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 FORT SMELLING, 
 
 MINNESOTA, 
 
 WHILE IN COMMAND OF COL. JOSIAH SNELLING, 
 FIFTH INFANTRY. 
 
 Bv REV. EDWARD D. NEILL, D. D. 
 
 Kcpri.ite.l iVc.m Machine of Western Histokv 
 1888. 
 
9 v., '01 
 
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 Fort Snelling, Minnesota 
 
 WHILE IN COMMAND OF COLONEL JOSIAH SNELLING, 
 FIFTH INFANTRY. 
 
 BEFORE the organization of the 
 territory of Minnesota in 1849, 
 Fort Snelling was the sole nucleus 
 of civilization in the Valley of the Upper 
 Mississippi, beyond the mouth of the 
 Wisconsin river. Here every scientific 
 explorer, adventurous trader and Chris- 
 tian missionary tarried a little while 
 before entering a wilderness only occu- 
 pied by warring savages. 
 
 Beautifully located on a bold promon- 
 tory at the junction of the Mississippi and 
 Minnesota rivers, its picturesque ap- 
 pearance has frequently been sketched 
 by the artist. Among its commandants 
 have been some of the most efficient 
 officers of the United States army. 
 
 The brave lieutenant, subsequently 
 general, Zebulon M . Pike,*who was killed 
 
 * Z. M. Pike was the son of Captain Pilie of the 
 War of the Revolution. He was born in January, 
 1779, at South Trenton, New Jersey. In March, 
 1799, he was second Heutenant of Second infantry, 
 and at this time first Heutenant of First regiment ; 
 captain, August, 1809. Major Sixth infantry. May, 
 1808 ; colonel Fourth, December, 1809 ; colonel 
 Fifteenth, July, 1812; brigadier-general, March, 
 1813. Killed April 27, 1813, at York, Canada. 
 
 during the last war with Great Britain, 
 was the first American officer who visited 
 the region, and on the island in front of 
 the fort, which appropriately bears his 
 name, under orders from his superior, 
 General Wilkinson, onjthe twenty-second 
 of September, 1S05, held a council with 
 the Sioux, informed them that the Span- 
 iards had ceded to the United States 
 the territory of Louisiana in which they 
 dwelt, and that he had visited them to 
 secure a piece of land where the Presi- 
 dent could send officers'and soldiers who 
 would protect them from the wrongs 
 of traders andthe attacks of their Indian 
 foes. As a result of the conference, an 
 agreement was signed the next day by 
 which the Sioux, for a certain sum, con- 
 veyed to the United States, for the 
 establishment of military posts, nine 
 miles square at the mouth of St. Croix ; 
 also, from below the confluence of the 
 Mississippi and St. Peter's, now Minne- 
 sota river, up the Mississippi, to include 
 the Falls of St. Anthony, extending nine 
 miles on each side of the river. 
 
 At that time British traders in the 
 
 •". 
 
2 
 
 FORT SN ELLIN G, MINNESOTA. 
 
 employ of the Northwest Company of 
 Montreal had posts at Sandy lake, 
 Leech lake and other points ; and from 
 a staff at each point floated the flag of 
 Great Britain. Soon after Pike's visit 
 difficulties arose with Great Britain, 
 and the region, although owned by the 
 United States, was under the complete 
 control of foreigners. 
 
 When war was declared, the traders 
 fought against the United States, and 
 the Sioux chief, Petit Corbeau, whose vil- 
 lage was at the great marsh, now become 
 a suburb of the city of St. Paul, was 
 active against the Americans, although 
 his name was attached to the treaty by 
 which the land upon which Fort Snelling 
 is situated was granted. Joseph Renville, 
 who had been Pike's interpreter, was 
 also found upon the side of the enemy, 
 soliciting allies for the Sioux. Captain 
 T. G. Anderson, in command of British 
 troops in September, 1814, in his jour- 
 nal, under date of the twenty-eighth of 
 September, mentioned that, at eleven 
 o'clock in the morning. Petit Corbeau, 
 the Sioux chief, had arrived with one 
 hundred young men and given assurance 
 of his fidelity to the British, and promised 
 that with his warriors heVould extermi- 
 nate all Indians who adhered to the 
 Americans. 
 
 Peace was declared in 1815 between 
 Great Britain and the United States, and 
 and in 1817 Major Stephen H. Long,* 
 
 * Stephen Harriman Long, born at Hopkinton, 
 New Hampshire, in 1784. and in i8og graduated at 
 Dartmouth. For a period he was a teaciier. and in 
 1814 entered the army as second lieutenant of en- 
 gineers. Major in 1816, and in 1823 commanded 
 an expedition to the I.al<e of the Woods, by way 
 of Fort SnelHng. Brevet lieutenant-colonel. 1826, 
 and major of topographical engineers, and in 1861 
 the chief, with rank of colonel. In 1863 he was 
 retired and d'ed at Alton, Illinois. 
 
 topographical engineer of the army, in a 
 six-oared skiff visited the site which Pike 
 had obtained for military purposes. He 
 arrived on the sixteenth of July, and in 
 his journal, first published by the Min- 
 nesota Historical society, writes of " a 
 high point of land elevated about one 
 hundred and twenty feet above the 
 water and fronting immediately on the 
 Mississippi. The point is formed by 
 the bluffs of the two rivers intercepting 
 each other. A military work of con- 
 siderable magnitude might be con- 
 structed on the point." 
 
 Never had so much bustle been seen 
 among the voyagcurs and half-breeds at 
 Prairie du Chien as in the summer of 
 1819, caused by the hamlet being a 
 temporary resting place for an expedi- 
 tion to build a military post at the site 
 selected by Pike and described by 
 Long. 
 
 Major-General Jacob Brown, as early 
 as the tenth of February, 1819, issued 
 the following order : 
 
 Major-General Macomb, commander of the Fifth 
 Military department, will, without delay, concentrate 
 at Detroit the Fifth regiment of infantry, excepting 
 the recruits otherwise directed by the general order 
 herewith transmitted. As soon as the navigation 
 of the lakes will admit, he will cause the regiment 
 to be transported to Fort Howard ; from thence by 
 way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers to Prairie du 
 Chien, and after detaching a sufficient number of 
 companies to (garrison Forts Crawford and Arm- 
 strong, the remainder will proceed to the mouth of 
 the River St. Peter's, where they will establish a post, 
 at which the headquarters of the regiment will be 
 located. The regiment, previous to its departure, 
 will receive the necessary supplies of clothing, pro- 
 visions, arms and ammunition. Immediate appli- 
 cation will be made to Rrig.idier-General Jesup, 
 quartermaster-general, for funds necessary to exe- 
 cute the movements required by this order. 
 
 On the thirteenth of April General 
 
FORT SNELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 Macomb ordered Colonel Iveavenworth,* 
 without delay, to prepare his regiment 
 to move to the new post on the Upper 
 Mississippi. 
 
 At this period Prairie du Chien was 
 only a rendezvous for traders, where 
 their wives, generally Indian women or 
 half-breeds, purchased after the Indian 
 method, resided while they were at 
 their remote posts during the winter 
 months, trading for furs. There were 
 forty or fifty houses scattered over the 
 prairie above the junction of the Wis- 
 consin and Mississippi rivers. Almost 
 all were built by planting posts in the 
 
 * Henry Leavenworth, born in 1783, in Connecticut, 
 was a lawyer in early life, at Delhi, New York. In 
 1813 he became a major in the army and distinguished 
 himself in 1814 at the battles of Chippewa and Niag- 
 ara Falls. At the latter he was severely wounded. 
 In 1818 he was made lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth 
 infantry, and in December, 1825, colonel of the Third 
 infantry. He was the founder of Fort Leavenworth. 
 On July 21, 1834, he died at Cross Timbers, in tlie 
 Southwestern territory. At a meeting of the otificers 
 stationed at Fort Jesup, Louisiana, on the eleventh 
 day of August, 1834, resolutions were passed express- 
 ive of their high esteem for the deceased, sympathy 
 with the widow and orphan daughter, and a desire 
 that the officers at Fort Towson would co-operate in 
 removing his remains to Delhi, New York, and in 
 erecting a monument. In the cemetery of this town, 
 where he had, when young, been a lawyer, is a 
 broken marble column ; on one side of the pedestal 
 is the inscription : " In memory of Henry Leaven- 
 worth, Colonel of the Third United States Infantry 
 and Brigadier-General in Army." 
 
 On the second side ; " Born at New Haven, Con- 
 necticut, December 10, 1783. Died in the service of 
 his country near the False Washita, July 21, 1834." 
 
 On third side : "For his civic virtues his tellow. 
 citizens of Delaware county honored him with a 
 seat in the legislature of New York. The fields of 
 Chippewa, Niagara, Arickaree, established his fame. " 
 
 On fourth side : " .As a testimonial to his public 
 and private worth, his regiment have erected this 
 monument." 
 
 ground with grooves, so that the sides 
 tfould be filled with split timber or 
 round poles and then plastered over 
 with mud, whitewashed, and the roof of 
 bark, or shingles split from oak logs. 
 
