Bdóte Bdóte ("meeting of waters" or "where two rivers meet") is considered a place of spiritual importance to the Dakota.
A Dakota-English Dictionary (1852), edited by missionary
Stephen Return Riggs, originally recorded the word as
mdóte, noting that it was also "a name commonly applied to the country about Fort Snelling, or mouth of the Saint Peters", now known as the Minnesota River. According to Riggs, "The
Mdewakantonwan think that the mouth of the Minnesota River is precisely over the center of the Earth and that they occupy the gate that opens into the western world.". The confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers also became a place where
Native Americans signed treaties with the
United States: the 1805 Treaty of St. Peters signed by the
Mdewakanton Dakota, the
1837 White Pine Treaty signed by several
Ojibwe bands, and the
1851 Treaty of Mendota signed by representatives of the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute Dakota.
Land cession treaty acquired the land for the fort in 1805 In 1805, Lieutenant
Zebulon Pike signed a treaty he was unauthorized to create, known as
Pike's Purchase (
1805 Treaty of St. Peters). Seven Dakota members were present, with only two signing the treaty: Cetan Wakuwa Mani (Petit Corbeau) and Way Aga Enogee (Waynyaga Inaźin). It ceded 155,320 acres of land in the area (400 km2).Legal scholars, historians, and the Dakota have long raised questions about the 1805 treaty's validity. Although Pike was an army officer, he was not authorized to sign a treaty on behalf of the United States, nor were there any formal witnesses. From a legal point of view, the land the signers intended to
convey was inadequately described. On April 16, 1808, when the
U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, it approved payment to the Dakota of only $2,000. In 1819, payment for the ceded lands arrived when the
United States Department of War sent Major Thomas Forsyth to distribute goods worth approximately $2,000. In 1838, Indian agent
Lawrence Taliaferro paid a further $4,000 to try to settle the matter with the other Dakota band. The issue was raised in treaty negotiations in the 1850s. The moral legitimacy of the land title is still disputed.
Pike Island, at the mouth of the
Minnesota River, was later named after Zebulon Pike.
Frontier post After the
War of 1812, the
United States Department of War built a chain of forts and installed
Indian agents from
Lake Michigan to the
Missouri River in South Dakota. These forts were intended to extend the United States presence into the northwest territories after the
Treaty of Ghent and the demarcation of the
49th parallel. The treaty restricted British-Canadian traders from operating in the US. The forts were intended to enforce that, as well as to keep Indian lands free of white settlement until permitted by treaty. The forts were seen as the embodiment of federal authority, representing law and order, and protected pioneers and traders. The Fort Snelling garrison also attempted to keep the peace among the
Dakota and other tribes. Also built on army land was the St. Peter's Indian Agency at Mendota. The Anglo-Europeans called the Minnesota River the St. Peter's and the Indian Agency was part of Fort Snelling from 1820 to 1853. Lieutenant Colonel
Henry Leavenworth commanded the expedition of
5th Infantry that built the initial outpost in 1819. That
cantonment was called "New Hope" and was on the river flats along the Minnesota River. Leavenworth lost 40 men to
scurvy that winter and moved his encampment to
Camp Coldwater because he felt the riverside location contributed to the outbreak. The new camp was near a
spring closer to the fortification he was constructing. That spring was the fort's source of drinking water throughout the 19th century. It held spiritual significance for the
Sioux. Fort Snelling has one of the nation's longest near-continuous weather records. In 1820, Colonel
Josiah Snelling took command of the outpost and the fort's construction. Upon completion in 1824, he christened his work "Fort St. Anthony" for the
waterfalls just upriver. General
Winfield Scott changed the name to Fort Snelling in recognition of the fort's architect commander. From construction in 1820 to closure in 1858, four army units garrisoned the fort—the 1st,
5th,
6th, Colonel
Zachary Taylor assumed command in 1828. He observed that the "
buffalo are entirely gone and bear and deer are scarcely seen." He also wrote that the "Indians subsist principally on fish,
water fowl and
wild rice". While Taylor was posted to Fort Snelling, eight adult enslaved people with him died, as did several minors. Taliaferro also served as the Territorial
Justice of Peace until 1838, when the governor of Iowa named
Henry Sibley as his replacement. The Agency was used to hold court, and those incarcerated were sent to Fort Snelling's round tower. The town of St. Paul also sent its criminals to the tower until it built its first jail in 1851. There were 21 enslaved people with Taliaferro, one of whom was
Harriet Robinson. She married
Dred Scott, with Taliaferro officiating, at Mendota.
