Editing Fort Snelling (section)

== History ==

===Bdóte===
{{main|Bdóte}}
Bdóte ('meeting of waters' or 'where two rivers meet')<ref name="mhsbdote">{{cite web |title=Bdote |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |date=November 4, 2008 |url=https://www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling/learn/bdote |access-date=January 15, 2022}}</ref> is considered a place of spiritual importance to the Dakota.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Engstrom|first=Tim|date=November 8, 2019|title=Is it going to be Fort Snelling or Bdote or both or something else?|work=The American Legion Department of Minnesota |url=https://mnlegion.org/is-it-going-to-be-fort-snelling-or-bdote-or-both-or-something-else/|access-date=2022-01-14}}</ref> ''A Dakota-English Dictionary'' (1852) edited by missionary [[Stephen Return Riggs]] originally recorded 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,"<ref>Riggs, Stephen Return (1852). ''[[iarchive:dakotaenglishdic0000rigg/page/312/mode/2up|A Dakota–English Dictionary.]]''Originally published by the Smithsonian Institution. Expanded versions published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press (1890, 1992), and by Ross & Haines (1968), p. 313.</ref> now known as the Minnesota River. According to Riggs, "The [[Mdewakanton]]wan 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.".<ref name="Riggs Dorsey 1893 p. 164 ">{{cite book |last1=Riggs |first1=S.R. |last2=Dorsey |first2=J.O. |title=Dakota Grammar, Texts, and Ethnography |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |series=Contributions to North American ethnology |year=1893 |url=https://archive.org/details/grammerdakota09riggrich/page/164/mode/2up |access-date=January 15, 2022 |page=164}}</ref>

The confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers also became a place where [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] would sign treaties with the [[United States]]: the 1805 Treaty of St. Peters signed by the [[Mdewakanton|Mdewakanton Dakota]], the [[Treaty of St. Peters|1837 White Pine Treaty]] signed by several [[Ojibwe]] bands, and the [[Treaty of Mendota|1851 Treaty of Mendota]] signed by representatives of the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute Dakota.

===Land cession treaty===
[[File:Zebulon Pike.jpg|left|thumb|Lieutenant Zebulon Pike acquired the land for the fort in 1805]]

In 1805, Lieutenant [[Zebulon Pike]] signed a treaty he was unauthorized to create, known as [[Pike's Purchase]] ([[Treaty of St. Peters|1805 Treaty of St. Peters]]). There were seven Dakota members present, with only two signing the treaty: Cetan Wakuwa Mani (Petit Corbeau) and Way Aga Enogee (Waynyaga Inaźin). It ceded 155,320 acres of land in the area  (400&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>).<ref name=":3" /> The document offered an unspecified amount of money, later valued at $2,000, for the land.  The treaty states:<blockquote>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 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.<ref>Government relations with the Dakota Sioux (1851–1876), University of Montana Dissertation, Kenneth Burton Moore, 1937 [https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=3487&context=etd]</ref></blockquote>Legal scholars, historians, and the Dakota have long raised questions about the validity of the 1805 treaty.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news|last=Edgerton|first=Jay|date=October 8, 1955|title=Pike Treaty Was Long Disputed|page=6|work=The Minneapolis Star|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/92702973/the-minneapolis-star/|access-date=2022-01-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1955|title=On the Historical Horizon|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20175977|journal=Minnesota History|volume=34|issue=8|pages=355|jstor=20175977}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":8"/> Pike represented the treaty as having been agreed with the entire Sioux nation, but in reality it was only signed by representatives of two Mdewakanton villages.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Meyer|first=Roy Willard|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofsantees0000meye_j1w9/page/26/mode/2up|title=History of the Santee Sioux: United States Indian policy on trial|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|year=1967|location=Lincoln|pages=24–27|isbn=9780803281097}}</ref>

From a legal point of view, there was insufficient description of the land the signers intended to [[Conveyancing|convey]].<ref name=":8"/> Furthermore, there was no consideration, or payment terms, stated in the treaty.<ref name=":8"/> Pike wrote in his journal he thought the land was worth US$200,000, but within the treaty itself he left the payment amount blank,<ref name=":2" /> deferring to Congress to determine the final amount to be paid.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Anderson|first=Gary Clayton|title=Kinsmen of Another Kind: Dakota–White Relations in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1650–1852|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|year=1984|isbn=0-87351-353-3|pages=82}}</ref> On April 16, 1808, when the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] finally ratified the treaty, it approved payment to the Dakota in the amount of only $2,000.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Pike|first=Zebulon |url=https://archive.org/details/expeditionsofzeb01pikeuoft|title=The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike|publisher=Francis P. Harper|year=1895|editor-last=Coues|editor-first=Elliott |volume=1|location=New York|pages=83, 238–240}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":52">{{Cite journal|last=Forsyth|first=Thomas|date=1908|title=Journal of a Voyage from St. Louis to the Falls of St. Anthony, in 1819|url=https://archive.org/details/collectionsstate06stat/page/n389/mode/2up|journal=Wisconsin Historical Collections|volume=6|pages=188–189|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> In 1838, Indian agent [[Lawrence Taliaferro]] paid 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.<ref name=":8"/>  In 1863, the US Congress passed an act which "abrogated and annulled" all treaties with the Dakota people.<ref name="Vogel 2013">{{Cite journal|title=Rethinking the Effect of the Abrogation of the Dakota Treaties and the Authority for the Removal of the Dakota People from their Homeland|first=Howard|last=Vogel|journal=William Mitchell Law Review|volume=39|issue=2|year=2013|pages=538–581|url=https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1491&context=wmlr}}</ref>  The moral legitimacy of the land title is still disputed.<ref name="Čhaŋtémaza 2020">{{Cite journal|title=Where we stand: The University of Minnesota and Dakhóta Treaty Lands|last1=Čhaŋtémaza (Neil McKay) |first2=Monica|last2=McKay|journal=Open Rivers|issue=17|year=2020|url=https://openrivers.lib.umn.edu/article/where-we-stand/}}</ref>

[[Pike Island]], at the mouth of the [[Minnesota River]], was later named after Zebulon Pike.<ref name="mngeo">{{cite book|author=Upham|first=Warren |url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotageograp00upharich/page/510/mode/2up|title=Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|year=1920|location=St. Paul|pages=169–170|access-date=2021-08-22}}</ref>