 The leading trader there was a 
 Scotchman named James Aird,f who for 
 many years had traded with the Siou.x 
 of Minnesota, while the most reckless 
 was a Canadian Frenchman, Joseph 
 Rolette, who was ever a law unto him- 
 self. He claimed to have been as a boy 
 intended for the Roman Catholic priest- 
 hood, but came into the country as the 
 clerk of Murdoch Cameron, a trader 
 who died and was buried on the banks 
 of the Minnesota river. Among the 
 soldiery who attacked, in 1814, the 
 American stockade at this point appear 
 the names of Colin Campbell, Louis 
 Provencalle, J. B. Faribault, Augustine 
 Rocque, Michael Brisbois and Joseph 
 Rolette. The last acted as contractor 
 and sutler. Among the military orders 
 which have been preserved he is cen- 
 sured for selling rum to the troops — a 
 business which he had learned while 
 trading with the Indians. The earliest 
 Anglo-American settler was Henry M. 
 Fisher, with whom Lieutenant Z. M. 
 Pike, in 1805, had interviews, and his 
 beautiful young daughter became the 
 last wife of Rolette. J 
 
 In June, 1818, one Willard Keyes 
 opened a school at Prairie du Chien, and 
 had about thirty scholars, and boarded 
 
 + James Aird became the first agent of the Ameri- 
 can Fur company, and in February, 1821, died at 
 Prairie du Chien. 
 
 X Rolette died in 1841, and his widow married a 
 former clerk of her husband, Hercules L. Dousman. 
 
FORT SMELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 with J. B. Faribault and his wife 
 Pelagic, a mixed blood. 
 
 Towards the close of June troops 
 of the Fifth regiment began to arrive 
 for the contemplated movement to the 
 Upper Mississippi. From week to week 
 boats loaded with ordnance, provisions 
 and other military supplits, made their 
 appearance. On the fifth of July 
 Major Thomas Forsyth-'- came up from 
 St. Louis in a keel-boat with goods 
 valued at two thousand dollars to be 
 distributed among the Sioux in accord- 
 ance with the agreement made by Lieu- 
 tenant Z. M. Pike fourteen years before. 
 
 The wives of Captain Gooding and 
 of Lieutenant Nathan Clarkf had 
 dared the hardships of the wildernessand 
 accompanied their husbands. Char- 
 lotte Clark was the daughter of Thomas 
 Seymour, a lawyer in Hartford, Con- 
 necticut, accustomed to the best people 
 and influences of that old place, and 
 her grandmother was the sister of 
 Colonel William Ledyard, the heroic 
 commander who lost his life at Fort 
 Griswold during the War of the Revo- 
 lution, and to whose memory a monu- 
 ment stands at New London, Connecti- 
 cut. 
 
 * Thomas Forsyth was born in 1771 at Detroit. 
 His father, an Irishman, had served under Wolf at 
 Quebec in 1759. As early as 1798 Thomas Forsyth 
 was an Indian trader. In 1S12 he was acting Indian 
 agent at Peoria. Illinois. He was for a period agent 
 for the Sauks and Fo.xcs, and died October 29, 1833, 
 at St Louis, Missouri. 
 
 •f- Nathan Cl.irk, a native of Connecticut, served 
 in tlie War of 1812-15. He was commissioned May, 
 iBtS, second lieutenant; March, 1817. first lieuten- 
 ant ; assistant commissary of subsistence, March, 
 1819 ; captain in June, 1824, and died in February, 
 1836, at Fort Winnebago. 
 
 Scarcely had the troops reached the 
 mouth of the Ouisconsin river, as Wis- 
 consin was then written, when Mrs. 
 Clark gave birth to a girl. The officers 
 were attached to the gentle and refined 
 wife who had maintained cheerfulness 
 amid discouragements, and learning that 
 the babe's first name was to be that of 
 its mother, Charlotte, asked to give her 
 a middle name, Ouisconsin, which was 
 accepted. The babe still lives, a resi- 
 dent of the city of Minneapolis, the 
 honored wife of a modest soldier, a 
 graduate of West Point, who com- 
 manded the Second Minnesota regi- 
 ment of volunteers in the successful 
 charge at Mill Springs, Kentucky, dur- 
 ing the War for the Union, and was 
 made brigadier-general and major-gen- 
 eral of volunteers — Horatio P. Van 
 Cleve.| 
 
 It was not until Sunday, the eighth 
 of August, that Colonel Leavenworth 
 was prepared to proceed to the mouth 
 of the Minnesota, or St. Peter river, as 
 it was then called. Never had so large 
 a flotilla left Prairie du Chien. There 
 were the colonel's barge, two large keel- 
 boats loaded with military stores, and 
 fourteen bateaux, and the entire force 
 consisted of ninety-eight soldiers, about 
 twenty men and the officers. When 
 
 t H. P. Van Cleve, son of John Van Cleve, a 
 physician, was born in 1809 at Princeton, New 
 Jersey. For a time he was a student at Princeton, 
 and then entered West Point in 1827 ; second 
 lieutenant in Fifth infantry, 1831. Resigned in 1836 
 and became a civil engineer. In 1861 was a 
 resident of Minnesota and commissioned as colonel 
 of Second Minnesota volunteers. In 1862 was 
 brigadier-general, and wounded at battle of Stone 
 river. In 1865 major-general of volunteers and is 
 living, June, 1888, at Minneapolis, Minnesota. 
 
FORT SMELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 they reached the Upper Iowa river on 
 the following Tuesday, they found at 
 its mouth a distinguished Sioux chief, 
 who had remained faithful to the Ameri- 
 cans, while other chiefs of his tribe had 
 proved faithless. He had but one eye, 
 and was one of the signers of the 
 agreement made in 1805 for a military 
 site by Lieutenant Pike. His Indian 
 name was Tah-mah-hah, of Red Wing's 
 band ; by the French he was called 
 L'Orignal Leve, the Rising Moose. He 
 was on the American gunboat Governor 
 C/(7r/^f during the fight with the British. 
 After the American Fort Shelby at 
 Prairie du Chien had, in 1814, sur- 
 rendered, he came in this boat to St. 
 Louis, and was employed to ascend the 
 Missouri as far as the James river, and 
 then visit the Sioux and enlist them in 
 favor of the United States. In time he 
 again reached Prairie du Chien, and 
 was arrested by Dickson, a British 
 officer, and placed in confinement. He 
 was at length liberated, and passed the 
 winter of 1815 with his people. In 
 May, 1815, the British evacuated their 
 post at Prairie du Chien and fired the 
 fort with an American flag flying, but 
 this faithful Sioux, who happened to be 
 there, rushed in and saved the colors 
 from burning. He died in Minnesota 
 in 1863, more than eighty years of age, 
 and it was with ^ride he used to exhibit 
 the following certificate,* given by 
 Governor William Clarkef of Missouri, 
 supeiintendent of Indian affairs : 
 
 * The original is in the Minnesota Historical so- 
 ciety rooms at the capital, St. Paul. 
 
 f William Clarke, born in Virginia in 1770, and by 
 
 In consideration of the fidelity, zeal and attach- 
 ment testified by Tar-mah-hah of the Red Wing's 
 band of Sioux to the government of the United 
 States, and by virtue of the power and authority in 
 me vested, do hereby confirm the said Tar-mah-hah 
 as chief in said band of Sioux aforesaid, having 
 bestowed on him the small-sized medal, wishing all 
 and singular the Indians, inhabitants thereof, to obey 
 him as a chief, and the officers and others in the 
 service of the United States to treat him accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 On the twenty-first of August Colonel 
 Leavenworth reached the village of the 
 Little Crow at the marsh on the east 
 side of the Mississippi, now a suburb 
 of the city of St. Paul, who had, in 
 the last war with Great Britain, been 
 conspicuous in hostility toward all 
 citizens of the United States. He ac- 
 knowledged the cession of the land for 
 a military post to Lieutenant Pike and 
 received a present. On Monday, the 
 twenty-third of August, all of the boats 
 of the expedition reached the junction 
 of the Mississippi and Minnesota 
 rivers, and the next day Colonel Leaven- 
 worth selected for a cantonment a 
 place on the lower bank of the Min- 
 nesota, not far from the railroad bridge, 
 in the hamlet of Mendota. In about 
 a week some officers came up in boats 
 with one hundred and twenty more 
 soldiers. 
 
 On Saturday, the twenty-eighth of 
 August, a party inade a visit to the 
 Falls of St. Anthony in one of the 
 boats. It was composed of Colonel 
 
 his friend, President Jefferson, made second lieuten- 
 ant of artillery. In 1804, with Captain Lewis, went 
 on an expedition to the Pacific ocean. In 1813 ap- 
 pointed governor of Missouri territory ; in 1822 
 superintendent of Indian affairs. Died in 1838. 
 