John Marsh arrived at the fort during the early 1820s. He started the first school in the
Territory for the officers' children. Marsh developed a relationship with the Dakota, and compiled a dictionary of the Mendota tribe's dialect. He had studied medicine at
Harvard without earning a degree. He continued his studies under the tutelage of the fort's physician, Dr. Purcell, but Purcell died before he completed the coursework, and Marsh moved west. Major Plympton became the post commander in August 1837. He prioritized determining the actual boundaries of the fort's land, doing two surveys. After the second, he sent troops to evict "Pig's Eye"
Pierre Parrant from Fountain Cave downriver. Parrant's tavern there was the first commercial venture in what became St. Paul. Parrant was a notorious
bootlegger doing business with the Dakota and the soldiers, causing trouble for the fort commander. After his eviction, Parrant's cave remained a popular place for Fort Snelling's soldiers, as a nearby beer pavilion opened in 1852, serving refreshments and lights for people to explore the cave. The eviction coincided with the arrival of the
Catholic missionary
Lucian Galtier. That year also saw the arrival of
Pierre Bottineau, who served the fort as a guide and interpreter. Lieutenant Colonel
Seth Eastman was commander of the fort twice in the 1840s. Eastman was an artist. He has been recognized for his extensive work recording the Dakota. His skill was such that Congress commissioned him to illustrate
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's six-volume study
Indian Tribes of the United States. The set was published between 1851 and 1857 with hundreds of his works. From 1833 to 1836 the surgeon Nathan Sturges Jarvis was stationed at Fort Snelling. During that time he acquired a notable collection of northern plains Native American artifacts now housed at the
Brooklyn Museum. • In 1848 the Fort's Military Reservation was declared too big, with the lands east of the Mississippi detached and sold. That land created much of what became St. Paul. • In 1850 E Co of the 6th Infantry was sent south to build
Fort Dodge and garrisoned the fort until the army closed it and sent E Co. to help construct Fort Ridgely. • Also in 1853, Congress authorized money specifically to "mount" E Company of the 3rd Artillery to be stationed at Fort Snelling and Fort Ridgely until May 1861. • 1856 Major
Edward Canby was fort commander. He became a general, the only one killed in the Indian wars. The town of Canby is named for him. • 1857–1861 G, I, and L Companies 2nd Artillery were variously posted to northern forts Snelling, Ridgely, and Ripley. • 1864–65 The Minnesota Valley Railroad completed a line from St. Paul to Minneapolis crossing the river at Mendota and passing beneath the fort. Pilings remain of the line's river crossing. As Minneapolis and St. Paul grew and with Minnesota statehood before Congress, the need for a forward frontier military post had ceased. In 1857, with the fort's deactivation looming, the garrison was sent to
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to join the other units being sent to Utah for what became known as the
Utah War. With the departure of the
10th Infantry, Fort Snelling was designated as surplus government property. The balance of that original land is now broken into Historic Fort Snelling Interpretive Center (300 acres),
Fort Snelling State Park (2,931 acres),
Fort Snelling National Cemetery (436 acres), Fort Snelling VA Hospital (160 acres), Minnesota Veterans Home (53 acres), the Coldwater Spring unit of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (29 acres), the Upper Post Veterans Home, and
Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and the
Minneapolis-St Paul Joint Air Reserve Station (2,930 acres). • Fort Snelling watercolor by Lieutenant Sully, October 1855.