=== Frontier post ===
Following the [[War of 1812]], the [[United States Department of War]] built a chain of forts and installed [[Indian agent]]s 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 [[Canada–United States border|49th parallel]]. The treaty restricted British-Canadian traders from operating in 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fort Snelling in the Expansionist Era, 1819–1858 {{!}} MNopedia |url=https://www.mnopedia.org/place/fort-snelling-expansionist-era-1819-1858 |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=www.mnopedia.org}}</ref> The Fort Snelling garrison also attempted to keep the peace among the [[Dakota people|Dakota]] and other tribes .<ref name="MHS2">{{cite web |title=Historic Fort Snelling: A Brief History of Fort Snelling |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |url=http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/hfs |access-date=2007-05-30 |archive-date=2007-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526091327/http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/hfs/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Also built on army land was the St. Peter's Indian Agency at Mendota.<ref>St. Peters Indian Agency (Minnesota), Family Search, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, March 2015 [https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/St._Peters_Indian_Agency_(Minnesota)]</ref> The Anglo-Europeans called the Minnesota River the St. Peter's and the Indian Agency would be a part of Fort Snelling from 1820 to 1853.[[File:Camp New Hope.jpg|thumb|Camp New Hope 1819]]Lieutenant Colonel [[Henry Leavenworth]] commanded the expedition of [[5th Infantry Regiment (United States)|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 the riverside location contributed to the outbreak.<ref name="FSebook">Old Fort Snelling 1819–1858, The Project Gutenberg Ebook, Marcus L. Hansen, September 2007, pp. 21–28 [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22719/22719-h/22719-h.htm]</ref> The new camp was near a [[Spring (hydrology)|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 [[Climate Data Record|recording meteorological observations]] at the fort in January 1820. The U.S. Army Surgeon General had made the recording of four weather readings every day a duty of the surgeon at every Army post.<ref>History of Weather Observations, Fort Ripley Minnesota, 1849–1990, Minnesota State Climatology Office DNR-Division of Waters, St Paul, Mn, Peter Boulay, 2006, pp. 9–10 [https://mrcc.illinois.edu/FORTS/histories/MN_Fort_Ripley_Boulay.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031015416/https://mrcc.illinois.edu/FORTS/histories/MN_Fort_Ripley_Boulay.pdf|date=2020-10-31}}</ref> Fort Snelling has one of the longest near-continuous weather records in the country.<ref>Annual Climatolocial Summary, Fort Snelling MN, Year 1820, MN DNR webpage, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 500 Lafayette Road, Saint Paul, MN [https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/natural_resources/climate/twin_cities/1820sum.html]</ref> 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 [[St. Anthony Falls|waterfalls]] just upriver. That did not last long,  as it 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,<ref name="USACMH1">The First Regiment of Infantry, The Army of the US Historical Sketches of the Line and Staff with Portraits of the Generals in Chief, Lt. Charles Byrne, New York Maynard, Merrill and Company, 1896, p. 401, U.S Army Center of Military History website [https://web.archive.org/web/20090116033803/http://www.history.army.mil/books/R&H/R&H-1IN.htm]</ref> [[5th Infantry Regiment (United States)|5th]],<ref>The Fifth Regiment of Infantry, The Army of the US Historical Sketches of the Line and Staff with Portraits of the Generals in Chief, Lt. Charles Byrne, New York Maynard, Merrill and Company, 1896, p. 480, U.S Army Center of Military History website [https://web.archive.org/web/20090116061652/http://www.history.army.mil/books/R&H/R&H-6IN.htm]</ref> [[6th Infantry Regiment (United States)|6th]],<ref name="USACMH6" /> [[10th Infantry Regiment (United States)|10th Regiment]]s.<ref name="USACMH" /> plus a company from the [[1st Cavalry Regiment (United States)|1st Dragoons]]. In 1827 the 5th Infantry would be replaced by the 1st Infantry for ten years with the 5th returning in 1837.<ref name="FSebook" /> The 5th would garrison the fort until the 1st relieved them again in 1840. In 1848 the 6th Infantry became the garrison.<ref name="FSebook" /> The garrison would change again in November 1855. The 10th commanded by [[Charles Ferguson Smith|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 the first [[post office]] in Minnesota started at Fort Snelling with most mail forwarded from [[Fort Crawford|Prairie du Chien]].<ref>The Post Office in Early Minnesota, Minnesota History Vol. 40 No.2, Summer 1966, J. W. Patterson, p. 78, MHS website [http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/40/v40i02p078-089.pdf]</ref>

Colonel [[Zachary Taylor]] assumed command in 1828. He observed that the "[[Bison|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]]".<ref name="Zach">Zachary Taylor and Minnesota, Minnesota History Vol. 30, June 1949, Holman Hamilton p. 101, MHS website [http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/30/v30i02p097-110.pdf]</ref> While Taylor was posted to Fort Snelling, eight adult enslaved people with him died, as did several minors.<ref name="Zach" />

Along with 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.<ref>1834, A Fort Snelling Calendar, Minnesota History, Fall 1970, Marilyn Ziebarth, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Mn [http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/42/v42i03p116-117.pdf]</ref> Taliaferro also served as the Territorial [[Justice of Peace]] until 1838 when the Governor of Iowa named [[Henry Hastings Sibley|Henry Sibley]] his replacement.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sibley |first=Henry H. |date=1880 |title=Reminiscences of the Early Days of Minnesota |url=https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofe00siblrich |access-date=August 18, 2014}}</ref>

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.<ref name="SPPD" /> Both Fort Snelling and Fort Ripley provided this civil service for internment of criminals until the territory developed the civil infrastructure needed.<ref name="SPPD">The Original Saint Paul Jail, Saint Paul Police Historical Society webpage, Edward J. Steenberg, 2020 [http://www.spphs.com/history/jail_original.php]</ref> There were 21 enslaved people with Taliaferro, one of whom was [[Harriet Robinson Scott|Harriet Robinson]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10614503 |title=List of slaves owned by Lawrence Taliaferro, 1813 |website=Collections Online |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |access-date=17 October 2020}}</ref> She married [[Dred Scott]] with Taliaferro officiating at Mendota.

