Washington County, Minnesota - Chapter 16: Fort Snellen G During It8 Occupancy by Companiks of Tim Fifth Regiment U. 8. Infantry, 1881

Chapter 16: Fort Snellen G During It8 Occupancy by Companiks of Tim Fifth Regiment U. 8. Infantry

Order* for military occupation of Upper MUsluippi - Loarmworth and Fourth at Praula da Chian - Birth In Camp - Troupa arrita at Mendota - Cantonment Eataldiahad - Wheat carried to Pembina - Notice of Devotion, Prearott, and Major Taliaferro - Camp Cold Water Eatablivhcd - Col. Snellma takes command - Impressive Scene - Officers in 1821) - Condition of the Port in 1821 - Baiut Anthony Mill - Alexia Bailly takes cattle to Friubina - Notice of Beltrami - Arrival of Irst Steamboat - Major tone's Expedition to Northern boundary - Beltrami Vi silt the northeru sources of the Mississippi - First It.iur null -First Sunday School - Great lood iu 1826. African slaves at the Fort - Steamboat Arrivals - Duels - Notice of William Joseph Soellinf - Indian flilbt at the Fort- AUack upon keel boats - ' Ueiieral (James' report - Bciuoval of Fiflb Kcyiment - Death of Colonel Snellma-

The rumor that Lord Selkirk was founding a colony on the borders of the United States, and that the British trading companies within the boundaries of what became the territory of Min¬ nesota, convinced the authorities at Washington of the importance of a military occupation of the valley of the Upper Mississippi.

"Major General Macomb, commander of the Fifth Military department, will without delay, concentrate at Detroit the Fifth Regiment of In¬ fantry, excepting the recruits otherwise) directed by the general order herewith transmitted. As soon ns the navigation of the lakes will admit, he will cause the regiment to be transported to Fort Howard; from thence, by the way of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivera, to Prairie du Chien, and, after detaching a sufficient number of companies to garrison Forts Crawford and Armstrong, 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 depar¬ ture, will receive the necessary supplies of cloth¬ ing, provisions, arms, and ammunition. Imme¬ diate application will be made to Brigadier Gen¬ eral Jesup, Quartermaster General, for funds necessary to execute the movements required by this order."

"The season having now arrived when the lakes may be navigated with safety, a detach¬ ment of the Fiftli Regiment, to consist of Major Marston's and Captain Fowle's companies, under the command of Major Muhlenburg, will proceed to Green Bay. Surgeon's Mate, R. M. Byrne, of the Fiftli Regiment, will accompany the detach¬ ment. The Assistant Deputy Quartermaster General will furnish the necessary transport, and will send by the same opi>ortunity two hundred barrels of provisions, which he will draw from the contractor at this post. The provisions must l>e examined and inspected, and properly put up for transportation. Colonel Leavenworth will, with¬ out delay, prepare his regiment to move to the post on the Mississippi, agreeable to the Divi¬ sion order of the tenth of February. The Assist¬ ant Deputy Quartermaster General will furnish the necessary transportation, to lie ready by the first of May next. The Colonel will make requi¬ sition for such stores, ammunition, tools and implements as may be required, and he be able to take with him on the exi>editio». Particular in¬ structions will be given to the Colonel, explaining the objects of his expedition."

Events Of The Year 1819

On Wednesday, the last day of June, Col. Leav¬ enworth and troops arrived from Green Bay, at Prairie du Chien. Scarcely had they reached this point when Charlotte Seymour, the wife of Lt. Nathan Clark, a native of Hartford, Ct., gave birth to a daughter, whose first baptismal name was Charlotte, after her mother, and the second Ouisconsin, given by the officers in view of the fact that she was born at the junction of that stream with the Mississippi.

In time Charlotte Ouisconsin married a young Lieutenant, a native of Princeton, New Jersey, and a graduate of West Point, and still resides with her husband, General II. P. Van Cleve, in

Col. Leavenworth Arrives At Men Dot A.

In June, under instructions from the War Department, Major Thomas Forsyth, connected with the office of Indian affairs, left St. Louis with two thousand dollars worth of goods to be distributed among the Sioux Indians, in accor¬ dance witli the agreement of 1805, already re¬ ferred to, by the late General Dike.

About nine o'clock of the morning of the fifth of July, he joined Leavenworth and his command at Prairie du Chien. Some time was occupied by Leavenworth awaiting the arrival of ordnance, provisions and recruits, but on Sunday morning, the eighth of August, about eight o'clock, the expedition set out for the point now known as Mendota. The flotilla was quite imposing; there were the Colonel's barge, fourteen batteaux with ninety-eight soldiers and officers, two large canal or Mackinaw boats, filled with various stores, and Forsyth's keel boat, containing goods and pres¬ ents for the Indians. On the twenty-third of August, Forsyth reached the mouth of the Min¬ nesota with his boat, and the next morning Col. Leavenworth arrived, and selecting a place at Mendota, near the present railroad bridge, ho ordered the soldiers to cut down trees and make a clearing. On the next Saturday Col. Leaven¬ worth, Major Yose, Surgeon Purcell, Lieutenant Clark and the wife of Captain Gooding ivited the Falls of Saint Anthony with Forsyth, in his keel boat.

