There was practically no hostility manifested against the garrison by the surrounding Indians. In January, 1822, Colonel McNeil, who was in command at Fort Dearborn, received word from John Kinzie, the pioneer Chicago trader, that the Sioux and Fox Indians were planning an attack on Fort Snelling. Lieutenant James Webb immediately volunteered to bring the news to Fort Armstrong on Rock Island, from whence it could be sent to the upper post. After a journey rendered terrible by the extreme cold and the danger from hostile Indians, he was successful in reaching Fort Armstrong.[316]
In due time the letter was delivered to Colonel Snelling. “When I first received Col McNeils letter,” he wrote later, “I was disposed to smile at the absurdity of connecting the Sioux & Foxes, in a design to attack this post”. But he later found out that the Foxes had sent wampum and tobacco to the bands of Wabasha and Little Crow, asking them not to stand in the way of any movements they might make. Wabasha accepted the wampum but Little Crow came to the fort to make known the danger. The vagueness of the rumors, however, made it impossible to act, and later developments showed that there was no truth in the report—at least no violence was attempted.[317]
Fear of the strength of the fort prevented hostilities. It was the Indian fashion to attack by ambush. They did not have the patience to endure a protracted siege. The Americans did not belittle the strength of the military works. Little Thunder and White Head, two Indians who had escaped from the jail at Mackinac by cutting through the log walls, met an American, George Johnson, at Lac du Flambeau. They were very inquisitive about the strength of Fort Snelling and the number of Americans stationed there. Regarding this incident the white man wrote: “I answered saying, that the fort at River St. Peters was as strong as Quebec, and more Americans there than in any other post.”[318]
The government did not adopt Dr. Morse's plan for civilizing the Indians, but the agent tried to carry out the policy therein suggested. The colony at Eatonville, located on Lake Calhoun, and the Indian schools soon passed into the hands of the missionaries. After the making of treaties a blacksmith shop was added to the agency. In line with his policy of providing for all classes of Indians, Taliaferro urged the erection of an orphan asylum where “all poor blind, and helpless women” would also be accommodated.[319]
If time had been given doubtless a new form of Indian life would have arisen about the fort; but the coming of the land-seekers destroyed the plan. The failure was to result in a great massacre in 1862. This much at least can be said for Old Fort Snelling; it kept the Indians friendly while the foundations of American life were being laid in the Northwest.
VIII
THE SIOUX-CHIPPEWA FEUDS
One of the reasons given for the building of Fort Snelling was that it would prevent the disastrous wars existing between the Sioux and Chippewa Indians.[320] Beginning so far in the past that no cause could be ascribed for the hostility, each encounter was in itself both the result of preceding conflicts and the excuse for further warfare. Pierre Esprit de Radisson, who was the first writer to leave an account of the Chippewas, said that even at the time of his visit in about 1660 they were carrying on “a cruell warre against the Nadoueseronoms [Sioux].”[321]
Lurking in the bushes to waylay their enemies on the woodland paths, hiding on the river banks to intercept hostile canoes, pretending peace and enjoying hospitality in order to have an opportunity for treachery were the military tactics of the Sioux and Chippewa warriors. To prevent such warfare, a military post was almost powerless. In fact, so insidious was the hostility that even the very grounds of Fort Snelling were the scene of bloody encounters.
Attempts were made to keep the Chippewas away from Fort Snelling by attaching them to the agency of H. R. Schoolcraft at Sault Ste. Marie.[322] But the distance was so great and the route so difficult that the Chippewas did not make the journey to consult that agent. On the other hand, Fort Snelling was so close, and the Mississippi such a natural outlet from their country, that a trader declared that “you might as well try to Stop the Water in the Mississippi from going to St Louis, as attempt to keep the Chippeway Indians from St Peters.”[323]