[[John Marsh (pioneer)|John Marsh]], arrived at the fort during the early 1820s. He started the first school in the [[Northwest Territory|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 the tutelage of the fort's physician, Dr. Purcell. However, Purcell died before he completed the coursework and Marsh moved west.<ref name="Colbruno">[http://mountainviewpeople.blogspot.com/2009/12/john-marsh-1799-1856-early-california.html Colbruno, Michael "Lives of the Dead: Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland." December 12, 2009.] Retrieved March 5, 2015.</ref> 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 was a notorious [[bootleg liquor|bootlegger]] doing business with both the Dakota and the soldiers, causing issues for the fort commander.<ref>This date in Minnesota History, Pig's Eye Parrant, Minnesota Historical Society Society Archives, St. Paul, MN [https://www.mnopedia.org/event/january-2-1838]</ref> 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.<ref name="Pierre">[https://www.geni.com/people/Pierre-Bottineau/6000000025889497293 Pierre Bottineau, GENi, Joe Eickhoff, July 2020]</ref> He would serve the fort as a guide and interpreter. He could speak French and English, Dakota, Ojibwe, Cree, Mandan and Hochunk.<ref name="Pierre" />[[File:Fort Snelling.jpg|thumb|A painting representing Fort Snelling by Colonel Seth Eastman]]Lieutenant Colonel [[Seth Eastman]] was commander of the fort twice in the 1840s.<ref name="pbs.org">[https://www.pbs.org/ktca/setheastman/setheastman.html Patricia Condon Johnston, "Seth Eastman: The Soldier Artist"], PBS, accessed 11 December 2008</ref><ref name=cmhbio>{{cite web |title=Seth Eastman |url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/artphoto/pripos/eastman/artist.html |publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]] |access-date=June 16, 2010 |date=December 1, 2009 |archive-date=June 12, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612061302/http://www.history.army.mil/html/artphoto/pripos/eastman/artist.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Eastman was an artist. He has been recognized for his extensive work recording the Dakota.<ref>[http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/134eastman.htm "Seth Eastman"], ''Library: History Topics'', Minnesota Historical Society, 2011, accessed 3 February 2011</ref> 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.<ref>[https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Painting_33_00018.htm#bio "''West Point, New York'' by Seth Eastman"], with bio, US Senate, accessed 29 September 2009</ref>

[[File:Inlaid Pipe Bowl with Two Faces, 50.67.104 profile PS9.jpg|thumb|Inlaid Pipe Bowl with Two Faces collected at Fort Snelling 1833–36]]
From 1833 to 1836 Dr. Nathan Sturges Jarvis (surgeon) was stationed at Fort Snelling.<ref name="Jarvis">The Jarvis Collection of Native American Plains Art, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn New York,[https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/geographicallocations/2309371]</ref> During that time he acquired a notable collection of northern plains Native American artifacts now housed at the [[Brooklyn Museum]].<ref name="Jarvis" />

*In 1848 A Co of the [[6th U.S. Infantry]] was dispatched from Fort Snelling to build [[Fort Ripley (Minnesota fort)|Fort Ripley]].<ref name="USACMH6">The Sixth Regiment of Infantry, The Army of the US Historical Sketches of the Line and Staff with Portraits of the Generals in Chief, Lt. Charles Byrne, New York Maynard, Merrill and Company, 1896, p. 466, U.S Army Center of Military History website [https://web.archive.org/web/20090116061652/http://www.history.army.mil/books/R&H/R&H-6IN.htm]</ref>
* In 1848 the Fort's Military Reservation was declared too big, with the lands east of the Mississippi detached and sold. That land created much of what became St. Paul.<ref name="sale" /> 
* In the summer of 1849, D Company 1st Dragoons escorted Maj. Woods of the 6th Infantry at Fort Snelling, to mark a northern boundary line and select a site for a future fortification near Pembina.<ref>A DRAGOON ON THE MARCH TO PEMBINA IN 1849, Minnesota Pioneer (St. Paul), March 6, 1850, Minnesota Historical Society website, Minnesota History, March 1927, p. 63 [http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/8/v08i01p061-074.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026063101/http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/8/v08i01p061-074.pdf|date=2020-10-26}}</ref>
* In 1850 E Co of the 6th Infantry was sent south to build [[Fort Dodge]] and would garrison the fort until the army closed it and sent E Co. to help construct Fort Ridgely.<ref name="USACMH6" />
* In 1850 Alexander Ramsey requested Congress fund five military roads in the Territory. Two ran from Mendota at Fort Snelling. One followed the Mississippi to Wabasha and the Iowa border. The other headed west to the Big Sioux River confluence with the Missouri.
* In 1853 C, E, and K Companies of the 6th Infantry were tasked with the construction of Fort Ridgely.<ref name="SDHS">On Duty at Fort Ridgely Minnesota, South Dakota History, South Dakota State Historical Society, Paul L. Hedren, 1977, p. 169 [https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-7-2/on-duty-at-fort-ridgely-minnesota-1853-1867/vol-07-no-2-on-duty-at-fort-ridgely-minnesota.pdf]</ref>
*Also in 1853, congress authorized money specifically to "mount" E Company of the 3rd Artillery to be stationed at Fort Snelling and Fort Ridgely until May 1861.<ref>The Army of the US, Historical Sketches of Staff and Line with Portraits of Generals-in-Chief, Third Regiment of Artillery, New York Maynard, Merrill, & CO, Lieut. WM. E. Birkhimer, Adjutant 3D U. S. Artillery, 1896, pp. 328, 341, 345 [https://web.archive.org/web/20071221065300/http://www.history.army.mil/books/R&H/R&H-3Art.htm]</ref>
*1856 Major [[Edward Canby]] was fort commander. He became a general. The only one killed in the Indian wars. The town of Canby is named for him.
*1857–1861 G, I, and L Companies 2nd Artillery were variously posted to northern forts Snelling, Ridgely, Ripley.
*1864–65 The Minnesota Valley Railroad completed line from St. Paul to Minneapolis crossing the river at Mendota that passed beneath the Fort. Pilings remain of the line's river crossing.