During the winter of 1820, Laullow and others, in behalf of Lord Selkirk's Scotch settlers at Pembina, whose crops had been destroyed by grasshoppers, passed the Cantonment, on their way to Prairie du Chien, to purchase wheat. Upon the fifteenth of April they began their return with their Mackinaw boats, each loaded with two hundred bushels of wheat, one hundred of oats, and thirty of peas, and reached the mouth of the Minnesota early in May. Ascending this stream to Big Stone Lake, the boats were drawn on rollers a mile and a half to Lake Traverse, and on the third of June arrived at Pembina and cheered the desponding and needy settlers of the Selkirk colony.

The first sutler of the post was a Mr. Devotion, lie brought with him a young man named Phi¬ lander Prescott, who was bom in 1 SOI, at Plielpstown, Ontario county, New York. At first they stopped at Mud lien Island, in the Mississippi below the mouth of the St. Croix River. Coming up late in the year 1819, at the site of the pres¬ ent town of Hastings they found a keel-boat loaded with supplies for the cantonment, in charge of Lieut Oliver, detained by the ice.

Amid all the changes of the troops, Mr. Pres¬ cott remained nearly all his life in the vicinity of the post, to which he came when a mere lad, and was at length killed in the Sioux Massacre.

Events Of The Year 1820

The first Indian Agent at the post was a former army officer, Lawrence Taliaferro, pronounced Toliver. As he hail the confidence of the Gov¬ ernment for twenty-one successive years, he is deserving of notice.

Ilis family was of Italian origin, and among the early settlers of Virginia, lie was born in 1794, in King William county in that State, and when, in 1812, war was declared against Great Britain, with four brothers, he entered the army, and was commissioned as Lieutenant of the Thirty-fifth Infantry. lie behaved gallantly at Fort Erie and Sackett's Harbor, and after peace was declared, he was retained ns a First Lieuten¬ ant of the Third Infantry. In 1810 he was sta¬ tioned at Fort Dearborn, now the site of Chicago. While on a furlough, he called one day upon President Monroe, who told him that a fort would lie built near the Falls of Saint Anthony, and an Indian Agency established, to which he offered to appoint him. His commission was dated March 27th, 1819, and he proceeded in due time to his post.

On the fifth day of May, 1820, Leavenworth left his winter quarters at Mendota, crossed the stream and made a summer camp near the present military grave yard, which in consequence of a fine spring has been called "Camp Cold Water." The Indian agency, under Taliaferro, remained for a time at the old cantonment.

garden in the bottom lands of the Minnesota, and on the fifteenth of June the earliest garden peas were eaten. The first distinguished visitors at the new encampment were Governor Lewis Cass, of Michigan, and Henry Schoolcraft, who arrived in July, by way of Lake Superior and Sandy Luke.

The relations between Col. Leavenworth and Indian Agent Taliaferro were not entirely har¬ monious, growing out of a disagreement of views relative to the treatment of the Indians, and on the day of the arrival of Governor Cass, Teliaferro writes to Leavenworth :

" 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 in this country, that any medals, you may possess, would by being turned over to me, cease to be a topic of remark among the different Indian tribes under my direction. I will pass to you any voucher that may be re¬ quired, and I beg leave to observe that any pro¬ gress in influence is much impeded in conse¬ quence of this frequent intercourse with the gar¬ rison."

In a few days, the disastrous effect of Indians mingling with the soldiers was exhibited. On the third of August, the agent wrote to Leaven¬ worth:

" Ills Excellency Governor Cass during his visit to this post remarked to me that the Indians jn 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 ; I mean the stabbing of the old chief Mahgossau by his comrade. This was caused, doubtless, by an anxiety to obtain the chief's whiskey. I beg, therefore, that no whiskey whatever be given to any Indians, unless it be through their proper agent. While an overplus of whiskey thwarts the benificent and humane policy of the government, it entails misery upon the Indians, and endangers their lives."

A few days after this note was written Josiah Snelling, wlio had been recently promoted to the Colonelcy of the Fifth Regiment, arrived with his family, relieved Leavenworth, and infused new life and energy. A little while before his arrival, the daughter of Captain Gooding was married to Lieutenant Green, the Adjutant of the regiment, the first marriage of white persons in Minnesota. Mrs. Snelling, a few days after her arrival, gave birth to a daughter, the first white child born in Minnesota, and after a brief existence of thirteen months, she died and was the first interred in the military grave yard, ami for years the stone which marked its resting place, was visible.

The earliest manuscript in Minnesota, written at the Cantonment, is dated October 4, 1820, and Is in the handwriting of 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 in this quarter. Given at St. Peter, this 4th day of October, 1820.

During the summer of 1820, a party of the Sisseton Sioux killed on the Missouri, Isadore Poupon, a half-breed, and Joseph Andrews, a Canadian engaged in the fur trade. The Indian Agent, through Colin Campbell, as interpreter, notified the Sissetons that trade would cease with them, until the murderers were delivered. At a council held at Big Stone Lake, one of the murderers, and the aged father of another, agreed to surrender themselves to the commanding officer.

