Old Fort Snelling, 1819-1858

by Marcus Lee Hansen

The transfer of the tribe took place during the summer of 1848; and in the same fall Brigadier General George M. Brooke of St. Louis, accompanied by a squadron of dragoons, chose a point opposite the Nokay River as a desirable location.[128] This company and a company of the Sixth Infantry from Fort Snelling were employed in building the fort, and when cold weather prevented further operations, they were withdrawn to Fort Snelling, where the winter was passed.[129] In the spring the troops returned, and Fort Gaines—rechristened Fort Ripley—was occupied on the thirteenth of April, 1849.[130]

But this post alone was unable to keep the Winnebagoes in check. They celebrated the first fourth of July by attacking a frontier store and “causing one gentleman to escape en dishabille to the woods, where he danced to the tune of the mosquitoes during some three days and nights.”[131] Again and again reports of riotous revels and rumors of impending outbreaks caused help to be sent from Fort Snelling to assist the troops higher up the river.[132] In the spring of 1857 the fort was abandoned, but Indian disturbances during the summer caused a detachment to be sent from the older post. These troops remained at that point until in the summer of 1858 they were transferred to the newly founded Fort Abercrombie.[133]

The treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota, concluded in 1851, concentrated the Sioux Indians on a long irregular reservation along the upper Minnesota River.[134] The Indians were not transferred until the summer of 1853, but in the fall of the previous year the need of a post among so many half civilized people, placed in a small territory, was obvious. Accordingly, Colonel Francis Lee, commandant at Fort Snelling, and Captain Dana of the quartermaster's department, escorted by a troop of dragoons, selected a suitable site on the north side of the Minnesota River, a dozen miles upstream from the town of New Ulm.

On February 24, 1853, seven privates of Company D of the First Dragoons, and two sergeants and thirteen privates of the Sixth Infantry were sent to the location to begin the erection of the fort. In April the dragoons were ordered to return to Fort Snelling and Companies C and K of the Sixth Infantry went up the river under the command of Captain James Monroe and became part of the permanent garrison of newly-founded Fort Ridgely. One other company came up from Fort Dodge—the post in Iowa which was abandoned with this withdrawal.[135]

Colonel C. F. Smith, who led the expedition from Fort Snelling to the Red River during the summer of 1856, was instructed to recommend a site for a post. His choice of Graham's Point on the Red River was accepted; and here, in the fall of 1857, Colonel John J. Abercrombie constructed the fort which was named in his honor. Colonel Smith, writing from Fort Snelling, gave among his reasons for the choice of Graham's Point “the additional advantage of greater facility for receiving stores from the depot here”.[136]

With the building of these posts, Fort Snelling lost much of its importance. The garrison was small and the fort was almost nothing more than a depot for supplying the more advanced forts with food, clothing, and ammunition.[137] With the decline of its military position, the idea became prevalent that some day it would be abandoned entirely, and the land thrown open to settlement.

The neighboring cities of St. Paul, Minneapolis, and St. Anthony were in the throes of real estate speculation. There were some who saw in Fort Snelling a site more advantageous than any of these. “It is a position which has attracted also a good deal of attention on account of its superior beauty of location, its agricultural advantages, and its more notable advantages for a town site”, said Mr. Morrill during a debate on the floor of the House of Representatives. “Whatever witnesses in this case may have differed upon as to other matters, they nearly all agree that, as a point for a town site, it possesses superior advantages over any other in that part of the country.”[138]

Successful efforts were made to secure this site. On June 6, 1857, Mr. William King Heiskell, a commissioner appointed by the Secretary of War, sold to Mr. Franklin Steele, who was acting for himself and three others, the entire reservation for $90,000. The President approved the act on the second of July. Other parties who were interested in securing the site were not aware that the sale was to be made until everything had been accomplished.[139]

Immediately there arose the cry of graft: the Republicans saw in the transaction the corruption of the existing Democratic régime. A committee was appointed by the House of Representatives to investigate the matter, and the testimony which they took covers three hundred and seven pages. Some witnesses said that the post should have been retained for military purposes; others insisted that there was no such need. Some said that the site was admirable for a city; a few stated that it possessed no such advantages. Some said that it was necessary as a supply station for the upper posts; others insisted that these posts could be supplied more cheaply by a direct route.[140]

Bitter debates marked the consideration of the report. The objects, character, and ability of the witnesses were questioned. One member of the House said that “Fort Snelling is a very elegant appanage to very elegant gentlemen, who have a very elegant place for parade and show.”[141] Another remarked that “the officers at Fort Snelling were opposed to the sale and it was natural that they should be. They had a beautiful place of residence, they had the most comfortable quarters, and a superabundance of stores for their subsistence. There they were living upon the fat of the land, without anything under God's heaven to do. Society was near at hand in a city populous, and furnishing all the luxuries of life. They of course did not want to surrender such quarters and such comforts for the hardships and trials of a frontier station.”[142]