Slavery at the fort When Fort Snelling was built in 1820, fur traders and officers at the post, including Colonel Snelling, employed slave labor for cooking, cleaning, and other domestic chores. Although slavery was a violation of both the
Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the
Missouri Compromise of 1820, an estimated 15–30 Africans were enslaved at the fort. US Army officers submitted pay vouchers to cover the expenses of retaining enslaved persons. From 1855 to 1857, nine people were enslaved at Fort Snelling. The last slave-holding unit was the 10th Infantry. Slavery was made unconstitutional in Minnesota when the state constitution was ratified in 1858. &
Harriet Scott 1836–1840 at Fort Snelling Two women who had lived enslaved at Fort Snelling sued for their freedom and were set free in 1836. One, Rachel, was enslaved by Lieutenant Thomas Stockton at Fort Snelling from 1830 to 1831, then at
Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien until 1834. When Rachel and her son were sold in St. Louis, she sued, claiming she had been illegally enslaved in the
Minnesota Territory. In 1836 the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in her favor, making her a free person. Courtney had another son,
Godfrey, who remained in Minnesota when she was sent to a
slave market in St. Louis. He was involved in the Dakota War and was the first defendant on the docket of the military tribunal for hanging. The fort surgeon, John Emerson, purchased Dred Scott at a slave market in St. Louis, where slavery was legal. Emerson was posted to Fort Snelling during the 1830s and brought Scott north with him. Minnesota units mustered in at Fort Snelling: • 1st Minnesota April 1861 (lineage today:
2nd Battalion 135th Infantry) •
2nd Minnesota June–July 1861 (lineage today:
136th Infantry Regiment) •
3rd Minnesota Oct–Nov 1861 •
4th Minnesota Oct–Nov 1861 •
5th Minnesota Mar–Apr 1862 •
6th Minnesota Sep–Nov 1862 •
7th Minnesota Aug–Oct 1862 •
8th Minnesota Jun–Sep 1862 •
9th Minnesota Aug–Oct 1862 •
10th Minnesota Aug–Nov 1862 •
11th Minnesota Aug–Sep 1864 •
1st Minnesota Infantry Battalion Aug–Sep 1864 •
1st Minnesota Sharpshooters Company Apr 1864 •
2nd Minnesota Sharpshooters Company Jan 1862 •
1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery Nov 1864 (today 151st Field Artillery) •
1st Minnesota Light Artillery Battery Nov 1861 •
2nd Minnesota Light Artillery Battery Mar 1862 •
3rd Minnesota Light Artillery Battery Feb 1863 •
1st Minnesota Cavalry Oct–Dec 1862 •
2nd Minnesota Cavalry Regiment Dec 1863 •
1st Minnesota Light Cavalry(Bracket's Battalion) Sep–Nov 1861 •
Minnesota Independent Cavalry Battalion (Hatch's Battalion) Jul 1863 • During the war, slightly over 100 African Americans approached Fort Snelling to volunteer for military service. • In 1830 Fort Snelling was the birthplace of
John Taylor Wood. He served on the
Merrimack at the
Battle of Hampton Roads during the Civil War. In 1860 and 1863 the
Minnesota State Fair was held at the fort. In 1865 the Minnesota Central Railroad completed a rail line from Northfield to Mendota. There the line crossed the river to Fort Snelling, continuing to Minneapolis. In June 1865 the 10th US Infantry Hq, D, and F Companies returned to the 10th's prewar post at Fort Snelling.