On the twelfth of Novemlier, accompanied by their friends, they approached the encampment in solemn procession, and marched to the centre of the parade. First appeared a Sisseton bear¬ ing a British flag ; then the murderer and the de¬ voted father of another, their arms pinioned, and largo wooden splinters thrust through the flesh above the elbows indicating their contempt for pain and death ; in tho rear followed friends and relatives, with them chanting the death dirge. Having arrived in front of the guard, fire was kindled, and tho British flag burned; then tho murderer delivered up his medal, and both prisonera were surrounded. Col. Snelling detained tho old chief, while the murderer was sent to St. Louis for trial.

Kvknts Of Tiie Yeah 1821

Col. Snelling built the fort in the shape of a lozenge, in view of the projection between tho two rivers. The first row of barracks was of hewn logs, obtained from the pine forests of Rum River, but the other buildings were of stone. Mrs. Van Clove, tho daughter of Lieutenant, afterwards Captain Clark, writes :

" In 1821 the fort, although not complete, was fit for occupancy. My father had assigned to him the quarters next beyond the steps leading to the Commissary's stores, and during the year my little sister Juliet was lxmi there. At a later period my father and Major Garland obtained permission to build more commodious quarters outside tho walls, and the result was the two stone houses afterwards occupied by the Indian Agent and interpreter, lately destroyed."

Early in August, a young and intelligent mixed blood, Alexis Railly, in after years a member of the legislature of Minnesota, left the cantonment with the fust drove of cattle for the Selkirk Set¬ tlement, and the next winter returned with Col. Robert Hickson and Messrs. Laidlow and Mac- ] kcnzic.

The next month, a party of Sissetons visited the Indian Agent, and told him that they had started with another of the murderers, to which reference has been made, but that on the way he had, through fear of being hung, killed himself.

This fall, a mill Mas constructed for the use of the garrison, on tho west side of St. Anthony Kails, under the supervision of LieutenantMcCahe. During tho fall, George Gooding, Captain by brevet, resigned, and became Sutler at Prairie du Chien. lie Mas a native of Massachusetts, and entered tho army as ensign in 1808. In 1810 he became a Second Lieutenant, and the next year M'as M ounded at Tippecanoe.

In the middle of October, there embarked on the keel-boat " Saucy Jack," for Prairie du Chien, Col. Snelling, Lieut. Baxley, Major Taliaferro, and Mrs. Gooding,

Events Of 1822 And 1823

Early in January, 1822, there came to the Fort from tho Red River of tho North, Col. Robert Dickson, Laidlow, a Scotch farmer, the superin¬ tendent of Lord Selkirk 8 experimental farm, and ono Mackenzie, on their way to Prairie du Chien. Dickson returned with a drove of cattle, but owing to the hostility of the Sioux his cattle were scattered, and never reached Pembina.

During the winter of 1823, Agent Taliaferro was in Washington: While returning in March, he was at a hotel in Pittsburg, Miien lie received a note signed G. C. Beltrami, Mho was an Italian exile, asking permission to accompany him to the Indian territory. He was tall and commanding in appearance, and gentlemanly in bearing, and Taliaferro M as so forcibly impressed as to accede to the request. After reaching St. Louis they embarked on the first steamboat for the Upper Mississippi.

It Mas named the Virginia, and was built in Pittsburg, tweuty-tM'o feet in width, and one hundred and eighteen feet in length, in charge of a Captain Craw'ford. It reached the Fort on the tenth of May, and Mas saluted by the discharge of cannon. Among the passengers, liesides the Agent and the Italian, were Major Biddle, Lieut Russell, and others.

The arrival of the Virginia is an era in the history of the Dahkotah nation, and Mill proba¬ bly bo transmitted to their posterity as long as they exist as a people. They say their sacred men, the night befoie, dreamed of seeing some monster of the M'aters, which frightened them very much.

As the l>oat neared the shore, men, M'omen, and children beheld with silent astonishment, supposing that it was some enormous M ater-spirit, coughing, pulling out hot breath, and splashing water in every direction. When it touched the landing their fears prevailed, and they retreated some distance; but M'hen the bhnving off of steam commenced they n-ere completely un¬ nerved : mothers forgetting their children, with streaming hair, sought hiding-places ; chiefs, re-

The peace agreement beteen the Ojibways and Dahkotahs, made through the influence of Gov¬ ernor Cass, was of brief duration, the latter be¬ ing the first to violate the provisions.

On the fourth of June, Taliaferro, the Indian agent among the Dahkotahs, took advantage of the presence of a large number of Ojibways to renew the agreement for the cessation of hostili¬ ties. The council hall of the agent was a large room of logs, in which waved conspicuously the flag of the United States, surrounded by British colom and medals that had been delivered up from time to time by Indian chiefs.