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 the other units being sent to Utah for what became known as the [[Utah War]].<ref name="USACMH">The Tenth Regiment of Infantry, The Army of the US Historical Sketches of the Line and Staff with Portraits of the Generals in Chief, Lt. S.Y. Seyburn, New York Maynard, Merrill and Company, 1896, p. 531, U.S Army Center of Military History website [https://web.archive.org/web/20090116061632/http://www.history.army.mil/books/R&H/R&H-10IN.htm]</ref> With the departure of the [[10th Infantry Regiment (United States)|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 the sitting president, [[James Buchanan]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Franklin Steele |page=635 |work=History of Hennepin County and The City of Minneapolis, 1881. North Star Publishing |access-date=December 5, 2019 |url=http://hennbios.tripod.com/steele.htm#}}</ref><ref name="sale" /> At that time the fort sat on {{convert|8000|acre|km2}}. A small portion of that land was later annexed into south Minneapolis.<ref name="bluff">{{cite web |title=Fort Snelling State Park Upper Bluff Reuse Study |publisher=[[Minnesota Department of Natural Resources]] |date=November 1998 |url=http://wwwa.co.hennepin.mn.us/files/HCInternet/EPandT/Community |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307012554/http://wwwa.co.hennepin.mn.us/files/HCInternet/EPandT/Community%20Development/Economic%20Development/Fort%20Snelling%20Upper%20Bluff%20Reuse%20Study%20with%202006%20updates%20Part%20I.pdf |archive-date=2008-03-07 |format=PDF |url-status=bot: unknown}} ()</ref> 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),<ref>Our History, Minneapolis VA Health Care System, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, June 2015 [https://www.minneapolis.va.gov/about/history.asp]</ref> Minnesota Veterans Home (53 acres), the Coldwater Spring unit of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (29 acres),<ref>Friends of Coldwater Green Museum initiative, Friends of Coldwater webpage [http://friendsofcoldwater.org/#:~:text=Coldwater%20Spring%20has%20been%20flowing,the%20Minnesota%20and%20Mississippi%20rivers.]</ref> the Upper Post Veterans Home, [[Minneapolis St Paul International Airport]] and the [[Minneapolis-St Paul Joint Air Reserve Station]] (2,930 acres).

*Fort Snelling watercolor by Lt. Sully October 1855.<ref>Sully: Alfred, Fort Ridgely (1855, Minnesota). 021338.1955. Tulsa: Gilcrease Museum,[https://collections.gilcrease.org/object/021336]</ref>

===Slavery at the fort===
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 was a violation of both the [[Northwest Ordinance|Northwest Ordinance of 1787]] and the [[Missouri Compromise|Missouri Compromise of 1820]], an estimated 15–30 Africans were enslaved at the fort.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Dred and Harriet Scott in Minnesota {{!}} MNopedia|url=https://www.mnopedia.org/event/dred-and-harriet-scott-minnesota|access-date=2020-06-19|website=www.mnopedia.org}}</ref> 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 the state constitution was ratified in 1858.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Enslaved African Americans and the Fight for Freedom|url=https://www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling/learn/african-americans|access-date=2020-06-19|website=Minnesota Historical Society|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Dred & Harriet Scott Quarters.jpg|alt=Restored quarters believed to have been occupied by Dred & Harriet Scott 1836–1840 at Fort Snelling|thumb|Restored quarters believed to have been occupied by [[Dred Scott|Dred]] & [[Harriet Robinson Scott|Harriet Scott]] 1836–1840 at Fort Snelling]]
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 the [[Minnesota Territory]]. In 1836 the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in her favor making her a free person.<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Woltman|first=Nick|date=May 4, 2019|title=Dred Scott is Fort Snelling's best-known slave, but there were many others|work=Twin Cities Pioneer Press|url=https://www.twincities.com/2019/05/04/fort-snelling-slaves-dred-scott-and-wife-sued-for-freedom-and-became-famous-for-it/|access-date=2022-01-14}}</ref> Courtney had another son named [[Joseph Godfrey|Godfrey]] that remained in Minnesota when she was sent to a [[slave market]] in St. Louis.<ref name="Courtney" /> He is the only known "Minnesota [[Fugitive slaves in the United States|runaway slave]]" that ran away from the fort and was taken in by the Dakota.<ref name="Courtney">Slavery and Freedom on the Minnesota Territory Frontier: The Strange Saga of Joseph Godfrey, Black Past web site, Walt Bachman, August 2013 [https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/slavery-and-freedom-minnesota-territory-frontier-strange-saga-joseph-godfrey/]</ref> He was involved in the Dakota War and was the first defendant on the docket of the military tribunal for hanging.<ref name="Courtney" />

The fort surgeon, Dr. John Emerson, purchased Dred Scott at a slave market in [[St. Louis|Saint Louis]], Missouri, where slavery was legal. Emerson was posted to Fort Snelling during the 1830s and brought Scott north with him.<ref name=":0" /> 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 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 the Civil War.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />

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 the North and South.

===Civil War===
[[File:Wokiksuye K'a Woyuonihan Memorial.jpg|thumb|upright|The Wokiksuye K'a Woyuonihan memorial site at Fort Snelling, with a [[Catlinite|pipestone]] encased in the center, surrounded by bundles of the four sacred medicines: sage, cedar, [[tobacco]], and [[Hierochloe odorata|sweetgrass]].]]

