dakota means "ally or friend" in the Dakota language , and their autonyms include Ikčé Wičhášta ("Indian people") and Dakhóta Oyáte ("Dakota people"). The Eastern and Western Dakota are two of the three groupings belonging to the Sioux nation (also called Dakota in a broad sense), the third being the Lakota (Thítȟuŋwaŋ or Teton). The three groupings speak dialects that are still relatively mutually intelligible . This

3321-470: The border. They encountered and killed Minnesota Dakota at St. Joseph in the Northwest Territory. At Fort Gerry two Dakota leaders were drugged, kidnapped and taken to Major Hatch for a bounty. The killings at St. Joseph caused almost 400 Dakota to turn themselves in to Hatch as well. When conditions allowed, his Cavalry took the prisoners back to Fort Snelling. The two chiefs were hanged at

Martin Olav Sabo Post Office - Misplaced Pages Continue

3402-401: The call. Dakota people The Dakota (pronounced [daˈkˣota] , Dakota : Dakȟóta or Dakhóta ) are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into the Eastern Dakota and the Western Dakota . The four bands of Eastern Dakota are

3483-427: The confluence of the Mississippi and St. Peters, up the Mississippi to Include the falls of St. Anthony, extending nine miles on each side of the river. Legal scholars, historians, and the Dakota have long raised questions about the validity of the 1805 treaty. Although Pike was an army officer, he was not authorized to sign a treaty on behalf of the United States, nor were there any formal witnesses. Pike represented

3564-426: The construction of the fort, an Indian Agency was constructed on the military Reservation opposite the fort at Mendota. It was administered by Major Lawrence Taliaferro . In 1834 Taliaferro and the fort commandant, Major Bliss, assisted missionaries Gideon and Samuel W. Pond in developing the Dakota alphabet and compiling a Dakota dictionary. Taliaferro also served as the Territorial Justice of Peace until 1838 when

3645-480: The east in the 17th and 18th centuries, who were armed with muskets supplied by the French and British, pushed the Dakota further into Minnesota and west and southward. The US gave the name " Dakota Territory " to the northern expanse west of the Mississippi River and up to its headwaters. After the Dakota War of 1862 , the federal government expelled the Santee (who included the Mdewakanton ) from Minnesota. Many were sent to Crow Creek Indian Reservation east of

3726-468: The first post office in Minnesota started at Fort Snelling with most mail forwarded from Prairie du Chien . Colonel Zachary Taylor assumed command in 1828. He observed that the " buffalo are entirely gone and bear and deer are scarcely seen." He also wrote that the "Indians subsist principally on fish, water fowl and wild rice ". While Taylor was posted to Fort Snelling, eight adult enslaved people with him died, as did several minors. Along with

3807-633: The fort until 1888 when they were relieved by the 3rd Infantry . During the 1880s, companies of the 7th Cavalry would be at the fort. The 3rd Regiment would remain until 1898. Some of the garrison were sent to Cuba and fought in the Spanish–American War of 1898. During one of the last battles of the Indian Wars, six soldiers of the 3rd Infantry were killed at the Battle of Leech Lake October 5, 1898. Those killed were Major Wilkinson, Sgt. William Butler, and Privates Edward Lowe, John Olmstead (Onstead), John Schwolenstocker (aka Daniel F. Schwalenstocker), and Albert Ziebel. Those men were buried at north end of

3888-422: The fort until the 1st relieved them again in 1840. In 1848 the 6th Infantry became the garrison. The garrison would change again in November 1855. The 10th commanded by Col. C.F. Smith assumed duty. Smith would go on to become a major general. Colonel Snelling was recalled to Washington, leaving Fort Snelling in September 1827. He died the next summer from complications of dysentery and a "brain fever". In 1827

3969-466: The fort. They were Little Six ( Sakpedan ) and Medicine Bottle (Wakanozanzan). Chief Little Leaf managed to evade capture. The next year four companies of the 30th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment arrived at Fort Snelling with three of them moving forward to Camp Ridgely en route to Alfred Sully 's Dakota campaign. Steele had made plans and plotted his purchase to build the City of Fort Snelling. Steele, however, failed to make payments as agreed causing