Among the Dahkotah chiefs present wero Wapashaw, Little Crow, and Penneshaw ; of the Ojibways there were Kendouswa, Moshomene, and Pnsheskonoe(>e. After mutual accusations and excuses concerning the infraction of the pre¬ vious treaty, the Dahkotahs lighted the calumet, they having been the first to infringe upon the agreement of 1820. After smoking and pjissing the pipe of peace to the Ojibways, who passed through the same formalities, they all shook hands as a pledge of renewed amity.

The morning after the council, Flat Mouth, the distinguished Ojibway chief, arrived, who had left his lodge vowing that he would never be at peace with the Dahkotahs. As he stepped from his canoe, Peiuieshaw held out his hand, but was repulsed with scorn. The Dahkotah warrior immediately gave the alarm, and in a moment numers were on their way to the neighboring villages to raise a war party.

On the sixth of June, the Dahkotahs had assem¬ bled, stripped for a fight, and surrounded the Ojibways. The latter, fearing the worst, con¬ cealed their women and children behind the old barracks which had been used by the troops while the fort was being erected. At the solicitation of the agent and commander of the fort, the Dahko¬ tahs desisted from an attack and retired.

On the seventh, the Ojibways left for their homes; but, in a few hours, while they were making a portage at Falls of St. Anthony, they were again approached by the Dahkotahs, who would have attacked them, if a detachment of troops had not arrived from the fort.

had been killed at the falls, his mother seized an Ojibway maiden, who had been a captive from infancy, and, with a tomahawk, cut her in two. Upon the return of the son in safety he was much gratified at what he considered the prowess of his parent.

On the third of July, 1823, Major Long, of the engineers, arrived at the fort in command of an expedition to explore the Minnesota River, and the region along the northern boundary line of the United States. Beltrami, at the request of Col. Snelling, was permitted to be of the party, and Major Taliaferro kindly gave liirn a horse and equipments.

The relations of the Italian to Major Long were not pleasant, and at Pembina Beltrami left tho expedition, and with a " bois brule ", and two Ojibways proceeded and discovered the northern sources of the Mississippi, and suggested where the western sources would be found ; which was verified by Schoolcraft nine years later. About the second week in September Beltrami returned to tho fort by way of the Mississippi, escorted by forty or fifty Ojibways, and on the 25th departed for New Orleans, where he published his discov¬ eries in tho French language.

The mill which was constructed in 1821, for sawing lumber, at the Falls of St. Anthony, stood upon the site of the Holmes and Sidle Mill, in Minneapolis, and in 1823 was fitted up for grind¬ ing flour. The following extracts from corres¬ pondence addressed to Lieut. Clark, Commissary at Fort Snelling, will be read with interest.

Under the date of August 5th, 1823, General Gibson writes : " From a letter addressed by Col. Snelling to the Quartermaster General, dated the 2d of April, I learn that a large quan¬ tity of wheat would be raised this summer. The assistant Commissary of Subsistence at St. Louis has been instructed to forward sickles and a pair of millstones to St. Peters. If any flour is manu¬ factured from the wheat raised, be pleased to let me know as early as practicable, that I may deduct the quantity manufactured at the post from the quantity advertised to be contracted for."

In another letter, General Gibson writes : " Below you will find the amount charged on the books against the garrison at Ft. St. Anthony, for certain articles, and forwarded for the use of the troops at that post, which you will deduct

First Flour Mill In Minnesota

Upon the 19th of January, 1824, the General writes: " The mode suggested by Col. Snelling, of fixing the price to be paid to the troops for the flour furnished by them is deemed equitable and just. You will accordingly pay for the flour $3.33 per barrel."

Charlotte Ouisconsin Van Clove, now the oldest person living who was connected with the can¬ tonment in 1819, in a paper read before the De¬ partment of American History of the Minnesota Historical Society in January, 1880, wrote :

"In 1823, Mrs. Snelling and my mother estab¬ lished the first Sunday School in the Northwest It was held in the basement of the commanding officer's quarters, and was productive of much good. Many of the soldiers, with their families, attended. Joe. Brown, since so well know in this country, then a drummer boy, was one of the pupils. A Bible class, for the officers and their wives, was formed, and all became so inter¬ ested in the history of the patriarchs, that it fur¬ nished topics of conversation for the week. One day after the Sunday School lesson on the death of Moses, a member of the class meeting my mother on the parade, after exchanging the usual greet¬ ings, said, in saddened tones, ' But don't you feel sorry that Moses is dead V '

Early in the spring of 1824, the Tully boys were rescued from the Sioux and brought to the fort. They were children of one of the settlers of Lord Selkirk's colony, and with their parents and others, were on their way from Red River Valley to settle near Fort Snelling.

The party was attacked by Indians, and the parents of these children murdered, and the boys captured. Through the influence of Col. Snell¬ ing the children were ransomed and brought to the fort. Col. Snelling took John and my father Andrew, the younger of the two. Everyone became interested in the orphans, and we loved Andrew as if he had been our own lit¬ tle brother. John died some two years after his arrival at the fort, and Mrs. Snelling asked me when I last saw her if a tomb stone had been placed at his grave, she as requested, during a visit to the old home some years ago. She said she received a promise that it should be done, and seemed quite disappointed when I told her it had not been attended to."