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.<ref name="sale" /> When [[Alexander Ramsey|Governor Ramsey]] offered [[President Lincoln]] 1000 troops to fight the [[Confederate States of America|South]] the volunteers he got were organized at Fort Snelling into a regiment, the [[1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment|1st Minnesota]]. More than 24,000 recruits were trained there.<ref name="CivilWar">{{cite web|url=http://www.historicfortsnelling.org/history/military-history/civil-war|title=The Civil War|work=Historic Fort Snelling|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|access-date=July 6, 2013|archive-date=February 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204062938/http://www.historicfortsnelling.org/history/military-history/civil-war|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Minnesota units mustered in at Fort Snelling:
* 1st Minnesota April 1861 (lineage today: [[135th Infantry Regiment (United States)|2nd Battalion 135th Infantry]])
* [[2nd Minnesota Infantry Regiment|2nd Minnesota]] June–July 1861 (lineage today: [[136th Infantry Regiment (United States)|136th Infantry Regiment]])
* [[3rd Minnesota Regiment|3rd Minnesota]] Oct–Nov 1861
* [[4th Minnesota Infantry Regiment|4th Minnesota]] Oct–Nov 1861
* [[5th Minnesota Infantry Regiment|5th Minnesota]] Mar–Apr 1862
* [[6th Minnesota Infantry Regiment|6th Minnesota]] Sep–Nov 1862
* [[7th Minnesota Infantry Regiment|7th Minnesota]] Aug–Oct 1862
* [[8th Minnesota Infantry Regiment|8th Minnesota]] Jun–Sep 1862
* [[9th Minnesota Infantry Regiment|9th Minnesota]] Aug–Oct 1862
* [[10th Minnesota Infantry Regiment|10th Minnesota]] Aug–Nov 1862
* [[11th Minnesota Infantry Regiment|11th Minnesota]] Aug–Sep 1864
* [[1st Minnesota Infantry Battalion]] Aug–Sep 1864
* [[1st Minnesota Sharpshooters Company]] Apr 1864
* [[2nd Minnesota Sharpshooters Company]] Jan 1862
* [[1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery Regiment|1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery]] Nov 1864 (today 151st Field Artillery)
* [[1st Minnesota Light Artillery Battery]] Nov 1861
* [[2nd Minnesota Light Artillery Battery]] Mar 1862
* [[3rd Minnesota Light Artillery Battery]] Feb 1863
* [[1st Minnesota Cavalry Regiment|1st Minnesota Cavalry]] Oct–Dec 1862
* [[2nd Minnesota Cavalry Regiment]] Dec 1863
* [[Brackett's Minnesota Cavalry Battalion|1st Minnesota Light Cavalry(Bracket's Battalion)]] Sep–Nov 1861
* [[Hatch's Minnesota Cavalry Battalion|Minnesota Independent Cavalry Battalion (Hatch's Battalion)]] Jul 1863
* During the civil war, slightly over 100 African Americans approached Fort Snelling to volunteer for military service.<ref name="CivilWar" /> Minnesota did not have an African American population large enough to field a "[[colored]]" unit as US Infantry units were segregated. Those volunteers were put on riverboats to Iowa and Missouri, states that had "colored" units: [[1st Iowa Infantry Regiment (African Descent)|1st Iowa Infantry Colored]], [[18th United States Colored Infantry Regiment]], and the [[4th Missouri Colored Infantry Regiment|68th United States Colored Infantry]].<ref name="CivilWar" /> The navy had a few volunteers also.<ref>Minnesota was Tainted by Slavery, Marshall H. Tanick, MINNPOST online, POB 18438, Minneapolis, Mn, Feb 2019, minnpost.com [https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2019/02/minnesota-was-tainted-by-slavery-too/]</ref>
**In 1830 Fort Snelling was the birthplace of [[John Taylor Wood]]. He served on the [[CSS Virginia|''Merrimack'']] at the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]] during the civil war.<ref name="TWinstead">[[#Winstead|Winstead, 2009]]</ref>

In 1860 and 1863 the [[Minnesota State Fair]] was held at the fort.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.mnstatefair.org/virtual-fair/history-timeline/ |title=Minnesota State Fair timeline, Minnesota State Fair webpage |access-date=2020-10-01 |archive-date=2020-09-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926084105/https://www.mnstatefair.org/virtual-fair/history-timeline/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

*In 1865 the Minnesota Central Railroad completed rail line from Northfield to Mendota. There the line crossed the river to Fort Snelling, continuing on to Minneapolis.<ref>[https://www.mnhs.org/minnehahadepot/learn Minnehaha Depot, Minnehaha Depot]</ref><ref>Railroads and the Minneapolis Milling District, Minnesota History, Summer 2009, Don L. Hofsommer, Minnesota Historical Society website [http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/61/v61i06p248-259.pdf]</ref>
*In June 1865 the 10th US Infantry Hq, D, and F Companies returned to the 10th's pre-war post at Fort Snelling.<ref name="USACMH" /> B and H Companies went to Fort Ridgely while A and I Companies went to Fort Ripley.

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.<ref name="sale">Sale of Fort Snelling Reservation. Letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting papers relative to the sale of the Fort Snelling Reservation, 12-10-1868, University of Oklahoma College of Law
University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons, American Indian and Alaskan Native Documents in the Congressional Serial Set: 1817–1899, p. 107, University of Oklahoma, 300 Timberdell Road, Norman, OK [https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2755&context=indianserialset]</ref>

===Dakota War===
{{Main|Dakota War of 1862}}

On 19 August 1862, after hearing of [[Attack at the Lower Sioux Agency|attacks at 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 the [[Minnesota River]] to end the [[Battle of Fort Ridgely|siege at Fort Ridgely]]. Ramsey gave him a commission as colonel and turned over four companies of the newly organized [[6th Minnesota Infantry Regiment|6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment]] to Sibley at Fort Snelling.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|last=Anderson|first=Gary Clayton|title=Massacre in Minnesota: The Dakota War of 1862, the Most Violent Ethnic Conflict in American History|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=2019|isbn=978-0-8061-6434-2|location=Norman|pages=135–136, 233}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Carley|first=Kenneth|title=The Dakota War of 1862: Minnesota's Other Civil War|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press|year=1976|isbn=978-0-87351-392-0|location=St. Paul|pages=31}}</ref>

The fort became the rendezvous point for the state and federal military forces during the [[Dakota War of 1862]].<ref name=":4" /> During the war, the 6th, 7th, and 10th Minnesota Regiments did garrison duty at Fort Snelling.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

To deal with the uprising, the [[United States Department of War]] created the [[Department of the Northwest]], headquartered at [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]] and commanded by [[John Pope (general)|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, Minnesota|Mankato]] and [[Paynesville, Minnesota|Paynesville]]. The [[27th Iowa Infantry Regiment]] arrived at Fort Snelling in October, well after the war was over. Four companies stayed at Fort Snelling, while the other six marched north to [[Mille Lacs Lake|Mille Lacs]] and returned to Fort Snelling on 4 November; three days later they were sent to [[Cairo, Illinois]].<ref name=":4">Neighbors to the Rescue: Wisconsin and Iowa, Minnesota History Winter 1979, Edward Noyes, Minnesota Historical Society, St Paul, Mn, p. 312 [http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/46/v46i08p312-327.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716114436/http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/46/v46i08p312-327.pdf|date=2022-07-16}}</ref>[[File:Dakota-Interment-Pike Island.jpg|thumb|right|Dakota internment camp, [[Pike Island]],