6 
 
 FORT SMELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 Leavenworth, Major Vose,* Surgeon 
 Purcell/j" Lieutenant Clark, the wife of 
 Captain GoodingJ and Major Thomas 
 Forsyth of the Indian department. 
 The boat could only advance within 
 one mile of the falls, owing to the 
 rapids, and from thence they walked. 
 The water being low, some of the com- 
 pany walked from the west side over 
 the ledge to the island dividing the 
 falls, but found the water on the other 
 side of the island too deep to reach 
 the northeast bank of the river. Early 
 in September one hundred and twenty- 
 nine soldiers arrived at the cantonment. 
 ^Vhile huts were being erected for 
 the troops, the wife of Lieutenant 
 Clark, with her young infant, lived on 
 a keel-boat, but in a few weeks moved 
 into a log cabin daubed with clay. 
 While the first winter was very severe, 
 the officers were active and cheerful, 
 although the troops suffered from 
 scurvy. Ex-Governor H. H. Sibley, 
 who came to Mendota in 1834 as agent 
 for the American Fur company, nien- 
 
 *Josiah H. Vose, born in Massachusetts, and in 
 the War of 1812-15. Captain of Fifth infantry, 
 1815; mnjor, December 31, 1820; lieutenant- 
 colonel of the Third infantry, 1830 ; colonel of 
 Fourth infantry, 1832 ; died July 15, 1845, at New 
 Orleans barracks. 
 
 \ Edward Purcell was a Virginian, and during the 
 War of 1812-15 was hospital surgeon ; April, 1818. 
 surgeon of the Fifth infantry, and died at Fort 
 Snelling on eleventh of January, 1825. 
 
 J George Gooding, born in Massachusetts, was, in 
 1808, an ensign of Fourth infantry; wounded 
 November 7, i8ir, in battle of Tippecanoe; first 
 lieutenant Fifth infantry, 1815 ; captain, December, 
 1820 ; retired under the law in June, 1821 ; sutler 
 at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, 1821 to 1827, 
 where he died. His widow married a Mr. Johnson 
 and went to St. Louis. 
 
 tions that this disease raged so violently 
 that garrison duty was for a few days 
 suspended, the soldiers who were well 
 being required as nurses for the sick. 
 Some of those who went to bed in fair 
 health were found dead the next morn- 
 ing, and one who was relieved from his 
 turn of sentinel duty and stretched 
 himself upon the bench in the guard- 
 room, four hours later was discovered 
 to be without life. 
 
 Colonel Leavenworth was distressed 
 by the condition of the camp, sup- 
 posed to have been produced by the 
 agents of contractors drawing the brine 
 from the pork barrels to lighten the 
 load, and refilling with fresh water. 
 He sent to Prairie du Chien for vinegar 
 and had the country searched for spruce 
 and other antiscorbutics. 
 
 The post school-master, during the 
 first winter, was John Marsh, said to 
 have been a college graduate, and who 
 soon acquired the Sioux language. He 
 became tired of the position of post 
 school-teacher, and making the ac- 
 quaintance of Lewis Cass, then gov- 
 ernor of Michigan, he was first em- 
 ployed by him because of his knowledge 
 of Indian language, and in time was 
 made a justice of the peace and sub- 
 Indian agent at Prairie du Chien. 
 During the Black Hawk war he acted 
 as interpreter for the Sioux. 
 
 The first sutler was named Devotion. 
 He arrived toward the close of 18 19 at 
 Mud Hen island, the Isle Pelee, above 
 Lake Pepin, where Pierre Le Sueur, in 
 1695, had erected a fort, and where J. 
 B. Faribault was then trading with the 
 Sioux Indians. A few miles above. 
 
Port smelling, Minnesota. 
 
 where the city of Hastings is now 
 built, the sutler found a keel-boat of 
 military supplies in charge of Lieu- 
 tenant Oliver,* which had been de- 
 tained by the ice and guarded by a few 
 soldiers. The clerk of the sutler was 
 Philander Prescott, the son of a 
 physician, born at Phelpstown, Ontario 
 county, New York, and then about 
 eighteen years of age. He remained 
 during his life-time more or less identi- 
 fied with Fort Snelling, and in 1863, at 
 the time of the Sioux uprising, although 
 his children had a Sioux mother, was 
 scalped. 
 
 In connection with the establishment 
 of a military post, the United States 
 created the first agency for the Sioux. 
 In connection with the fort the govern- 
 ment established the first Indian agency 
 in the Valley of the Upper Mississippi. 
 The first agent was Lawrence Taliaferro, 
 born in 1794 in Prince William county, 
 Virginia. At the declaration of war 
 against Great Britain in 1812, with four 
 of his brothers, he entered the army, 
 and was commissioned as lieutenant of 
 the Thirty-fifth United States infantry. 
 At the siege of Fort Erie and at 
 Sackett's Harbor he behaved well, and 
 when the war ended was retained as 
 first lieutenant in Third infantry. In 
 1816 he was at Fort Dearborn, now in 
 the centre of the city of Chicago. 
 While on furlough, President Monroe, 
 who was his friend, appointed him 
 Indian agent. He proved one of the 
 most efficient officers of the Indian de- 
 
 * William G. Oliver of Pennsylvania served in tlie 
 War of i8r2-i5. Second lieutenant in Fifth in- 
 fantry in 1818, and left the army in 1821. 
 
 partment. His commission was dated 
 March 27, 1819, and he remained at 
 Fort Snelling and was retained until 
 1840 by successive Presidents, when, 
 though appointed for the sixth term, he 
 declined longer service. 
 
 The first winter the soldiers were 
 occupied in clearing the site of the pro- 
 posed fortification on the upper bank 
 of the Minnesota river, and in cutting 
 logs in the pine forests of the Valley of 
 Rum river above the Falls of St. An- 
 thony, which were brought down and 
 used in the erection of temporary bar- 
 racks. During the first year the re- 
 lations between the Indian agent and 
 Colonel Leavenworth were not clearly 
 defined, and there was some little fric- 
 tion, as the following note from Major 
 Taliaferro indicates, written in July, 
 1820: 
 
 As it is now understood that I am agent for Indian 
 affairs in this country, and you are about to leave 
 the Upper Mississippi, in all probability, in the course 
 of a month or two, I beg leave to suggest, for the 
 sake of a general understanding with the Indian 
 tribes of this country, that any medals you may 
 possess, by being turned over to me, ceases to be a 
 topic of remark among the different Indian tribes 
 under my direction. I will pass to you any voucher 
 that may be required, and I beg leave to observe 
 that my progress in influence is much injured in 
 consequence of this frequent intercourse with the 
 government. 
 
 In May, 1820, the soldiers left the 
 cantonment at Mendota, where they 
 had suffered so much from scurvy, and 
 crossing the Minnesota, encamped near 
 a full, clear spring of water, upon the 
 wide, elevated prairie, just beyond the 
 site of the fort, which was designated 
 as Camp Cold Water. The Indian 
 agency for a time remained at the old 
 cantonment. 
 
s 
 
 FORT SN ELLIN G, MINNESOTA. 
 
 There was a surprise in camp on the 
 thirtieth of July, 1820, by the unex- 
 pected arrival of Governor Lewis Cass 
 of Michigan and party in birch bark 
 canoes, having reached the Mississippi 
 by way of Lake Superior and Sandy 
 lake and then descended. The officers 
 hunted up their uniforms and dusted 
 them, in order that they might pay a 
 visit of respect, and the following note 
 of the adjutant of the post, which has 
 been preserved, indicates the occasion : 
 
 July 30. 1820. 
 Sir : — General Cass is at this place and wishes to 
 see the Indian agent. I send you a coat. 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 P. R. Green,* Adjutant. 
 Mr. Taliaferro. 
 
 An unpleasant affair occurred about 
 this time, which led the agent to write on 
 the third of August to Colonel Leaven- 
 worth : 
 
 His E.'fcellency Governor Cass, during his visit to 
 this post, remavlced to me that the Indians in this 
 quarter were spoiled, and at the same time said they 
 should not be permitted to enter the camp. An 
 unpleasant affair has lately taken place— 1 mean the 
 stabbing of the old chief, Mahgossan, by his com- 
 rade. This was caused, doubtless, by an anxiety to 
 obtain the chief's whiskey. I beg, therefore, that no 
 whiskey whatever be given to any Indian, unless it 
 be through their proper agent. While an overplus 
 of whiskey thwarts the beneficent and humane policy 
 of the government, it entails misery upon the Indians 
 and endangers their lives. 
 
 During the first year of the military 
 occupation, two hundred and eighty- 
 three Ojibways, or Chippeways, in- 
 cluding women and children, visited 
 the post, and about two thousand Sioux, 
 and the Indian agent distributed among 
 
 * Piatt R. Green of Pennsylvania was second lieu- 
 tenant of the Fifth infantry. May, 1815 ; first lieu- 
 tenant March, 1820, and died June 30, 1828, at Jeffer- 
 son barracks, Missouri. 
 
 them one hundred and forty-one gal- 
 lons of " milk," as whiskey was called. 
 