Andrew Tully, after being educated at an Orphan Asylum in New York City, became a carriage maker, and died a few years ago in that vicinity.

In the year 1824 the Fort was visited by Gen. Scott, on a tour of inspection, and at his sug¬ gestion, its name was changed from Fort St. Anthony to Fort Snelling. The following is an extract from his report to the War Department :

" This work, of which the War Department is in possession of a plan, reflects the highest credit on Col. Snelling, his officers and men. The de¬ fenses, and for the most part, the public store¬ houses, shops .and quarters being constructed of stone, the whole is likely to endure as long as the post shall remain a frontier one. The cost of erection to the government has been the amount paid for tools and iron, and the per diem paid to soldiers employed as mechanics. I wish to suggest to the General in Chief, and through him to the War Department, the propriety of calling this work Fort Snelling, as a just compliment to the meritorious officer under whom it has been erected. The present name, (Fort St. An¬ thony), is foreign to all our associations, and is, besides, geographically incorrect, as the work stands at the junction of the Mississippi and St. Peter's [Minnesota] Rivera, eight miles be¬ low the great falls of the Mississippi, called after St. Anthony."

In 1824, Major Taliaferro proceeded to Wash¬ ington with a delegation of Chippeways and Dahkotalis, headed by Little Crow, the grand father of the chief of the same name, who was engaged in the late horrible massacre of defenceless women and children. The object of the visit, was to secure a convocation of all the tribes of the Upper Mississippi, at Prairie du Cliein, to define their boundary lines and establish friendly rela¬ tions. When they reached Prairie du Cliein, Wahnatah, a Yankton chief, and also Wapashaw, by the whisperings of mean traders, became dis- affected, and wished to turn back. Little Crow, perceiving this, stopped all hesitancy by the fol¬ lowing speech: "My friends, you can do as you please. I am no coward, nor can my ears be pulled about by evil counsels. We are here and should go on, and do some good for our nation. I have taken our Father here (Taliaferro) by the coat tail, and will follow him until I take by the hand, our great American Father."

While on board of a steamer on the Ohio River, Marcpee or the Cloud, in consequence of a bad dream, jumped from the stern of the boat, and was supposed to be drowned, but he swam ashore and made his way to St. Charles, Mo., there to be murdered by some Sacs. The re¬ mainder safely arrived in Washington and ac¬ complished the object of the visit. The Dahkotahs returned by way of New York, and while there were anxious to pay a visit to certain par¬ ties with Wm. Dickson, a half-breed son of Col Robert Dickson, the trader, who in the war of 1812-15 led the Indians of the Northwest against the United States.

After this visit Little Crow carried a new double-barreled gun, and said that a medicine man by the name of Peters gave it to him for signing a certain paper, and that he also prom¬ ised he would send a keel-boat full of goods to them. The medicine man referred to was the Rev. Samuel Peters, an Episcopal clergyman, who had made himself obnoxious during the Revolution by his tory sentiments, and was sub¬ sequently nominated as Rishop of Vermont.

Peters asserted that in 180G he had purchased of the heirs of Jonathan Carver the right to a tract of land on the upper Mississippi, embracing St. Paul, alleged to have been given to Carver by the Dahkotahs, in 1767.

The next year there arrived, in one of the keelboats from Prairie du Chien, at Fort Snelling a box marked Col. Robert Dickson. On opening, it was found to contain a few' presents from Peters to Dickson's Indian wife, a long letter, and a copy of Carver's alleged grant, written on parch¬ ment.

Events Of Tiie Years 1825 And 1820

Forty years ago, the means of communication between Fori Snelling and the civilized world were very limited. The mail in winter was usu¬ ally carried by soldiers to Prairie du Chien. On the 26th of January, 1826, there wjis great joy in the fort, caused by the return from furlough of Lieutenants Baxley and Russell, who brought with them the first mail received for five months. About this period there was also another excite¬ ment, cause by the seizure of liquors in the trad" ing house of Alexis Bailey, at New Hope, now Mendota.

During the months of February and March, in this year, snow fell to the depth of two or three feet, and there V'as great suffering among the Indians. On one occasion, thirty lodges of Sisseton and other Sioux were overtaken by a snow storm on a large prairie. The storm continued for three days, and provisions grew scarce, for the party were seventy in number. At last, the stronger men, with the few pairs of snow-shoes in their possession, started for a trading post one hundred miles distant. They reached their des¬ tination half alive, and the traders sympathizing sent four Canadians with supplies for those left behind. After great toil they reached the scene of distress, and found many dead, and, what was more horrible, the living feeding on the corpses of their relatives. A mother had eaten her dead child and . a portion of her own father's arms. Tho shock to her nervous system was so great that she lost her reason. Iler name was Pashuno-ta, and she was both young and good look¬ ing. One day in Septeml>er, while at Fort Snell¬ ing, she asked Captain Jouett if he knew which was the best portion of a man to eat, at the same time taking him by the collar of his coat. He replied with great astonishment, "No !" and she then said, "The arms." She then asked for a piece of his servant to eat, as she was nice and fat. A few days after this she dashed herself from the bluffs near Fort Snelling, into tho river. Her body was found just above the mouth of the Minnesota, and decently interred by the agent.