winter 1862]]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]].<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last=Brown|first=Samuel J.|title=Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press|year=1988|isbn=978-0-87351-216-9|editor-last=Anderson|editor-first=Gary Clayton|location=St. Paul|pages=223|chapter=Wood Lake and Camp Release, Narrative 1|editor-last2=Woolworth|editor-first2=Alan R.}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Monjeau-Marz|first=Corinne L.|title=The Dakota Indian Internment at Fort Snelling, 1862–1864|publisher=Prairie Smoke Press|year=2006|isbn=0-9772718-2-X|edition=Revised|location=St. Paul|pages=36, 41, 55}}</ref> 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 III|Wabasha]], Joseph Kawanke, Paul Mazakutemani, Lorenzo Lawrence, [[John Other Day]] and [[Snana]] who had opposed [[Little Crow|Chief Little Crow III]] and the "hostile" faction during the war.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press|year=1988|isbn=978-0-87351-216-9|editor-last=Anderson|editor-first=Gary Clayton|pages=141|editor-last2=Woolworth|editor-first2=Alan R.}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":5" /> 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, Minnesota|Henderson]] en route to Fort Snelling.<ref name="aftermath" /><ref name=":7" /> Shortly after they arrived, soldiers raped one of the Dakota women.<ref name="aftermath">U.S.-Dakota War's aftermath a ‘dark moment’ in Fort Snelling history, Pioneer Press, Nick Woltman, May 2019 [https://www.twincities.com/2019/05/04/u-s-dakota-wars-aftermath-a-dark-moment-in-fort-snelling-history/]</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://usdakotawar.org/history/aftermath/forced-marches-imprisonment |title=Forced Marches and Imprisonment |work=The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 |date=23 August 2012 |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |access-date=July 6, 2013}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

[[File:Wokiksuye K'a Woyuonihan.jpg|thumb|Memorial for the Dakota who were interned and died at Fort Snelling]]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 Indian Reservation|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 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.<ref>Survival At Crow Creek, 1863–66, Minnesota History 61:4, Winter 2008–9 Colette A. Hyman, Minnesota Historical Society website, pp. 148–60 [http://collections.mnhs.org/mnhistorymagazine/articles/61/v61i04p148-161.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721024738/http://collections.mnhs.org/mnhistorymagazine/articles/61/v61i04p148-161.pdf|date=2020-07-21}}</ref> 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.<ref>Referenced from the photo Wokiksuye K'a Woyuonihan on the right hand side of the page</ref>

Because of the prevailing attitudes towards all "Indians" the [[Ho-Chunk|Ho-Chunk (Winnebago)]] that were living outside [[Mankato]] were also sent to Fort Snelling.<ref name="MSHSRECORD">The REMOVAL from MINNESOTA of the Sioux and Winnebago Indians, The Record(Mankato), William E. Lass, November 8, 1862, Minnesota State Historical Society web site, St. Paul, Mn, Minnesota History [http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/38/v38i08p353-364.pdf].</ref> 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]]. [[File:Hanging of Little Six and Medicine Bottle CDV, 1865.png|right|thumb|150px|Hanging of Little Six and Medicine Bottle November 11, 1865, Ft Snelling]]

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.<ref name="Pembina">History of Fort Pembina 1870–1875, University of North Dakota Thesis, 8–1968, William D. Thomson [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/235088744.pdf]</ref> Winter set in before they reached Pembina in Dakota Territory. Hatch made an encampment at Pembina, sending 20 men across the border. They encountered and killed Minnesota Dakota at St. Joseph in the Northwest Territory.<ref name="Pembina" /> 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.<ref name="Pembina" />

When conditions allowed, his Cavalry took the prisoners back to Fort Snelling. The two chiefs were hanged at the fort.<ref>This Week in History, March 3, 1968, Manitoba Provincial Historical Society, newsgov.mb.ca</ref> They were Little Six ([[Shakopee III|Sakpedan]]) and Medicine Bottle (Wakanozanzan).<ref>The United States Dakota War Trials, A Study in Military Injustice, Stanford Law Review Vol. 43:13, November 1990, University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository, Carol Chomsky [https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1230&context=faculty_articles]</ref> Chief Little Leaf managed to evade capture.<ref name="Pembina" />

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.<ref>30th Wisconsin Infantry, Wisconsin in the Civil War, Wisconsin Historical Society Historical essay, Charles E. Estabrook (1914), pp. 789–792 [https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/quiner/id/16702]</ref>

===Indian Wars and Spanish–American War===
[[File:Map of Fort Snelling, MN - NARA - 109182630 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Map of Fort Snelling, November 1908]]
Steele had made plans and plotted his purchase to build the City of Fort Snelling.<ref>[https://www.usdakotawar.org/history/multimedia/city-fort-snelling City at Fort Snelling, Minnesota Historical Society web site, MHS]</ref> Steele, however, failed to make payments as agreed causing the government to revoke the sale and repossess the fort lands.<ref name="LOSTFRONTIER">Lost Frontier: Fort Snelling in the Nineteenth Century, Fort Snelling's Buildings 17, 18, 22, and 30: Their Evolution and Context, Charlene Roise, Historian and Penny Petersen, Researcher, Hess, Roise and Company, The Foster House, 100 N. 1st Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 2008, p. 4 [https://www.nps.gov/miss/learn/management/upload/Feb%2028%202008%20History%20Report.pdf]</ref> 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]].<ref name="LOSTFRONTIER" /> 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.<ref name="LOSTFRONTIER" /> After the Civil war Minneapolis began to expand into the fort's surroundings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Urban Connections – Minneapolis |publisher=USDA Forest Service|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/urban_connections/Cities/Minneapolis/ |access-date=2007-05-29}}</ref>

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.

