Editing Fort Snelling (section)

===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>