 In August Josiah Snelling,t who had 
 been recently .promoted to the colon- 
 elcy of the Fifth regiment, arrived and 
 relieved Leavenworth. On the tenth 
 of September, under his efficient direc- 
 tion, the corner-stone of the first edifice 
 was laid with appropriate ceremonies. 
 In digging the foundation for the cir- 
 cular stone battery, which, until re- 
 cently, stood in rear of the command- 
 ing officer's quarters, at the foot of 
 a small oak tree, a bottle was picked up 
 and placed in the hands of Colonel 
 Snelling, in which had been placed, in 
 1805, by Lieutenant Pike, a copy in 
 writing of the agreement by which the 
 Sioux ceded the land to the United 
 States. 
 
 The wife of Captain Snelling accom- 
 panied him, making the fourth lady in 
 the garrison, and this month her fifth 
 child was born, which, after living thir- 
 teen months, expired. The stone which 
 marks the resting-place of the remains 
 of the little one may yet be seen in the 
 military grave-yard. During the sum- 
 mer of 1820 a party of Sisseton Sioux, 
 on [the banks of the Missouri river, 
 killed a Canadian, Joseph Andrews, and 
 Isadore Poupon, half-breed, both in the 
 employ of the American Fur company. 
 As soon as Agent Taliaferro was in- 
 
 ■^ Josiah Snelling, jr., born in 1782 in Massachu- 
 setts : was in 1808 first lieutenant Fourth infantry ; 
 captain in June, 1809, and in 1811 at battle of Tippe- 
 canoe. In battle at Brownstown in 1812, and for dis- 
 tinguished service made brevet major. In May, 1815, 
 he was retained as lieutenant-colonel, and on June i, 
 1819, commissioned as colonel of Fifth infantry. He 
 died on August 20, 1828, in Washington city. 
 
FORT SNELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 formed, he sent a young Indian to the 
 Sisseton and Wahpayton Sioux, and in- 
 formed the chiefs that he wished them 
 to visit him. They acceded to the re- 
 quest, and a council was held on the 
 twenty-ninth of September, in the pres- 
 ence of Colonel Snelling. The Indians 
 were informed that two of their number 
 would be detained as hostages until the 
 murderers were delivered, which was 
 displeasing. 
 
 Colin Campbell, the interpreter,* was 
 also sent to Big Stone lake to secure the 
 murderers if possible. The result of the 
 visit is seen in the following interesting 
 letter of Colonel Snelling to the secre- 
 tary of war : 
 
 Cantonment, St. Peter's, 1 
 November 13, 1820. f 
 
 Sir : — When I had the honor to address you on 
 the tenth, for the di5po5ition then manifested by 
 the Sussitongs, I had no hope of obtaining the sur- 
 render of the murderers of our people on the Mts- 
 souri, but, contrary to my e,\pectation, one of the 
 murderers and an old chief, self-devoted, in the 
 place of his son, was voluntarily brought in and 
 delivered up yesterday. 
 
 The ceremony of delivery was conducted with 
 much solemnity. A procession was formed at some 
 distance from the garrison, and marched to the 
 centre of our parade. It was preceded by a Sus- 
 sitong bearing the British flag ; the murderer and 
 devoted chief followed with their arms pinioned, 
 and large splinters of wood thrust through them 
 above the elbows, to indicate, as I understood, their 
 contempt of pain and death. 
 
 The relations and friends followed, and on the 
 w.ay, joined them in singing their death-song. 
 When they arrived in front of the guard, the British 
 flag was laid on a fire prepared for the occasion 
 and consumed ; the murderer gave up his medal 
 and both the prisoners were surrendered. 
 
 The old chief I have detained as a hostage, the 
 murderer I have sent to St. Lewis under a proper 
 
 • Colin, Scott and Duncan Campbell, children of 
 an old trader by an Indian woman, were all em- 
 ployed at different times as interpreters. 
 
 guard for trial, presuming it is a course you will ap- 
 prove. 
 
 I am much indebted to Mr. Colin Campbell, the 
 interpreter, for his great exertions in bringing this 
 affair to a speedy issue. The delivery of the mur- 
 derer is solely to be attributed to his influence over 
 the Sussitongs. 
 
 The Indian agent contemplating a 
 visit to Washington with some Sioux 
 chiefs, the following letter, signed by 
 the officers of the post, was drawn up 
 by Colonel Snelling. It reads : 
 
 In justice to Lawrence Taliaferro, esq., Indian 
 agent at this post, we, the undersigned officers of 
 the Fifth regiment, here stationed, have presented 
 him this paper as a token not only of our individual 
 respect and esteem, but as an entire approval of his 
 conduct and deportment as a public agent m this 
 quarter. 
 
 Given at .St. Peter, this fourth day of October, 1820. 
 
 J. Snelling. colonel Fifth infantry; N. Clark, 
 lieutenant ; S. Burbank, a battalion major ; Joseph 
 Hare, i5 lieutenant; David Perry ,t' captain; Ed- 
 ward Purcell, surgeon ; G. Gooding, battalion cap- 
 tain ; P. R. Green, lieutenant adjutant ; J. Plymp- 
 ton,rf lieutenant; W. G. Camp, e lieutenant- 
 
 a Sullivan Burbank was born in Massachusetts, 
 and in 1800 was a sergeant-major ; was captain at 
 Niagara Falls in July, 1814, and severely wounded. 
 After the war, became major Fifth infantry ; lieu- 
 tenant-colonel in 1836, and in 1839 resigned. 
 
 /'Joseph Hare of Pennsylvania, second lieutenant 
 of Fifth infantry in 1820, and under an act of con- 
 gress reducing the army in June, i82r, left the service. 
 
 c David Perry of Massachusetts was in the War of 
 i8i2-r8i5. and captain of Fifth infantry in r8r5. 
 In April, 1822, he resigned. 
 
 (f Joseph Plympton was born in 1787 at Sudbury, 
 Massachusetts, and served in War of i8i2-t5. He 
 was first lieutenant of Fifth infantry in May, 1815 ; 
 captain in June, 1821 ; major, 1840 ; commanded 
 troops in fight with Seminole Indians, Florida, in 
 January, 1842 ; lieutenant-colonel of Seventh in- 
 fantry, 1846, and led his regiment at Cerro Gordo 
 and Contreras, Mexico ; colonel, 1853, and died in 
 i860 on Staten Island. 
 
 e William G. Camp of Ohio was wounded at 
 Niagara Falls in 1814, and in February, i8t8, was 
 made second lieutenant of Fifth infantry, under the 
 Reduction act ; left the service in June, 1821. 
 
10 
 
 PORT SPELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 quartermaster ; R. A. McCabe,/ lieutenant ; W. 
 Wilkins,^ lieutenant. 
 
 The daughter of Captain Clark, Mrs. 
 H. P. Van Cleve, writes that in 182 1 
 the fort was sulificiently finished to be 
 occupied by the troops, and that her 
 father's quarters were next beyond the 
 steps leading to the commissary's stores, 
 and that there, in that year, her sister 
 Juliet was born. Afterwards Major Gar- 
 land and Captain Clark were allowed 
 to build two stone residences beyond 
 the gates, which in later years were oc- 
 cupied by the Indian agent and inter- 
 preter, but now destroyed. 
 
 Early in August a young and intelli- 
 gent mixed blood, Alexis Bailly — about 
 a quarter century afterwards a member 
 of the first legislature of Minnesota — 
 left the post with the first drove of 
 cattle for Lord Selkirk's settlement. 
 
 The next month a party of Sisseton 
 Sioux came to the post, and their 
 spokesman said to the agent : 
 
 We are glad to find your door open to-day, my 
 father. The Indians are Ime the wild dogs of the 
 prairie. When they stop at night, they lie down in 
 the open air and pursue their journey. I applied 
 for the other murderer of the white men of the 
 Missouri, but in bringing him down the fear of be- 
 ing hung induced him to stab and kill himself. 
 
 About the middle of October, in the 
 keel-boat Saucy Jack, Colonel Snelling, 
 
 /Robert A. McCabe of Pennsylvania was in the 
 War of 1812-15, and was second lieutenant of Fifth 
 infantry, May, 1815, and the next year first lieu- 
 tenant. In 1824 he was captain ; resigned in 1833, 
 and was appointed Indian agent and postmaster at 
 Fort Winnebago. From 1836 to 1845 he was 
 sutler to the troops on Mackinaw island, and 
 before r84S he died. 
 
 g Henry Wilkins of Pennsylvania left the service 
 in June, 1821, under the act of congress. 
 
 Major Taliaferro, Lieutenant Baxley* 
 and the wife of Captain Gooding de- 
 parted for] Prairie du Chien. Captain 
 Gooding, who had been wounded at 
 the battle of Tippecanoe, about this 
 time became the sutler at Fort Craw- 
 ford, Prairie du Chien. 
 
