Old Fort Snelling Part 13

CHAPTER III

[88] See Miss Gallaher's article on _The Military-Indian Frontier 1830-1835_ in _The Iowa Journal of History and Politics_, Vol. XV, pp.

393-428.

[89] Langham to Taliaferro, August 19, 1820.--_Taliaferro Letters_, Vol.

I, No. 62.

[90] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. II, p. 117.

[91] Neill's _The History of Minnesota_ (Fourth Edition), p. 901.

[92] Marsh to Taliaferro, June 26, 1827.--_Taliaferro Letters_, Vol. I, No. 76.

[93] This was the opening of the Winnebago War, often called the "Red Bird War". Accounts of it are given in William Joseph Snelling's _Early Days at Prairie du Chien_ in the _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, Vol. V, pp. 144-153; and _State Papers_, 1st Session, 20th Congress, Vol. I, Doc.u.ment No. 1, pp. 150-163.

[94] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. II, p. 118.

[95] For the movement of troops see _State Papers_, 1st Session, 20th Congress, Vol. I, Doc.u.ment No. 1, pp. 150-163.

[96] Taliaferro to Ca.s.s, October 4, 1832.--_Indian Office Files_, 1832, No. 226.

[97] _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 2nd Session, 30th Congress, Vol. I, Doc.u.ment No. 1, pp. 439, 440, 459; Neill's _The History of Minnesota_ (Fourth Edition), pp. 483-487.

[98] For an account of the Winnebagoes and their many migrations see Jackson's _A Century of Dishonor_, pp. 218-256.

[99] _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. III, Pt. 2, Doc.u.ment No. 5, pp. 1028, 1029; _The Minnesota Pioneer_, September 13, 1849.

[100] _The Minnesota Pioneer_, November 28, December 12, 1849.

[101] _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 32nd Congress, Vol. II, Pt. 3, Doc.u.ment No. 2, p. 421. "The recent arrival at Fort Snelling of a company of dragoons, so long wanted, will greatly a.s.sist in intercepting the migration southward of this discontented people."--Report of Alexander Ramsey, October 21, 1850, in _Senate Doc.u.ments_, 2nd Session, 31st Congress, Vol. I, Doc.u.ment No. 1, p. 81.

[102] This reservation was agreed upon by the treaty concluded at Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., on February 27, 1855; Kappler's _Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties_, Vol. II, pp. 690-693.

[103] _Senate Doc.u.ments_, 2nd Session, 28th Congress, Vol. I, Doc.u.ment No. 1, pp. 316, 423.

[104] Bryce's _The Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company_, pp.

365-372. A description of a hunt, written in French by Rev. M. Belcourt, is given in _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol.

VIII, Doc.u.ment No. 51, pp. 44-52.

[105] _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. VIII, Doc.u.ment No. 51, p. 4.

[106] This was during the period that Professor William A. Dunning describes as "The Roaring Forties". "And the far flung interests of the British Empire need no more striking ill.u.s.tration than the fact that in whatever direction the Americans sought to expand their bounds, whether on the Atlantic or on the Pacific, in the Gulf of the tropics or under the Arctic circle, they found subjects of the Queen, with vested rights, opposing the movement."--Dunning's _The British Empire and the United States_, pp. 96, 97.

[107] Captain Sumner's report is printed in the _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 29th Congress, Vol. I, Doc.u.ment No. 2, pp. 217-220. It is reprinted with explanatory notes in _The Iowa Journal of History and Politics_, Vol. XI, pp. 258-267.

[108] The report of Major Woods is printed in _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. VIII, Doc.u.ment No. 51. It contains fifty-five pages. Accompanying the expedition was John Pope, Brevet Captain of the Topographical Engineers. His report is published in _Senate Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. X, Doc.u.ment No.

42. There is an excellent map attached to the report.

[109] Colonel Smith's report is printed in the _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 2nd Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Pt. II, Doc.u.ment No. 1, pp.

426-454.

[110] Ansel Briggs to the Secretary of War.--_Indian Office Files_, 1849, No. 206. The pet.i.tion was dated Was.h.i.+ngton, Iowa, July 31, 1849.--_Indian Office Files_, 1849, No. 208.