Negro Slaves At Fort 8Nelling

heaps from six to fifteen feet in height. On the 6th of April, early in the day, there was a violent storm, and the ice was still thick in the river. During the storm (lashes of lightning were seen and thunder heard. On the 10th, the thermome¬ ter was four degrees alxive zero. On the 14th there was rain, and on the next day the St. Peter river broke up, but the ice on the Mississippi re¬ mained firm. On the 21st, at noon, the ice began to move, and carried away Mr. Faribault's houses on the east side of the river. For several days the river was twenty feet above low water mark, and all the houses on low lands were swept off. On the second of May, the steamboat Lawrence, Captain Reeder, arrived.

Major Taliaferro had inherited several slaves, which he used to hire to officers of the garrison. On the 31st of March, his negro boy. William, was employed by Col. Snelling. the latter agree¬ ing to clothe him. About this time. William at¬ tempted to shoot a hawk, but instead shot a small boy, named Ilenry Cullum, and nearly killed him. In May, Captain Plympton, of the Fifth Infantry, wished to purchase his negro woman, Eliza, but he refused, as it was his intention, ultimately, to free his slaves. Another of his negro girls, Har¬ riet, was married at the fort, the Major perform¬ ing the ceremony, to the now historic Dred Scott, who was then a slave of Surgeon Emerson. The only person that ever purchased a slave, to retain In slavery, was Alexis Bailly, who bought a man of Major Garland. The Sioux, at first, had no prejudices against negroes. They called them " Black Frenchmen," and placing their hands on their woolly heads would laugh heartily.

Life within the walls of a fort is sometimes the exact contrast of a paradise. In the year 1826 a Pandora box was opened, among the officers, and dissensions began to prevail. One young officer, a graduate of West Point, whose father had been a professor in Princeton College, fought a duel with, and slightly wounded, William Joseph, the talented son of Colonel Snelling, who was then twenty -two years of age, and had been three years at West Point. At a Court Martini convened to try the officer for violating the Articles of War, the accused objected to the testimony of Lieut. William Alexander, a Tennesseean, not a gradu¬ ate of the Military Academy, on the ground that he was an infidel. Alexander, hurt by this allu¬ sion, challenged the objector, and another duel was fought, resulting only in slight injuries to the clothing of the combatants. Inspector Gen¬ eral E. P. Gaines, after this, visited the fort, and in his report of the inspection he wrote : " A defect in the discipline of this regiment has ap¬ peared in the character 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 developed iu the proceedings of a general court martial ordered for the trial of Lieutenant Hun¬ ter and other officers at Jefferson Barracks.

41 From a conversation with the Colonel I can have no doubt that he has erred in the course pursued by him in reference to some of the con¬ troversies, inasmuch as he has intimated to his officers his willingness to sanction in certain cases, and even to participate in personal conflicts, con¬ trary to the twenty-fifth, Article of War."

The Colonel's son, William Joseph, after this passed several years among traders and Indians, and became distinguished as a poet and brilliant author.

Ilis "Tales of the Northwest," published in Boston in 1820, by Hilliard, Gray, Little & Wil¬ kins, is a work of great literary ability, and Catlin thought the book was the most faithful pictureof Indian life lie had read. Some of his j>oems were also of a high order. One of his pieces, deficient in dignity, was a caustic satire upon modern American poets, and was published under the title of " Truth, a Gift for Scribblers."

In the year 1820, a small party of O jib ways (Chippeways) came to see the Indian Agent, and three of them ventured to visit the Colum¬ bia Fur Company's trading house, two miles from the Fort. While there, they became aware of their danger, and desired two of the white men attached to the establishment to accompany them back, thinking that their pres¬ ence might be some protection. They were in error. As they passed a little copse, three Dahkotalis sprang from behind a log with the speed of light, fired their pieces into the face of the fore¬ most, and then fled. The guns must have been double loaded, for the man's head was literally blown from his shoulders, and his white com¬ panions were spattered with brains and blood. The survivors gained the Fort without further molestation. Their comrade was buried on the spot where he fell. A staff was set up on his grave, which became a landmark, and received the name of The Murder Pole. The murderers boasted of their achievement and with impunity. They and their tribe thought that they had struck a fair blow on their ancient enemies, in a becom¬ ing manner. It was only said, that Toopunkah Zeze of the village of the 1 hit Lure aux Fievres , and two others, had each acquired a right to wear skunk skins on their heels and war-eagles' feathers on their heads.

On the twenty-eighth of May, 1827, the Ojibway chief at Sandy Lake, Kee-wee-zais-hish called by the English, Flat Moulli with seven warriors and some women and children, in all amounting to twenty-four, arrived alxmt sunrise at Fort Snelling. Walking to the gates of the garrison, they asked the protection of Colonel Snelling and Taliaferro, the Indian agent. They were told, that as long as they remained under the United States flag, they were secure, and wero ordered to encamp within musket shot of the high stone walls of the fort.