 The latter part of this year, Laidlaw, 
 superintendent of Lord Selkirk's farm,- 
 and Colonel Robert Dickson — also 
 spelled Dixon — arrived at the fort from 
 the Lake Winnipeg region, on their 
 way to Prairie du Chien. Dickson was 
 well educated, of courtly manners and 
 an agreeable companion, yet had con- 
 formed to the customs and dress of the 
 savages while living among them, and 
 by an Indian woman had a large family 
 of children. During the War of 1812- 
 15 he was the British superintendent of 
 Indian affairs, and led the Indian allies 
 against the Americans. Dickson came 
 back the next spring with a drove of 
 cattle for Selkirk's settlement, but his 
 cattle were scattered by the Sioux. 
 
 On the twenty-eighth of May, 1S21, 
 under the guidance of Joseph, the son 
 of Colonel Snelling, the great Yankton 
 chief, Wahnatah, came down from Lac- 
 qui-Parle on his first visit to the garri- 
 son. In a council held by the Indian 
 agent on the seventh of June, Red 
 Thunder, an old chief from the head- 
 waters of the Minnesota river, was 
 present, and supposed to be eighty 
 years old. 
 
 *Joseph M. Baxley of Maryland had been in the 
 War of 1812-15, and made second lie.itenant of 
 Fifth infantry in June, 1819 ; first lieutenant in 
 1824; captain in March, 1833, and in April, 1836, 
 he resigned. 
 
tfOkT SMELLING, MINNESOTA. 11 
 
 The great Ojibway chief of the Pilla- troops at that post, which you will deduct from the 
 
 ger band, Flat Mouth, did not pay his P''^^'™^"' '° ■""= "^'^^ f°'' """'■ ^^'^"'' ^"<^ •"''"'"'^ 
 
 over to you for issue ; 
 
 first visit to the agent and Colonel 
 
 r. ,1- .-1 ^1 . ^ • ii f A One pair buhr mill-stones $25011 
 
 bnelling until the twenty-ninth ot Au^ t-, ,.,.,. 
 
 ° •' 1 hree hundred and ei.^hty-seven pounds 
 
 gust, and more than a hundred of his piaster of Paris 2022 
 
 braves accompanied him. He said, " I Two dozen sickles 1800 
 
 came down to-day and you must not Total $28833 
 
 think hard of me that I came into your tt »i • t ^i, r t o 
 
 •' Upon the nineteenth of January, 1824, 
 
 house wearing a red coat. I have been hg ao-ain writes : 
 a long time acquainted with the British, 
 
 ,..,., T \- • 1. i ■■. ii- The mode suggested by Colonel Snellini; of fixine 
 
 but this day I have a wish to quit them. ., . , *^., , ' ^ „ <■ ■ , ^ , 
 
 •' ^ the price to be paid the troops for flour furnished by 
 
 Put something on me to make me your them, is deemed equitable and just. You will ac- 
 
 child." He gave up two British flags, cordingly pay for the flour $3.33 per barrel. 
 
 and received, among other presents, a Lieutenant William Ale.xander* was in 
 
 large American flag and four gallons of 18,3 seat with fourteen soldiers to mark 
 
 whiskey. a road to Prairie du Chien, on the west 
 
 A mill was erected at the Falls of St. gije of the Mississippi, and blaze the 
 
 Anthony in the autumn of 182 1, under trees. 
 
 the supervision of Lieutenant McCabe, As Colonel Snelling, on the night of 
 for sawing lumber, but in 1823 was the twentieth of September, 1822, was 
 altered so as to grind flour. It stood crossing the parade from the sutler's 
 where is now one of the great flour- store to his quarters, he was startled by 
 mills of the city of Minneapolis. The a meteor moving from northwest to 
 history of the first mill in Minnesota is southeast at an angle of about fifty de- 
 worthy of preservation. General Gib- grees above the horizon. It struck the 
 son, under date of August 5, 1S23, ground with a sound like a spent shell, 
 wrote to Lieutenant Clark, then com- He hurried to the sentinel at the corner 
 missary at the fort : of the store and found him agitated. 
 
 From a letter addressed by Colonel Snelling to He told the Colonel that a large ball of 
 
 the quartermaster-general, dated the second of April, firg had passed near him and disap- 
 
 l learned that a large quantity of wheat would be j ■ ..i i ..., i j .- .i i\ r- 
 
 . , , . T^, • , peared in the bottom-lands ol the Min- 
 
 raiscd this summer. The assistant commissary of ^ 
 
 subsistence at St. Louis has been instructed to for- nesota river. Other Sentinels confirmed 
 
 ward sickles and a pair of mill-stones to St. Peter's, his description ; but the next morning 
 
 If any flour is manufactured from the wheat raised, tj^g marshy land was examined, but 
 
 be pleased to let me know as early as practicable, . . , . 
 
 ., . , J J . .u ,-. r . J . .1- no traces of meteoric stone were dis- 
 
 that I may deduct the quantity manufactured at the 
 
 post from the quantity advertised to be contracted Covered. The thermometer at nine 
 
 for- o'clock that night was at fifty degrees ; 
 
 In another letter he writes : 7717^7 T7, ! 7^7 , 
 
 * William Alexander of lennessee was second 
 
 Below you will find the amount charged on the lieutenant in October, 1820 ; first lieulenant in 1B25 ; 
 
 books against the garrison at Fort St. Anthony for captain in February, 1836, and in October, 1838, 
 
 certain articles, and forwarded for the use of the died at St. Louis, Missouri. 
 
12 
 
 FORT SN ELLIN G, MINNESOTA. 
 
 wind from the northwest, light and fresh, 
 and the weather clear. 
 
 As the Mohammedans begin their era 
 from the hegira or flight of their prophet 
 to Medina, so the traders and voyageurs 
 of the Upper Mississippi computed 
 from the arrival of the first steamboat 
 at the fort. 
 
 During the winter of 1S23 Major 
 Taliaferro had been in Washington on 
 Indian business, and on his return in 
 March, while at a Pittsburgh hotel, 
 received a note from G. C. Beltrarni, a 
 tall, distinguished and well-educated 
 Italian exile, asking permission to travel 
 with him to the Indian country, which 
 was granted. 
 
 Arriving at St. Louis, they embarked 
 on the steamboat Virginia, which had 
 been built at Pittsburgh. The boat was 
 one hundred feet long, twenty-two in 
 width, drew six feet of water and was 
 commanded by Captain Crawford. 
 
 On the tenth of May, laden with 
 military supplies, it reached the mouth 
 of the St. Peter, now Minnesota river. 
 Among the passengers were Major 
 Biddle,* Lieutenant Russell, f Assistant 
 Surgeon Craig. J As the boat neared 
 the landing at the fort, on the tenth of 
 
 * Major Biddle of Pennsylvania, a brave officer in 
 the War of 1812-1815. Pay-master in August, 1820, 
 and in 1831 fell in a duel at St. Louis, Missouri. 
 
 + John B. F. Russell of Massachusetts, a cadet in 
 May, 1814 : second lieutenant. Fifth infantry. May, 
 1821 ; first lieutenant, November, 1821 ; captain 
 April, 1830; resigned in June, 1837. 
 
 X Presley H. Craig of Pennsylvania had been a 
 surgeon in War of 1812-1815 ; commissioned in May, 
 1821, as assistant surgeon ; in July, 1832, surgeon ; 
 medical director of General Zachary Taylor's army 
 in Mexico, 1846 to 1848. 
 
 May, the Sioux beheld it with speech- 
 less wonder, supposing it was some 
 enormous water-spirit coughing, puffing 
 out hot breath and splashing water in 
 every direction. When the plank was 
 thrown ashore and it began to blow off 
 steam, mothers, forgetting their children, 
 with streaming hair, sought hiding- 
 places, and warriors, renouncing their 
 stoicism, scampered away like affrighted 
 deer. On the twelfth of the month the 
 Virginia began the return voyage. 
 
 In 1823 some Sauks and Foxes had 
 taken a woman of the Yankton Sioux 
 prisoner, and carried her to their village 
 near the Dubuque lead mines. The 
 Indian agent left the fort with Alexander 
 Faribault, the son of the old trader, and 
 a party of Sioux braves, determined 
 to rescue the captive. It was a danger- 
 ous but successful trip. The woman 
 was obtained and brought up to the fort 
 and in time sent to her family, who 
 dwelt in the Valley of the Des Moines 
 river. 
 
 After the Indian agency was estab- 
 lished at the post no one could trade 
 with the Indians unless licensed, and 
 among the authorized traders in 1S23 
 were Duncan Campbell, Ezekiel Lock- 
 wood, Daniel M. Whitney, Alexander 
 Faribault and Joseph Snelling. 
 