[111] Major Woods's report is found in the _Indian Office Files_, 1849, No. 174.

[112] _The Minnesota Pioneer_, April 3, 1850.

[113] _The Minnesota Pioneer_, May 16, 1850.

[114] See the letter of William Hutchinson, who was one of the party. It is published in _The Minnesota Pioneer_, June 13, 1850. "Iowa City looks as it did five years ago", he wrote. "A few houses were built since that time; but evidently were not the capitol located at this place, it would be no _great shakes_, though in time it is bound to come out. Some years since, Uncle Sam erected expensive bridges for the good citizens of Iowa, betwixt Dubuque and Iowa City; and strange to say the people are suffering them to rot down without covering them. Iowa City has grown in ten years as large as Saint Paul, which is not 2 years old. Steamboats often get up to this place, but all will not suffice."

[115] Report of Major Woods.--_Indian Office Files_, 1850, No. 363.

[116] _The Iowa Star_ (Fort Des Moines), July 18, 1850.

[117] _The Annals of Iowa_ (First Series), Vol. VII, pp. 284, 285.

"Part of Company D. 1st regiment of U. S. Dragoons under command of Lieut. Gardner pa.s.sed through here on their way to the Missouri river.

We understand they intend to pay a visit to the Indian tribes on the upper Missouri and from thence across Minnesota Territory to their quarters at Ft. Snelling."--Quoted from the _Fort Des Moines Gazette_ in the _Miners' Express_ (Dubuque), September 4, 1850. The return of the troops to Fort Snelling is noted in _The Minnesota Pioneer_, October 3, 1850.

[118] _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 32nd Congress, Vol. II, Pt. 3, Doc.u.ment No. 2, p. 284. An account of the journey is printed in _The Minnesota Pioneer_, February 12, 1852.

[119] Asa Whitney, a New York merchant, pet.i.tioned Congress in January, 1845, for a franchise and a grant of land to make this dream a reality.--_Congressional Globe_, 2nd Session, 28th Congress, pp. 218, 219.

[120] Act of March 3, 1853.--_United States Statutes at Large_, Vol. X, p. 219.

[121] _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 2nd Session, 33rd Congress, Doc.u.ment No.

91, pp. 1, 13, 74.

[122] _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 36th Congress, Doc.u.ment No.

56, p. 36; _Post Returns_, May, 1853, in the archives of the War Department, Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C.

[123] A brief account of the expedition is given in Paxson's _The Last American Frontier_, pp. 197-203. The reports of all the surveys were published by the government. That of Governor Stevens consists of 651 pages, added to the report of the Secretary of War, published in _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 2nd Session, 33rd Congress, Doc.u.ment No. 91. In 1859 Governor Stevens submitted a _Narrative and Final Report_, published in two parts in the _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 36th Congress, Doc.u.ment No. 56. The various reports of all the explorers are bound in a set of twelve volumes, in which Governor Stevens's first account may be found in Vol. I, and the later narrative in Vol. XII, Pts. I and II.

[124] Order No. 7 stated: "It is considered of great consequence that the several trains should not be intermingled; and the dragoons attached to the several parties will continue with them, camping and working with them, receiving their orders only from their particular chiefs, even when the whole force is brought together."--_Executive Doc.u.ments_, 2nd Session, 33rd Congress, Doc.u.ment No. 91, p. 46.

[125] _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 2nd Session, 28th Congress, Vol. I, Doc.u.ment No. 2, p. 112.

[126] Kappler's _Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties_, Vol. II, p. 566.

[127] Kappler's _Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties_, Vol. II, pp.

567-570.

[128] _Minnesota Historical Collections_, Vol. X, Pt. I, p. 181.

[129] _Executive Doc.u.ments_, 2nd Session, 30th Congress, Vol. I, Doc.u.ment No. 1, p. 161.

[130] _Senate Doc.u.ments_, 1st Session, 31st Congress, Vol. I, Doc.u.ment No. 1, pp. 180-183.