During the afternoon, a Dahkolah, Ti>opunkah Zeze, from a village near the first rapids of the Minnesota, visited the O jibway camp. They were cordially received, and a feast of meat and com and sugar, was soon made ready. The wooden plates emptied of their contents, they engaged in conversation, and whiffed the peace pipe.

That night, some officers and their friends were spending a pleasant evening at the head-quarters of Captain Clark, which was in one of the stone houses which used to stand outside of the walls of the fort. As Captain Cruger was walking on the porch, a bullet whizzed by, and rapid firing was heard.

As the Dahkotahs, or Sioux, left the Ojibway camp, notwithstanding their friendly bilk, they turned and discharged their guns with deadly aim upon their entertainers, and ran off with a shout of satisfaction. The report was heard by the sentinel of the fort, and he cried, repeatedly, " Corporal of the guard I" and soon at the gates, were the Ojibways, with their women and the wounded, telling their tale of woe in wild and in¬ coherent language. Two had been killed and six wounded. Among others, was a little girl about seven years old, who was pierced through both thighs with r, bullet. Surgeon McMahon made every effort to save her life, but without avail.

Flat Mouth, the chief, reminded Colonel Snel¬ ling that he had been attacked while under the protection of the United States flag, and early the next morning, Captain Clark, with one hundred soldiers, proceeded towards Land's End, a tra¬ ding-post of the Columbia Fur Company, on the Minnesota, a mile above the former residence of

Tragic Scene Under The Weills Of The Fort

Franklin Steele, where the Dalikotalis were sup¬ posed to be. The soldiers had just left the large gate of the fort, when a party of Dahkotahs, in battle array, appeared on one of the prairie hills. After some parleying they turned their backs, and being pursued, thirty-two were cap¬ tured near the trading- post.

Colonel Snelliug ordered the prisoners to be brought before the Ojibways, and two being pointed out as participants in the slaughter of the preceding night, they were delivered to the aggrieved party to deal with in accordance with their customs. They were led out to the plain in front of the gate of the fort, and when placed nearly without the range of the Ojibway guns, they were told to run for their lives. With the rapidity of deer they bounded away, but the Ojil>- way bullet Hew fsister, and after a few steps, they fell gasping on the ground, and were soon lifeless. Then the savage nature displayed itself in all its hideousness. Women and children danced for joy, and placing their fingers in the bullet holes, from which the blood oozed, they licked them with delight. The men tore the scalps from the dead, and seemed to luxuriate in the privilege of plunging their knives through the corpses. After the execution, the Ojibways returned to the fort, and were met by the Colonel. lie had prevented all over whom his authority extended from wit¬ nessing the scene, and had done his best to con¬ fine the excitement to the Indians. The same day a deputation of Dahkotah warriors received audience, regretting the violence that had been done by their young men, and agreeing to deliver up the ringleaders.

At the time apixiinted, a son of Flat Mouth, with those of the Ojibwa party that were not wounded, escorted by United States troops, marched forth to meet the Dahkotah deputation, on the prairie just beyond the old residence of the Indian agent. With much solemnity two more of the guilty were handed over to the assaulted. One was fearless, and with firmness stripped himself of his clothing and ornaments, and distributed them. The other could not face death with composure. lie was noted for a hid¬ eous hate-lip, and had a bad reputation among his fellows. In the spirit of a coward he prayed for life, to the mortification of his trilie. The same opportunity was presented to them as to the first, of running for their lives. At the first fire the coward fell a corpse; but his brave compan¬ ion, though wounded, ran on, and had nearly reached the goal of safety, when a second bullet killed him. The body of the coward now became a common object of loathing for both Dahkotahs and Ojibways.

Colonel Snelliug told the Ojibways that the bodies must l>e removed, and then they took the scalped Dahkotahs, and dragging them by the heels, threw them off the bluff into the river, a hundred and fifty feet beneath. The dreadful scene was now over ; and a detaclunent of troops was sent with the old chief Flat Mouth, to escort him out of the reach of Dahkotah vengeance.

An eyewitness wrote : " After this catastrophe, all the Dahkotahs quitted the vicin ity of Fort Snelling, .and did not return to it for soino months. It was said that they formed a conspiracy to de¬ mand a council, and kill the Indian Agent and the commanding officer. If this was a fact, they had no opportunity, or wanted the spirit, to exe¬ cute their purpose.

" The Flat Mouth's band lingered in the fort till their wounded comrade died. lie was sensi¬ ble of his condition, and bore his pains with great fortitude. When he felt his end approach, he desired that his lioree might lie gaily caparisoned, and brought to the hospital window, so that he might touch the animal. lie then took from his medicine bag a large cake of maple sugar, and held it forth. It may seem strange, lmt it is true, that the beast ate it from his hand. Ilis features were radiant with delight as he fell back on the pillow exhausted. His horse had eaten the sugar, ho said, and lie was sure of a favorable reception and comfortable quarters in the other world. Half an hour after, he breathed his last. We tried to discover the details of his superstition, but could not succeed. It is a subject on which Indians unwillingly discourse."