 General Winfield Scott made a visit 
 of inspection, and at his suggestion the 
 name of the post, which had been Fort 
 St. Anthony, was changed to Fort 
 Snelling. In his report to the secretary 
 of war he wrote : 
 
 This work, of which the war department is in pos- 
 session of a plan, reflects the highest credit on Col- 
 onel .Snelling, his officers and men, the defenses 
 and, for the most part, the public store-houses, shops 
 
FORT SNELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 13 
 
 and quarters being constructed of stone. The whole 
 is likely to endure as long as tlie post shall remain a 
 frontier one. The cost of erection to the govern- 
 ment has been the amount paid for tools and iron, and 
 ihepcrt/u/n paid to soldiers employed as mechanics. 
 
 I write to suggest to the general-in-chief, and 
 through him to the war department, the propriety of 
 calling tliis work Fort Snelling, as a just compliment 
 to the meritorious officer under whom it has been 
 erected. 
 
 The present name [Fort St. Anthony] is foreign to 
 all our associations, and is, besides, geographically 
 incorrect, as the work stands at the junction of the 
 Mississippi and St. Peter [Minnesota] rivers, eight 
 miles below the great Falls of the Mississippi, called 
 after St. Anthony. 
 
 About the year 1824 a party of dis- 
 pirited colonists of Lord Selkirk's 
 settlement, while on their way to Fort 
 Snelling, were met and slaughtered by 
 some Sioux, except two brothers, John 
 and Andrew Tully, who were made 
 captives. Colonel Snelling sent some 
 troops and had the lads rescued. The 
 wife of the colonel took charge of John, 
 who died at the fort, and the wife of 
 Captain Clark looked after Andrew. 
 The latter in time became an inmate of 
 the Orphan asylum of New York city 
 and in manhood a respectable citizen 
 of Brooklyn. 
 
 During the last months of 1825, in 
 consequence of the absence of Colonel 
 Snelling on furlough, Lieutenant-Col- 
 onel Willoughby Morgan, a a native of 
 Virginia, was in command, who re- 
 stored the strict military discipline 
 which had been abated in consequence 
 of so many of the soldiers acting as 
 artificers in the erection of the build- 
 
 II WiUoughby Morgan of Virginia, in the War of 
 1812-15, and in October, 1821, lieutenant-colonel of 
 the Fifth infantry; colonel of First infantry in April, 
 1830, and died April 23, 1832, at Fort Crawford, 
 Prairie du Chien. 
 
 ings of the fort. The officers of the 
 post on the first of January, 1826, were 
 Major T. Hamilton, 1^ Captain J. Plymp- 
 ton, Captain Wilcox, r Captain N. Clark, 
 Lieutenant J. B. Russell, Adjutant P. R. 
 Green, Lieutenant A. Johnston, (/Surgeon 
 B. F. Harney, t.' Assistant Surgeon R. 
 Wood,/" Lieutenant J. M. Baxley, Lieu- 
 tenant D. Hunter,^ Lieutenant St. Clair 
 Denny,// Lieutenant W. Alexander, 
 Lieutenant D. W. AUanson./ 
 
 ^Thomas Hamilton had been a sergeant, and in 
 
 1806 was ensign of First infantry ; second lieutenant, 
 
 1807 ; first lieutenant, 1808. Defended Fort Madi- 
 son, Illinois, in September, 1812, for four days 
 against the Indians. Captain in Fifth infantry in 
 1823, and in 1824 resigned. 
 
 i: De Lafayette Wilcox rose from the ranks. En- 
 sign in 1813, second lieutenant in 1814, and wounded 
 at siege of Fort Erie. Captain in Fifth infantry, 
 April, 1822; died January, 1842, at Pilatka, Florida, 
 
 (/.Alexander Johnston of Pennsylvania, cadet, 1820: 
 second lieutenant. Fifth infantry, June, 1824 ; first 
 lieutenant, 1828 ; captain, 1836 ; died in 1845 at 
 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 
 
 ^Surgeon Benjamin F. Harney served in the War 
 of 1812-15, and in 1847 was wounded in Mexico while 
 attached to the command of Colonel J. S. Mcintosh. 
 
 /Roger C. Wood of Rhode Island was appointed 
 assistant surgeon in May, 1825 ; surgeon in July, 
 1836. In 1829 he married, at Prairie du Chien, a 
 daughter of Colonel Zachary Taylor, afterwards 
 President of the United States. During the war to 
 preserve the Union he was the assistant surgeon- 
 general of the United States. 
 
 f David Hunter was born in 1803 in the District 
 of Columbia ; cadet in 1818 ; second lieutenant. 
 Fifth infantry, 1822 ; first lieutenant, 1828 ; captain 
 First dragoons, Marqh, 1833. Resigned in July, 
 1836. Pay-master in 1842. At Bull Run battle, 
 July, 1861, commanded a division of troops. In 
 1866 retired, and in 1887 died in Washington, Dis- 
 trict of Columbia. 
 
 /i St. Clair Denny of Pennsylvania was a cadet in 
 i8i8 ; second lieutenant. Fifth infantry, 1822 ; first 
 lieutenant, 1827 ; captain in 1830, and resigned in 
 1839. In 1841 he was made pay-master. 
 
 / Dudley W. AUanson, a cadet in i8i8 ; second 
 lieutenant. Fifth infantry. May, 1824, and in Sep- 
 tember, 1827, resigned. 
 
u 
 
 FORT SNELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 The third steamboat that ever brought 
 supplies to the west arrived on the 
 second of April, 1S25 ; was the Riifus 
 Putnam, in charge of Captain Bates. 
 Four weeks later she arrived again with 
 goods for the Columbia Fur compan}'. 
 
 The mail in winter was usually carried 
 by soldiers to Prairie du Chien. On 
 the twenty-sixth of January, 1826, there 
 was a pleasant excitement caused by 
 the return from furlough of Lieutenants 
 Baxley and Russell, bringing the first 
 mail received in five months. 
 
 The months of February and March^ 
 1826, were very severe. Snow fell to 
 the depth of two or three feet, and 
 there was great suffering among the 
 Indians. Thirty lodges of Sisseton 
 Sioux were overtaken by a blinding 
 storm, which continued for a day or 
 two, and as the party grew weak for 
 the want of food, the stronger men on 
 snow-shoes walked a hundred miles to 
 the nearest trading-post, which, when 
 almost dead, they reached. Four 
 Canadians were sent with supplies, and 
 upon reaching the encampment were 
 horrified at finding the survivors eating 
 the corpses of their relatives. 
 
 Surgeon Edward Purcell died on the 
 eleventh of January, 1825, the first 
 officer who had expired at thfe post. 
 The little son of Adjutant Green, Me- 
 lancthon Snelling, had been a great fa- 
 vorite in the garrison, and on Thursday, 
 the twenty-third of March, 1826, he was 
 buried with impressive ceremonies. The 
 entire garrison attended his funeral, and 
 bore his remains to the grave, preceded 
 by the band playing the " Dead March." 
 
 A Pandora box was opened in 1826 
 
 and dissensions prevailed. One young 
 officer, a graduate of West Point, fought 
 a duel with and slightly wounded the 
 colonel's son Joseph. At the trial of 
 the lieutenant for violating the articles 
 of war, he objected to the testimony of 
 Lieutenant Alexander, a native of Ten- 
 nessee, on the ground that he was an 
 infidel. Alexander was incensed, chal- 
 lenged Lieutenant Hunter, and on the 
 sixth of February they fought a duel, 
 resulting only in slight injuries to their 
 clothing. Two days after there was a 
 court-martial for the trial of Lieuten- 
 ant Andrews.-'- It is said that Hunter 
 also challenged the commanding officer. 
 Inspector-General Gaines after this 
 visited the post, and in his report wrote : 
 
 h. defect in the discipline of this regiirent has 
 appeared in the char.icter of certain personal con- 
 troversies between the colonel and several of his 
 young officers, the particulars of which I forbear to 
 enter into, assured as I am that they will be devel- 
 oped in the proceedings of a general court-mariiai 
 ordered for the trial of Lieutenant Hunter and 
 other officers at Jefferson barracks. From a con- 
 versation with the colonel, I can have no doubt that 
 he has erred in the course pursued by him in refer- 
 ence to some of the controversies, inasmuch as he 
 has intimated to his officers his willingness to sanc_ 
 tion in certain cases, and even to participate in 
 personal conflicts, contrary to the Twenty-fifth artic'e 
 of war. 
 
 The spring of 1826 was very cold, and 
 on the twentieth of March snow fell to 
 the depth of eighteen inches. On the 
 fifth of April there was another snow- 
 storm, and as late as the tenth the ther- 
 mometer was four degrees below zero. 
 The ice began to move on the twenty- 
 
 * Phineas Andrew^s was a good soldier in the War 
 of 1812-1815 ; a native of Connecticut ; second lieu- 
 tenant Fifth infantry in October, 1820. and in Oc- 
 tober, 1826, died. 
 