[[Image:First Fort Snelling Bridge.jpg|thumb|Bridge linking Ft. Snelling with [[St. Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]], 1880–1912]]

The [[United States Army]] assigned the [[7th Infantry Regiment (United States)|7th Infantry]] to garrison the fort in 1878 and six companies arrived in September.<ref name="USACMH7">The Seventh Regiment of Infantry, The Army of the US Historical Sketches of the Line and Staff with Portraits of the Generals in Chief, Lt. A.B. Johnson, New York Maynard, Merrill and Company, 1896, p. 498, U.S Army Center of Military History website [https://web.archive.org/web/20090116063618/http://www.history.army.mil/books/R&H/R&H-7IN.htm]</ref> That year Congress approved $100,000 to be spent on the Department of Dakota and the old fort's walls were torn down for reuse in the new construction.<ref name="MHS">New fort Snelling Visitor Center, prepared by Minnesota Historical Society, Nov 2009, p. 9 [https://www.nps.gov/miss/learn/management/upload/November%209%20History%20Report.pdf]</ref> 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 [[Ute people|Ute]]s at [[White River War|White River]], Colorado. They returned to Fort Snelling in 1880.<ref name="USACMH7"/> In November 1882 the 7th was relieved by the [[25th Infantry Regiment (United States)|25th Infantry (colored)]].<ref name="USACMH25">The Twenty Fifth Regiment of Infantry, The Army of the US Historical Sketches of the Line and Staff with Portraits of the Generals in Chief, Lt. Charles Byrne, New York Maynard, Merrill and Company, 1896, p. 698, U.S Army Center of Military History website [https://web.archive.org/web/20071222181429/http://www.history.army.mil/books/R&H/R&H-25IN.htm]</ref> The 25th's HQ, band and four companies would garrison the fort until 1888 when they were relieved by the [[3rd Infantry Regiment (United States)|3rd Infantry]]. During the 1880s, companies of the [[7th Cavalry Regiment|7th Cavalry]] would be at the fort.<ref name="FSebook" /> The 3rd Regiment would remain until 1898. Some of the garrison were sent to [[Cuba]] and fought in the [[Spanish–American War]] of 1898.<ref name="MHS2" /> 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 the post.<ref>Obituaries, St Paul Globe October 9, 1898. p. 3: Wilkinson [Section A-25/Site 6705]; Lowe [Section A-5/Site 607]; Onstead [Section A-25/6618]; Schwalenstocker [Section A-5/Site 644] and Ziebel [Section A-5/Site 648] in the National Cemetery. Butler was reburied at Palmyra, Michigan, Minnesota Historical Society, St Paul, Mn</ref> Ten others were wounded in the battle. Among them were five Minnesotans: Privates George Wicker, Charles Turner, Edward Brown, Jes Jensen, and Gottfried Ziegler.<ref>See Holbrook, Franklin F., Minnesota War Records, 1923 & The Deteriorating Upper Post of Ft. Snelling, http://celticfringe.net/history/upper_post.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212235549/http://www.celticfringe.net/history/upper_post.htm |date=2012-02-12 }}</ref> 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 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.<ref name="LOSTFRONTIER"/>

In 1901 the [[14th Infantry Regiment (United States)|14th Infantry]] became the garrison followed by the [[28th Infantry Regiment (United States)|28th]] in 1904.<ref name="LOSTFRONTIER"/> From 1905 to 1911 squadrons of the [[3rd Cavalry Regiment (United States)|3rd]], [[2nd Cavalry Regiment (United States)|2nd]], and [[4th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|4th Cavalry Regiments]] were the occupants of the new cavalry barracks on the upper post.<ref>Cavalry Barracks, Buildings 17 & 18 Study, State Historic Preservation Office, Thomas R. Zahn, 1993 [https://www.nps.gov/miss/learn/management/upload/1993ReuseStudy.pdf]</ref>

In June 1916 [[President Wilson]] had [[General Pershing]] in Mexico on the trail of [[Poncho Villa]]. To provide border security Minnesota's entire [[Minnesota National Guard|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 the 1st Infantry Regiment was re-designated the [[135th Infantry Regiment (United States)|135th Infantry]]. It is the direct descendant of the 1st Minnesota formed at the fort in 1862.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Jack K. |title=1916: Trial Run on the Mexican Border |url=https://www.mnmilitarymuseum.org/files/7314/7723/9291/1916_Mexican_Border.pdf |journal=Military Historical Society of Minnesota |pages=13 }}</ref>

*Sgt. [[Charles H. Welch (Medal of Honor)|Charles H. Welch]] was awarded the [[Medal of Honor]] for his actions at [[Battle of the Little Bighorn|Little Big Horn]] in 1876. His award lists his home as Fort Snelling. Welch enlisted in the Army on June 8, 1873, at Fort Snelling, and was assigned to D Company 7th U.S. Cavalry.<ref>[https://www.minnesotamedalofhonormemorial.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Welch-Charles-Henry-Bio-Final.pdf Charles H. Welch, Find a Grave bio, 2020]</ref>

===World War I===
[[File:41 Inf Regt DUI.png|thumb|41st Infantry Regiment insignia with Fort Snelling's round tower emblazoned center]]
Once the United States entered the war the fort became a recruit processing station. For WWI the [[41st Infantry Regiment (United States)|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 the war ended.<ref name="MNHS"/> 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.<ref name="MNHS"/> 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 the "Country Club of the U. S. Army".<ref name="MNHS">[https://www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling/learn/military-history/fort-expands Fort Snelling, Minnesota Historical Society website, 2020]</ref>

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 the US Army created the [[88th Infantry Division (United States)|88th Division]]al area in Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota. Fort Snelling became a [[Citizens Military Training Camp]] (CMTC) for the [[351st Infantry Regiment (United States)|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 the call.

===Civilian Conservation Corps===

In 1933 the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] was created by [[Executive Order]] 6101.<ref name="CCC"/> Fort Snelling was located in [[Seventh Corps Area]] of the US Army and the [[Works Progress Administration]](WPA) established a supply depot at Fort Snelling to support [[Civilian Conservation Corps|CCC camps]]. A CCC Headquarters Company was stationed at the Fort. Minnesota had two CCC companies that were entirely African American.<ref name="CCC"/> One of these worked next the Fort in Fort Snelling State Park.<ref name="CCC">Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota, 1933–1942, MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society, Linda A. Cameron, July 2016 [http://www.mnopedia.org/civilian-conservation-corps-minnesota-1933-1942]</ref>