4050-404: The government to revoke the sale and repossess the fort lands. Placing the Department of the Northwest at Fort Snelling led to the fort's further development in 1866 when the department transitioned to the Department of Dakota . The next year the headquarters of the department moved to St. Paul. The HQ returned to the fort in 1879 and would remain until 1886 when it went back to St. Paul. After

4131-461: The landmark United States Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sandford . Slavery ended at the fort just before Minnesota statehood in 1858. The fort served as the primary center for U.S. government forces during the Dakota War of 1862 . It also was the site of the concentration camp where eastern Dakota and Ho-chunk non-combatants awaited riverboat transport in their forced removal from Minnesota when hostilities ceased. The fort served as

SECTION 50

#1732791193323

4212-403: The longest light fixture in the world, a 350-foot (107 m), 16-ton (16256.8 kg) bronze chandelier runs the length of the lobby , originally designed to regulate temperature. Peepholes were installed in the corridors so that inspectors could protect the mail and observe employees. The main building contained a three-room suite paneled in walnut for the postmaster, recreation rooms and

4293-476: The northern part of Standing Rock Reservation , and on the Spirit Lake Reservation , in areas within central North Dakota. Others live in the eastern half of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana. In addition, they reside at several Canadian reserves, including Birdtail , Oak Lake , and Whitecap (formerly Moose Woods). The Dakota maintain many separate tribal governments scattered across several reservations and communities in North America: in

4374-426: The occupants of the new cavalry barracks on the upper post. In June 1916 President Wilson had General Pershing in Mexico on the trail of Poncho Villa . To provide border security Minnesota's entire National Guard was activated at Fort Snelling, comprising three Infantry Regiments and one Artillery. A camp was created on the upper post named Camp Bobleter for organizing the activation. Upon returning to Minnesota

4455-410: The other units being sent to Utah for what became known as the Utah War . With the departure of the 10th Infantry , Fort Snelling was designated surplus government property. In 1858, when Minnesota became a state, the army sold it to Franklin Steele for $ 90,000. Steele operated the two ferries serving the fort across both rivers at the same time he was the sutler to the fort. He also was a friend of

4536-442: The park's land. It has been cited as a "National Treasure" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation . The historic fort is in the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area , a National Park Service unit. Bdóte ('meeting of waters' or 'where two rivers meet') is considered a place of spiritual importance to the Dakota. A Dakota-English Dictionary (1852) edited by missionary Stephen Return Riggs originally recorded

4617-422: The post. Ten others were wounded in the battle. Among them were five Minnesotans: Privates George Wicker, Charles Turner, Edward Brown, Jes Jensen, and Gottfried Ziegler. Pvt. Oscar Burkard would receive the last Medal of Honor awarded during the Indian wars for his action on 5 October 1898 at Leech Lake with the 3rd Infantry. He was also from Minnesota. In 1895 General E. C. Mason, post commandant, called for

4698-426: The preservation of what remained of the old fort, having realized something had been lost with the dismantling of the walls. Nothing came of the preservation proposal, but from 1901 through 1905 Congress would spend $ 2,000,000 on the Fort Snelling upper post. In 1901 the 14th Infantry became the garrison followed by the 28th in 1904. From 1905 to 1911 squadrons of the 3rd , 2nd , and 4th Cavalry Regiments were

4779-569: The prevailing attitudes towards all "Indians" the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) that were living outside Mankato were also sent to Fort Snelling. There, they too were put on riverboats for Crow Creek. They lost 500 along the way and once there, they and the Dakota would lose another 1,300 to starvation . In October 1863 Major E.A.C. Hatch and his Battalion were ordered from Fort Snelling to retrieve Dakota leaders who had crossed into Canada. Winter set in before they reached Pembina in Dakota Territory. Hatch made an encampment at Pembina, sending 20 men across

4860-401: The recording of four weather readings every day a duty of the surgeon at every Army post. Fort Snelling has one of the longest near-continuous weather records in the country. In 1820 Colonel Josiah Snelling took command of the outpost and the fort's construction. Upon completion in 1824, he christened his work "Fort St. Anthony" for the waterfalls just upriver. That did not last long, as it