FORT SMELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 15 
 
 first, and the river after this for several spending a pleasant evening at the 
 
 days was twenty feet above low water quarters of Captain Clark, which was 
 
 mark. one of the stone houses which used to 
 
 On the second of May, to the joy of stand a little distance beyond the walls 
 
 everyone in the fort, the steamboat Si. of the fort. As Captain Cruger was 
 
 Lawrence, Captain Reeder, arrived, and walking on the porch he was startled by 
 
 he invited the officers and their families the whizzing of a bullet, and then rapid 
 
 to make a trip toward the Falls of St- firing. 
 
 Anthony. While on board they en- Notwithstanding the friendly profes- 
 joyed music and dancing, but when sions, the Sioux, upon leaving the Ojib- 
 within three and a half miles of the way tents, had fired upon their enter- 
 falls, the current was so strong and the tainers, and ran off, wlioopino- like 
 channel so filled with rocks that the demons. The terrified Ojibways ran to 
 boat turned round and came back to the gates of the fort. Four of their 
 the post. number had been killed and six 
 
 In the autumn of 1826 a small party wounded, one of whom was a little 
 of Ojib.ways ( Chippeways ), while on daughter of Flat Mouth, seven years of 
 a visit to the Indian agent, ventured to age, shot through both thighs. Surgeon 
 the trading-post of the Columbia Fur McMahon made every effort to save 
 company, on the bank of the Minnesota her life, but without avail. Early the 
 river, about two miles distant. They ne.xt morning Captain Clark, with a de- 
 discovered that the Sioux were not tachnient of soldiers, proceeded to 
 friendly and asked two white men to go arrest the murderers. Upon the prairie 
 back with them to the fort. As they not far distant, thirty-two Sioux were 
 passed a copse three Sioux jumped up captured and brought to the fort, 
 and discharged their guns, killing one Colonel Snelling ordered the prisoners 
 of the Ojibways. On the twenty-eighth to be brought before the Ojibways, and 
 of May, 1827, the Ojibway chief at two were recognized as among the 
 Sandy lake, Kee-wee-zais-hish, called assailants of the last night, and de- 
 by the English Flat Mouth, with seven livered to the Ojibways to be dealt with 
 warriors and a number of women and according to their usages. The cap- 
 children, arrived about sunrise at Fort tives were led out on the prairie in front 
 Snelling, and asked protection. They of the gate of the fort, and were told to 
 were told that as long as they remained run for their lives, and as they ran the 
 under the United States flag they were Ojibways fired and they fell lifeless. 
 secure, and they pitched their tents near Then the hideousness of the savage was 
 the high stone walls of the fort. manifested. Women and children leaped 
 
 During the afternoon they were visited for joy, and placing their fingers in the 
 
 by some Sioux from a neighboring vil- bullet holes of their dead foes, licked 
 
 lage, who were cordially received and them with delight. The men wrenched 
 
 feasted. That night some officers were the scalps from the bodies and muti- 
 
16 
 
 FORT SN ELLIN G, MINNESOTA. 
 
 lated them in a horrible manner. The 
 same day a deputation of Sioux visited 
 Colonel Snelling, regretting the violence 
 done by their young men, and express- 
 ing their desire to deliver up the ring- 
 leaders. 
 
 At the appointed time a son of Flat 
 Mouth, at the head of the visiting Ojib- 
 ways, escorted by soldiers of the Fifth 
 infantry, marched out to meet the Sioux 
 deputation, who, with much solemnity, 
 delivered two more of the assailants. 
 One was fearless, and with firmness 
 stripped himself of his clothing and 
 trinkets, and distributed them. The 
 other was downcast and begged for life. 
 They were received by the Ojibways 
 and also allowed to run for life, and as 
 they ran were pierced with bullets and 
 soon were lifeless. Their bodies were 
 then dragged to and thrown over the 
 high bluffs into the Mississippi river. 
 
 In October, 1826, the secretary of 
 war ordered all the troops at Fort Craw, 
 ford,* Prairie du Chien, to Fort Snell- 
 ing, and two Winnebagoes held as 
 hostages for the delivery of the mur- 
 derers of Methode, a voyagciir, who had 
 been killed at the mouth of Yellow river, 
 a short distance above Prairie du Chien. 
 After the execution of the Sioux at 
 Fort Snelling in May, 1827, some re- 
 vengeful members of the tribe went to 
 the Winnebago village, where is now 
 the city of La Crosse, and to gain their 
 sympathy falsely said that the members 
 of their tribe kept as hostages had been 
 put to death. On the twelfth of June, 
 1827, two keel-boats, the General Ashley 
 and O. H. Perry, under the direction of 
 
 •John Marsh was left in charge of the fort. 
 
 Allen F. Lindsey, a brave Kentuckian, 
 left Prairie du Chien with military 
 supplies for Fort Snelling. There were 
 on the boats, constructed like modern 
 canal-boats, thirty-two men, including 
 Joseph, the son of Colonel Snelling, but 
 only three guns. They passed the Win- 
 nebago village at La Crosse, and some 
 Indians came in their canoes and sold 
 fish and venison to the crew, but showed 
 no ill-feeling. From thence they sailed 
 for the prairie on the other side of the 
 river, a few miles beyond where resided 
 Wapashah's band of Sioux, now the 
 site of the city of Winona. When they 
 arrived there was a lull of the wind, and 
 the Sioux ordered them to stop. Soon 
 both boats swarmed with warriors with 
 streaked blankets and faces painted 
 black. They refused to shake hands 
 and were sullen in their bearing. Lind. 
 sey, advised by Snelling, saw the im- 
 portance of pushing into the stream, 
 and with a firm voice told the savages 
 they must leave the boat. Intimidated 
 by his bold demeanor, they departed. 
 
 At other points, as they ascended, the 
 Sioux showed ill-will. Colonel Snelling, 
 anticipating danger when the boats were 
 ready to return, allowed his son to be a 
 passenger, and each one of the crew 
 was furnished with a musket and a keg 
 of ball cartridges placed at their dis- 
 posal. 
 
 Fifteen days after Lindsey left Prairie 
 du Chien, a man named Gagnier, whose 
 father was a Frenchman and mother a 
 Negress, who lived on a farm about 
 three miles from the hamlet, was shot 
 by Red Bird, a Winnebago chief, and 
 three companions, and fled to an en- 
 
FORT SNELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 17 
 
 campment of their tribe near the Bad 
 Axe river. 
 
 In descending the river Lindsey and 
 his boats passed Wapashah's village 
 without difficulty, and during the night 
 of the twenty-ninth of June the Perry, 
 in charge of Benjamin Thaw, gained on 
 the Ashley, and the next day was sev- 
 eral hours in advance. 
 
 As they approached the Bad Axe 
 river, sixteen men were on deck. It 
 was about four o'clock in the afternoon, 
 and when about thirty yards from the 
 shore, they were startled by the war- 
 whoop and the whizzing of rifle-balls, 
 and one of the crew was killed, a Negro 
 boy named Peter. A second volley 
 soon came and all escaped but one. 
 An American named Stewart had risen 
 from a reclining position and pushed 
 his musket through a loop-hole, which 
 a Winnebago sharp-shooter seeing, fired 
 and shot him through the heart. 
 
 The Indians now appeared in canoes 
 and attempted to board ; two were 
 killed and the rest went back to the 
 shore. At length two, in the same 
 canoe, reached, unseen, the rear of the 
 boat and leaped on deck. One seized 
 the long steering oar and the other 
 fired through the deck and severely 
 wounded one of the crew. With the 
 aid of the steering oar they then ran 
 the boat on a sand bar. Through an 
 opening in the boards of the boat one 
 of the boatmen fired and killed one of 
 the assailants. The other held his 
 position and kept on firing, and at 
 length killed Beauchamp, a brave 
 Canadian half-breed. One of the crew, 
 Jack Mandeville, then took aim and 
 
 shot the slayer of the Canadian through 
 the head, who fell dead into the river 
 holding his gun. 
 
 Mandeville now rallied the panic- 
 stricken crew and soon the Winne- 
 bagoes renewed the attack, and the 
 fight lasted for three hours. As soon 
 as it was fairly dark Mandeville jumped 
 into the water, and, followed by four 
 others, amid a shower of bullets, pushed 
 the boat from the sand bar and pro- 
 ceeded on the journey. Lindsey, in the 
 Ashley, passed the scene of conflict 
 about midnight, received only one 
 volley and sufi'ered no loss. During the 
 engagement the O. H. Perry received 
 six hundred and ninety-three balls. 
 Seven Indians were killed and fourteen 
 wounded. Four of the crew were mor- 
 tally and two slightly wounded.* 
 
 When the boats reached Prairie du 
 Chien the next day, and the inhabit- 
 ants heard the startling intelligence, 
 they left their houses and farms and 
 fled to the then abandoned Fort Craw- 
 ford. The men were organized with 
 Thomas McNair as captain and Joseph 
 Brisbois as lieutenant. The fort was 
 repaired and Joseph Snelling placed in 
 command of one of the block-houses. 
 Duncan Graham, the well-known trader^ 
 accompanied by an old voyageur,, 
 crossed the river and hastened to Fort 
 Snelling for aid, and on the ninth of 
 July arrived. 
 
