Editing Fort Snelling (section)

=== 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>