4941-415: The riverside location contributed to the outbreak. The new camp was near a spring closer to the fortification he was constructing. That spring would be the source of drinking water to the fort throughout the 19th century. The spring held a spiritual significance to the Sioux . The post surgeon began recording meteorological observations at the fort in January 1820. The U.S. Army Surgeon General had made

SECTION 60

#1732791193323

5022-445: The sitting President, James Buchanan . At that time the fort sat on 8,000 acres (32 km ). A small portion of that land was later annexed into south Minneapolis. The balance of that original land is now broken into: Historic Fort Snelling Interpretive Center (300 acres), Fort Snelling State Park (2,931 acres), Fort Snelling National Cemetery (436 acres), Fort Snelling VA Hospital (160 acres), Minnesota Veterans Home (53 acres),

5103-406: The state constitution was ratified in 1858. Two women that had lived enslaved at Fort Snelling sued for their freedom and were set free in 1836. One, named Rachel, was enslaved Lieutenant Thomas Stockton at Fort Snelling from 1830 to 1831, then at Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien until 1834. When Rachel and her son were sold in St. Louis, she sued, claiming that she had been illegally enslaved in

5184-418: The treaty as having been agreed with the entire Sioux nation, but in reality it was only signed by representatives of two Mdewakanton villages. From a legal point of view, there was insufficient description of the land the signers intended to convey . Furthermore, there was no consideration, or payment terms, stated in the treaty. Pike wrote in his journal he thought the land was worth US$ 200,000, but within

5265-473: The treaty itself he left the payment amount blank, deferring to Congress to determine the final amount to be paid. On April 16, 1808, when the U.S. Senate finally ratified the treaty, it approved payment to the Dakota in the amount of only $ 2,000. Payment for the ceded lands only arrived in 1819, when the United States Department of War sent Major Thomas Forsyth to distribute approximately $ 2,000 worth of goods. In 1838, Indian agent Lawrence Taliaferro paid

5346-441: The treaty: Cetan Wakuwa Mani (Petit Corbeau) and Way Aga Enogee (Waynyaga Inaźin). It ceded 155,320 acres of land in the area (400 km ). The document offered an unspecified amount of money, later valued at $ 2,000, for the land. The treaty states: Article One — That the Sioux nation grants unto the United States for the purpose of establishment of military posts, nine miles square at the mouth of river St. Croix, also from below

5427-459: The tutelage of the fort's physician, Dr. Purcell. However, Purcell died before he completed the coursework and March moved west. Major Plympton became post commander in August 1837. He made determining the actual boundaries of the fort's land a priority, doing two surveys. After the second he sent troops to evict "Pig's Eye" Parrant from Fountain Cave downriver. Parrant's tavern there was the first commercial venture in what became St. Paul. Parrant

5508-565: The uprising, the United States Department of War created the Department of the Northwest , headquartered at St. Paul and commanded by Major General John Pope . Gen. Pope arrived in St. Paul on 15 September, and sent requests to the governors of Iowa and Wisconsin for additional troops. The 25th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment arrived at Fort Snelling on 22 September, the day before the decisive Battle of Wood Lake , and were sent immediately to Mankato and Paynesville . The 27th Iowa Infantry Regiment arrived at Fort Snelling in October, well after

5589-411: The war ended. At that time the only building seeing use was the base hospital. It was expanded to 1200 beds and designated General Hospital 29. During the 1918 influenza pandemic it saw extensive use. That hospital would be the forerunner of the VA Hospital at Fort Snelling now. Between wars, the 14th Field Artillery and the 7th Tank Battalion were assigned to Fort Snelling while the base was considered

5670-728: The war was over. Four companies stayed at Fort Snelling, while the other six marched north to Mille Lacs and returned to Fort Snelling on 4 November; three days later they were sent to Cairo, Illinois . In November 1862, 1,658 Dakota, all innocent non-combatants, were moved from the Lower Sioux Agency to Fort Snelling, escorted by 300 soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel William Rainey Marshall . They were mostly Dakota women and children, but also included 22 Franco-Dakota and Anglo-Dakota men who had not been tried, as well as Christian and farmer Dakota such as Taopi, Chief Wabasha , Joseph Kawanke, Paul Mazakutemani, Lorenzo Lawrence, John Other Day and Snana who had opposed Chief Little Crow III and