 A few days after this, Governor Cass 
 
 * For the dates and facts as to the attack on keel- 
 boats, I have chiefly depended upon a narrative in 
 the Missouri Republican of August 23, 1827, at- 
 tested by Joseph Snelling. Allen F. Lindsey and 
 Benjamin Thaw, captain of 0. H. Perry. 
 
18 
 
 FORT SNELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 arrived and authorized the militia to be 
 mustered into the service of the United 
 States, and procured subsistence. He 
 then went to Galena and raised another 
 volunteer company. Colonel Snelling, 
 about the same time, started with four 
 companies in keel-boats, and on the 
 seventeenth of July more soldiers from 
 Fort Snelling came, under Major Fowle. 
 Snelling assumed command, and soon 
 discharged the Galena volunteers. 
 While at Prairie du Chien, Lieutenant 
 Smith of the Galena company had a 
 difficulty with Colonel Snelling, and 
 challenged him to fight a duel. Colonel 
 Snelling declined, and ordered the 
 arrest of the bearer of the note. He 
 was brought before 'the colonel by 
 Smith's associate officer, Lieutenant Wil- 
 liam S. Hamilton,* and when he assured 
 the colonel that he did not know the 
 contents of the note, he was discharged, 
 and the volunteers returned to Galena 
 heaping maledictions upon Colonel 
 Snelling. The following extracts of a 
 letter of Snelling, dated August 26, to 
 Agent Taliaferro, then on a visit to the 
 Sioux of the Upper Minnesota river, 
 gives some idea of affairs at that 
 period : 
 
 Colonel Croghan has been here and departed very 
 well salisfied. Mr. Marsh accompanied him and 
 left a letter for you, which I now send. It seems 
 that Mr. Secretary Barbour took no other notice of 
 your letter than to send it to Governor Cass, and he 
 gave it to Marsh and "so we go." 
 
 I have no serious apprehensions for the safety of 
 Fort Crawford, but the reports afloat were of such 
 
 *VV. S. Hamilton, son of Major-General .-Mex- 
 ander Hamilton, first secretary of the United -States 
 treasury, had been a cadet from 1814 to 18 17 ; 
 colonel of volunteers in Bl.^ck Hawk war, 1832, and 
 died in August, 1850, at .Sacramento, California. 
 
 an imposing character that I thought it my duty to 
 re-inforce it. If it had fallen for want of aid, I 
 should have lost my military reputation forever. I 
 trust that you will agree with me that Captain Wil- 
 cox was a good selection for the command. 
 Wabasha is said to have agreed to join the confed- 
 eracy if the Sioux of the St. Peter's would do it, 
 and they have declined. 
 
 We have no mail nor news. My family is about 
 as usual. Joseph's wound is doing well. Madame 
 desires to be sincerely and cordially remembered to 
 you. Captain Garland is here with a very interest- 
 ing family. Remember me to Lieutenant Jamieson. 
 
 Colonel Croghan, inspector-general, 
 after his visit to the fort in August, 
 1S27, reported to the secretary of war : 
 
 The main points of defense against an enemy 
 appear in some respects to have been sacrificed in 
 the effort to secure the comfort and convenience of 
 troops in peace. . . The buildings are too large, 
 too numerous, and extending over a space entirely 
 too great, enclosing a large parade five times greater 
 than is at all desirable in that climate. The build- 
 ings for the most part seem well constructed, of 
 good stone and other materials, and they contain 
 every desirable convenience, comfort and security 
 as barracks and store-houses. . . Much credit is 
 due to Colonel Snelling, his officers and men for 
 their excellent workmanship exhibited in the con- 
 struction of these barracks and store-houses, but 
 this has been effected too much at the expense of 
 the discipline of the regiment. 
 
 During the autumn the Fifth regi- 
 ment was relieved by a portion of the 
 First. The next year, on the twentieth 
 of August, 1828, Colonel Snelling died in 
 Washington. Major-General Macomb, 
 in an order announcing his death, 
 wrote : 
 
 Colonel Snelhng joined the army in early youth. 
 In the battle of Tippecanoe he svas distinguished 
 for gallantry and good conduct. Subsequently, 
 and during the whole late war with Great Britain, 
 from the battle of Brownstown to the termination 
 of the contest, he was actively employed in the field 
 with credit to himself and lionor to his country. 
 
 Four of Colonel Snelling's sons at- 
 tained to manhood. William Joseph, 
 
FORT SNELLING, MINNESOTA. 
 
 19 
 
 usually called Joseph, after spending 
 three years at West Point, became an 
 Indian trader in Minnesota, and in this 
 article there have been allusions to 
 him. He possessed more than ordinary 
 poetic talent. Near the headwaters of 
 the Minnesota river there are several 
 small lakes, and in this vicinity, the 
 legend of the Sioux declares, was the 
 birth-place of one of their great divin- 
 ities, Wah-keen-yan — Thunder Bird. 
 Upon this incident he composed a long 
 poem, which has deservedly found a 
 place in Griswold's ' American Poets.' 
 After his father left Fort Snelling, he 
 returned to Boston, and in 183 1 pub- 
 lished a sharp criticism called 'A Brief 
 and Impartial History of the Life and 
 Actions of Andrew Jackson, President 
 of the United States. By a Free Man.' 
 A work of great literary ability, 
 ' Tales of the Northwest,' was also pub- 
 lished. A caustic satire from his pen 
 was issued, called ' Truth, a Gift for 
 Scribblers,' in which he alluded to N. P. 
 Willis, who,wincing, wrote this lampoon: 
 
 " Oh, Smelling Joseph I Thou art like a cur ; 
 I'm told thou once did live by hunting fur ; 
 Of bigger dogs thou smellest, and, in sooth, 
 Of one extreme perhaps can tell the truth. 
 'Tis a wise shift and shows thou know'st thy powers, 
 To leave the Noithwest tales and take to smelling 
 ours." 
 
 In 1832 a second edition of 'Truth ' 
 appeared with the following pasquinade: 
 
 " I live by hunting fur thou say'st, so let it be ; 
 But tell me. Natty ! had I hunted thee, 
 Had not my time been thrown away, young sir. 
 And eke my powder ? Puppies have no fur. 
 
 ' ' Our tails ? Thou ownest thee to a tail, 
 I've scanned thee o'er and o'er. 
 
 But, though I guessed the species right, 
 I was not sure before. 
 
 *' Our savages, authentic travelers say, 
 To natural fools religious homage pay, 
 Hud'st thou been born in wigwam's smoke, and 
 
 died in, 
 Nat ! thine aputhesis had been certain. 
 
 In 1834 Snelling was editor of the 
 New England Galaxy. Of a convivial 
 nature, he was his own worst enemy, 
 and died in 1848, while editor of the 
 Boston Herald. H. H. Snelling was en- 
 gaged in business pursuits, in 1858, in 
 New York city. James G. S. Snelling 
 was born at Fort Snelling, and in 1841 
 entered West Point. In July, 1845, he 
 was assigned as second lieutenant of 
 the Eighth infantry. He received a 
 brevet for gallant conduct in the battles 
 of Contreras and Churubusco, and was 
 severely wounded in September, 1847, 
 at Molino del Rey. A fourth son was a 
 physician, and died at Peoria, Illinois, 
 a few years ago. 
 
 From the Wheeling (Virginia) Gazette, 
 copied into TJie Pittsburgh Gazette of 
 July 27, 1S27 : 
 
 Indian Hostilities.— About the first of this 
 month, as the'keel-boat O. H. Perry, owned by Mr. 
 Robert P. Clarke of this place, was returning from 
 Fort Snelling, whither she had been conveying mili- 
 tary stores, the crew were twice attacked by a party 
 of VVinnebngo Indians. At the second attack the 
 Indians got possession of the boat, but the crew 
 afterwards re-captured her. 
 
 In these several engagements a number were killed 
 on both sides. 
 
 The clerk of the steamboat Mexico, Benjamin 
 Thaw, formerly of Pittsburgh, who was in charge of 
 the keel-boat O. H. Perry zX the time of the attack, 
 after killing three Indians, was severely wounded. 
 He is now at Hevre river under the care of physicians. * 
 
 The men working the lead mines in the vicinity of 
 Hevre river have collected at Galena and are erecting 
 fortifications. 
 
 The foregoing particulars were communicated by 
 Governor Cass, at St. Louis, to a gentleman who 
 passed through this place on Wednesday last. 
 
 *Mr. Thaw survived his wound, and after a con- 
 tinued active life as steamboat officer on the Ohio 
 and Mississippi rivers, he died in Louisville, in 1843, 
 in the thirty-seventh year of his age. He was elder 
 brother of Mr. William Thaw of Pittsburgh. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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