===World War II===
[[File:Military Railway service SSI.jpeg|thumb|Military Railroad Service insignia]]
During WWII the Fort Snelling military reservation served both the army and navy. The army had an enlistment center there that processed 300,000 enlistees. The [[United States Department of War|War Department]] chose the base to be the site of the army's [[Military Railroad Service (United States)|Military Railroad Service]](MRS) HQ in 1942 and a winter warfare program later. The MRS was closely linked to commercial railroading with multiple Minnesota railroads sponsoring MRS Railroad Operating Battalions.<ref name="GD">{{cite web| title=Railway Grand Divisions| url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/34941642/Railway-Grand-Divisions}}{{self-published source|date=December 2021}}</ref> That year the Army created two Railroad Divisions with the [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railroad]] sponsoring the 704th.<ref name="GD"/>  The 1st MRS Division was activated at Fort Snelling (as the 701st) from where it deployed to the [[Mediterranean]](Italy, Southern France, and [[North Africa]]). It was commanded by Brig. Gen. [[Carl R. Gray Jr.]] of the [[Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway]].<ref name="GD"/> Gen. Gray was responsible for creating a Commendation for Meritorious Service(MRS Certificate of Merit) specific to railroading troops.<ref>American Rails in 8 Countries, The story of the 1st Railroad Service, Transportation Corps,  Special and Information Section, Headquarters, Southern Line of Communication, European Theater of Operations, United States Army, p. 33 [https://www.scribd.com/doc/187078739/American-Rails-in-8-Countries]</ref> In January 1943 the 701st Railway Grand Division, sponsored by the [[New York Central Railroad]], was stood up at Fort Snelling.<ref>Railroaders in Olive Drab: The Military Railway Service in WWII, The Army Historical Foundation, National Museum of the United States Army, 1775 Liberty Dr, Fort Belvoir, VA [https://armyhistory.org/railroaders-in-olive-drab-the-military-railway-service-in-wwii/]</ref> Minnesota Railroads sponsored multiple Railroad Operating Battalions(ROB)s with the Great Northern sponsoring the 732nd ROB.<ref name="GD"/><ref name="732nd">The Saga of the 732nd Railway Operation Battalion Subject Report Activity Feb–Apr 1945:, Angelfire website [https://www.angelfire.com/va2/worldwar2family/732.html]{{self-published source|date=December 2021}}</ref>{{self-published source|date=December 2021}}  Even though sponsored by the Great Northern, the 732nd trained at [[Fort Sam Houston]]. It landed in France and was one of two [[wikt:spearhead|spearhead]] ROBs. The 732nd operated in support of Gen. [[George Patton|Patton]]'s [[3rd Armored Division (United States)|3rd Armored Division]] and went into Germany with them.<ref name="732nd"/>{{self-published source|date=December 2021}}  During the [[Battle of the Bulge]] Patton's armor would come to the 732nds trains to refuel.<ref name="732nd"/>{{self-published source|date=December 2021}}  The Army positioned field Artillery directly adjacent to the rail lines so that the 732nd delivered ammo directly to the guns.<ref name="732nd"/> The 757th Railroad Shop Battalion, sponsored by the [[Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad]], set up operations at [[Cherbourg]]. The [[Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway]] sponsored the 714th ROB in the [[Territory of Alaska]].

In 1944 the [[Military Intelligence Service Language School]] (MISLS) for [[Japanese language education in the United States|Japanese language]] had outgrown its facilities at [[Camp Savage]] and it relocated to Fort Snelling. With the move the curriculum was expanded with Chinese. 
It had 125 classrooms, 160 instructors, and 3000 students. June 1946 would see the fort's 21st and last commencement at the school. The War Department constructed scores of buildings at the fort for housing and teaching during the war.<ref name="MHS" /><ref name="bluff" /> The language school was relocated to [[Monterey, California]], in June 1946.<ref>Yamashita, Jeffrey T. [http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Fort%20Snelling/ "Fort Snelling"] ''Densho Encyclopedia''. Retrieved on July 3, 2014.</ref>

In 1943 the navy opened an air station on the north side of Wold-Chamberlain Field that existed until 1970. That area is now used by reserve units and the [[Minnesota Air National Guard]]. WWII Fort Snelling facilities covered 1,521 acres at war's end.

=== Post-war 20th century ===
The War Department decommissioned Fort Snelling a second time on 14 October 1946. Various federal agencies were allowed to request land parcels from the land that made up Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory. Since the army departed, the majority of the structures fell into disrepair. In 1960, the fort itself was listed as a [[National Historic Landmark]], citing its importance as the first major military post in the region, and its later history in the development of the United States Army.<ref name="nhlsum" /><ref name="nrhpinv">{{cite web |url={{NHLS url|id=66000401}} |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Fort Snelling |author=Marilynn Larew |format=PDF |date=March 15, 1978 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=2009-06-21 }} and {{NHLS url|id=66000401|title=Accompanying 29 images, including photos from late-1880s to 1977.|photos=y}}&nbsp;{{small|(6.55&nbsp;MB)}}</ref>

Many acres of fort land have been lost to roads. Construction of the [[Mendota Bridge]] ran a [[state highway]] across old fort land. More fort land was lost when an [[Interstate 494]] [[Interchange (road)|interchange]] was added as well as access roads to the International Airport, National Cemetery, VA Hospital and bridge into St. Paul.

In 1963 Fort Snelling became headquarters of [[United States Army Reserve]] [[205th Infantry Brigade (United States)|205th Infantry Brigade]], that had units throughout the upper Midwest. In 1994 that ended as a part of force-structure eliminations.

[[Image:Fort Snelling Complex.jpg|thumb|Fort Snelling Administration Building on the Upper Post, built 1878]]

The fort has been reconstructed to replicate its original appearance starting in 1965.<ref name="RoFS">Reconstructing old Fort Snelling, Loren Johnson. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Mn [http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/42/v42i03p082-098.pdf]</ref> Time and use had been hard on the original fort. The walls, barracks and buildings had been removed. There was archaeological work done at the site in 1957–1958 and again in 1966–1967.<ref name="RoFS"/> At that time all that remained of the original fort were the round and hexagonal towers. State [[archaeologists]] located the foundations of all that had been demolished allowing them to pin point the structures they reconstructed. The [[Minnesota Historical Society]] has since made the original walled fort or "Lower Post" into an interactive interpretive center. It has been staffed from spring to early fall with personnel attired in period costumes. Although restoring the original fort assured its survival, many of the buildings constructed later, composing the "Upper Post", suffered serious disrepair and neglect. Many of them have been demolished.

=== 21st century ===
In May 2006, the [[National Trust for Historic Preservation]] added Upper Post of Fort Snelling to its list of "America's Most Endangered Places". Some restoration on historic Fort Snelling continues. Crews removed the flagpole from the iconic round tower and installed it in the ground, a change since its opening as a historic fort.