5751-436: The word as mdóte, noting that it was also "a name commonly applied to the country about Fort Snelling, or mouth of the Saint Peters," now known as the Minnesota River. According to Riggs, "The Mdewakantonwan think that the mouth of the Minnesota River is precisely over the center of the Earth and that they occupy the gate that opens into the western world.". The confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers also became

5832-545: Was Harriet Robinson . She married Dred Scott with Taliaferro officiating at Mendota. John Marsh , arrived at the fort during the early 1820s. He started the first school in the Territory for the officers' children. Marsh developed a relationship with the Dakota, and compiled a dictionary of the dialect used by the Mendota tribe. He had studied medicine at Harvard without earning a degree. He continued his studies under

5913-637: Was a notorious bootlegger doing business with both the Dakota and the soldiers, causing issues for the fort commander. The eviction coincided with the arrival of the Catholic missionary Lucian Galtier . That year also brought the arrival of Pierre Bottineau , the Kit Carson of the Northwest. He would serve the fort as a guide and interpreter. He could speak French and English, Dakota, Ojibwe, Cree, Mandan and Hochunk. Lieutenant Colonel Seth Eastman

5994-556: Was a violation of both the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 , an estimated 15–30 Africans were enslaved at the fort. US Army officers submitted pay vouchers to cover the expenses of retaining enslaved persons. From 1855 to 1857, nine individuals were enslaved at Fort Snelling. The last slave-holding unit was the 10th Infantry. Slavery was made unconstitutional in Minnesota when

6075-600: Was built of granite and stone in the PWA Moderne Art Deco style at the cost of $ 4.5 million or about $ 64 million in 2006 USD. Léon Eugène Arnal, the chief designer for the architects Magney & Tusler, designed the building. Between 1885 and 1946, Magney & Tusler designed the post office, and designed or co-designed the Foshay Tower downtown, the Calhoun Beach Club on Bde Maka Ska ,

6156-413: Was changed by General Winfield Scott to Fort Snelling in recognition of the fort's architect commander. From construction in 1820 to closure in 1858, four army units would garrison the fort, the 1st, 5th , 6th , 10th Regiments . plus a company from the 1st Dragoons . In 1827 the 5th Infantry would be replaced by the 1st Infantry for ten years with the 5th returning in 1837. The 5th would garrison

6237-416: Was commander of the fort twice in the 1840s. Eastman was an artist. He has been recognized for his extensive work recording the Dakota. His skill was such that he was commissioned by Congress to illustrate the six-volume study of Indian Tribes of the United States by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft . The set was published 1851–1857 with hundreds of his works. From 1833 to 1836 Dr. Nathan Sturges Jarvis (surgeon)

6318-539: Was completed in 1933 and occupies nearly the same site. The main building faced Pioneer Square park, which is now occupied by an apartment tower. A companion federal office building at a right angle to the post office on the park's western perimeter was suggested in 1934 but not built. A seven-level parking ramp and loading dock for bulk mail were added to the west in 1976. In 2023, it was renamed in honor of former Minnesota Congressman Martin Olav Sabo. The post office

6399-524: Was given their freedom. In 1852, Emerson appealed and the Scotts were again enslaved. Dred Scott appealed that decision and in 1857 the US Supreme Court decided that the Scotts would stay enslaved. Dred Scott v. Sandford was a landmark case that held that neither enslaved nor free Africans were meant to hold the privileges or constitutional rights of United States citizens. This case garnered national attention and pushed political tensions towards

6480-498: Was initially named Fort Saint Anthony , but it was renamed Fort Snelling once its construction was completed in 1825. Before the American Civil War , the U.S. Army supported slavery at the fort by allowing its soldiers to bring their personal enslaved people. These included African Americans Dred Scott and Harriet Robinson Scott , who lived at the fort in the 1830s. In the 1840s, the Scotts sued for their freedom, arguing that having lived in "free territory" made them free, leading to

6561-491: Was stationed at Fort Snelling. During that time he acquired a notable collection of northern plains Native American artifacts now housed at the Brooklyn Museum . As the towns of Minneapolis and St. Paul grew and with Minnesota statehood before Congress, the need for a forward frontier military post had ceased. In 1857, with the fort's deactivation looming, the garrison was sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas , to join

#322677