In the fall of 1S2(», all the troops at Prairie du Chien had been removed to Fort Snelling, the commander taking with him two Winnebagoes that hail been confined in Fort Crawford. After the soldiers left the Prairie, the Indians in the vicinity were quite insolent.

the site of the present town of Winona, the crew were ordered to come asiiore by the Dahkotahs. Complying, they found themselves surrounded by Indians with hostile intentions. The boatmen had no fire-arms, but assuming a bold mien and a defiant voice, the captain of the keel-boats ordered the savages to leave the decks ; which was suc¬ cessful, The boats pushed on, and at Red Wing and Kaposia the Indians showed that they were not friendly, though they did not molest the boats. Before they started on their return from Fort Snelling, the men on board, amounting to thirty-two, were all provided with muskets and a barrel of ball cartridges.

When the descending keel-boats passed Wapashaw, the Dahkotas were engaged in the war dance, and menaced them, but made no attack. Below this point one of the boats moved in ad¬ vance of the other, and when near the mouth of the Bad Axe, the half-breeds on board descried hostile Indians on the banks. As the channel neared the shore, the sixteen men on the first boat were greeted with the war whoop and a vol¬ ley of rifle balls from the excited Winnebagoes, killing two of the crew. Rushing into their ca¬ noes, the Indians made the attempt to board the boat, and two were successful. One of these stationed himself at the bow of the boat, and fired with killing effect on the men below deck. An old soldier of the last war with Great Britain, called Saucy Jack, at last despatched him, and began to rally the fainting spirits on board. Du¬ ring the fight the boat had stuck on a sand-bar. With four companions, amid a shower of balls from the savages, he plunged into the water and pushed off the boat, and thus moved out of reach of the galling shots of the Winnebagoes. As they floated down the river during the night, they heard a wail in a canoe behind them, the voice of a father mourning the death of the son who had scaled the deck, and was now a corpse in possession of the white men. The rear boat passed the Bad Axe river late in the night, and escaped an attack.

The first keel-boat arrived at Prairie du Chein, with two of their crew dead, four wounded, and the Indian that had been killed on the boat. The two dead men had been residents of the Prairie, and now the panic was increased. On the morn¬ ing of the twenty-eighth of June the second keel -boat appeared, and among her passengers was Joseph Snelling, the talented son of the colonel, who wrote a story of deep interest, based on the facts narrated.

At a meeting of the citizens it was resolved to repair old Fort Crawford, and Thomas McNair was appointed captain. Dirt was thrown around the bottem logs of the fortification to prevent its being fired, and young Snelling was put in com¬ mand of one of the block-houses. On the next day a voyageur named Loyer, and the well-known trader Duncan Graham, started through the in¬ terior, west of the Mississippi, with intelligence of the murders, to Fort Snelling. Intelligence of this attack was received at the fort, on the evening of the ninth of July, and Col. Snelling started in keel boats with four companies to Fort Crawford, and on the seventeenth four more companies left under Major Fowle. After an absence of six weeks, the soldiers, without firing a gun at the enemy, returned.

A few weeks after the attack upon the keel boats General Gaines inspected the Fort, and, subsequently in a communication to the War Department wrote as follows ;

" The main points of defence against an enemy appear to have been in some resects sacrificed, in the effort to secure the comfort and conven¬ ience of troops in peace. These are important considerations, but on an exposed frontier the primary object ought to be security against the attack of an enemy.

" The buildings are too huge, too numerous, and extending over a space entirely too great, enclosing a large parade, live times greater than is at all desireable 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 securi¬ ty as barracks and store houses.

" The work may be rendered very strong and adapted to a garrison of two hundred men by re¬ moving one-half the buildings, and with the ma¬ terials of which they are constructed, building a tower sufficiently high to command the hill be¬ tween the Mississippi and St. Peter's [Minnesota], and by a block house on the extreme point, or brow of the cliff, near the commandant's quarters, to secure most effectually the banks of the river, and the boats at the landing.

Death Of Col. Josiah Snellino

"Much cr '.flit i» clue to Colonel Snelling, his officers and men, for their immense labors and excellent workmanship exhibited in the construc¬ tion of these barracks and store houses, but this has been effected too much at the expense of the discipline of the regiment."

Prom reports made from 1823 to 1826, the health of the troops was good. In the year ending Sep¬ tember thirty, 1823, there were but two deaths ; in 1824 only six, and in 1825 but seven.

In 1824 there were three desertions, in 1824 twenty- two, and in 1825 twenty-nine. Most of the deserters were fresh recruits and natives of America, Ten of the deserters were foreigners, and five of these were 1mm in Ireland. In 1826 there were eight companies numbering two hun¬

During the fall of 1827 the Fifth Regiment was relieved by a part of the First, and the next year Colonel Snelling proceeded to Washington on bus¬ iness, where he died with inflammation of the brain. Major General Macomb announcing his death in an order, wrote :

" Colonel Snelling joined the army in early youth. In the battle of Tippecanoe, he was 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 honor to his country."