Dakota War On 19 August 1862, after hearing of
attacks at the Lower Sioux Agency the day before, Governor
Alexander Ramsey immediately went from St. Paul to Fort Snelling to assess military preparedness. He ordered troops training at or near the fort to be detained from being sent east to fight in the
American Civil War. The same day, he asked his longtime friend and political rival, former Governor
Henry Hastings Sibley, to lead an expedition up the
Minnesota River to end the
siege at Fort Ridgely. Ramsey gave him a commission as colonel and turned over four companies of the newly organized
6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment to Sibley at Fort Snelling. The fort became the rendezvous point for the state and federal military forces during the
Dakota War of 1862. , winter 1862 In November 1862, 1,658 Dakota, all innocent non-combatants, were moved from the
Lower Sioux Agency to Fort Snelling, escorted by 300 soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel
William Rainey Marshall. They were mostly Dakota women and children. They included 22 Franco-Dakota and Anglo-Dakota men who had not been tried, as well as Christian and farmer Dakota such as Taopi, Chief
Wabasha, Joseph Kawanke, Paul Mazakutemani, Lorenzo Lawrence,
John Other Day and
Snana, who had opposed
Chief Little Crow III and the "hostile" faction during the war. An encampment was created below the fort on
Pike Island. The Dakota had brought their own tipis and household goods with them, and set up more than 200 tipis. The Dakota wintered there in 1862–63. An estimated 102 to 300 Dakota died due to the harsh conditions, lack of food,
measles, and
cholera. The descendants of the displaced Dakota reside there today. A memorial outside the Fort Snelling State Park visitor center commemorates the Native Americans who died during this period. Because of the prevailing attitudes towards all "Indians", the
Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) living outside
Mankato were also sent to Fort Snelling. There, they too were put on riverboats for Crow Creek. They lost 500 along the way and once there, they and the Dakota lost another 1,300 to
starvation. and
Medicine Bottle, November 11, 1865, Fort Snelling In October 1863, Major E. A. C. Hatch and his battalion were ordered from Fort Snelling to retrieve Dakota leaders who had crossed into Canada. Winter set in before they reached Pembina in Dakota Territory. Hatch made an encampment at Pembina, sending 20 men across the border. They encountered and killed Minnesota Dakota at St. Joseph in the Northwest Territory. Chief Little Leaf evaded capture.
Indian Wars and Spanish–American War Steele had made plans and plotted his purchase to build the City of Fort Snelling. He failed to make the agreed payments, causing the government to revoke the sale and repossess the fort lands. Placing the
Department of the Northwest at Fort Snelling led to the fort's further development in 1866 when the department transitioned to the
Department of Dakota. In March 1869 the 20th Regiment was transferred from Louisiana to the Department of Dakota. Headquarters, band and E Company were posted to Fort Snelling. , 1880–1912 In 1878, the
United States Army assigned the
7th Infantry to garrison the fort. Six companies arrived in September. That year Congress approved $100,000 to be spent on the Department of Dakota and the old fort's walls were torn down for reuse in the new construction. In October 1879, the remaining four companies of the 7th Infantry arrived and took over garrison duties. The six companies that had been the garrison departed to fight the
Utes at
White River, Colorado. They returned to Fort Snelling in 1880. The 25th's HQ, band and four companies garrisoned the fort until 1888, when they were relieved by the
3rd Infantry. During the 1880s, companies of the
7th Cavalry were at the fort. Ten others were wounded in the battle. Among them were five Minnesotans: Privates George Wicker, Charles Turner, Edward Brown, Jes Jensen, and Gottfried Ziegler. Private
Oscar Burkard received the last
Medal of Honor awarded during the Indian wars for his action on 5 October 1898 at Leech Lake with the 3rd Infantry. He was also from Minnesota. In 1895, General E. C. Mason, post commandant, called for the preservation of what remained of the old fort, having realized something had been lost with the dismantling of the walls. Nothing came of the preservation proposal, but from 1901 to 1905 Congress spent $2,000,000 on the Fort Snelling upper post. In June 1916, President
Woodrow Wilson had
General Pershing in Mexico on the trail of
Pancho Villa. To provide border security, Minnesota's entire
National Guard was activated at Fort Snelling, comprising three Infantry Regiments and one Artillery. Camp Bobleter was created on the upper post to organize the activation. Upon returning to Minnesota, the 1st Infantry Regiment was redesignated the
135th Infantry. It is the direct descendant of the 1st Minnesota formed at the fort in 1862. • Sergeant
Charles H. Welch was awarded the
Medal of Honor for his actions at
Little Big Horn in 1876. His award lists his home as Fort Snelling. Welch enlisted in the Army on June 8, 1873, at Fort Snelling, and was assigned to D Company 7th U.S. Cavalry.
World War I Once the U.S. entered
World War I, the fort became a recruit processing station. The
41st Infantry was constituted at the fort in May 1917 and inactivated in September 1921. The army established an
officer training school, which closed when the war ended. In 1921, the 3rd Infantry was in Ohio and ordered to report to Fort Snelling with no designated transport. They marched the 940 miles only to have the 2nd and 3rd Battalions inactivated upon arrival. In June 2022, the 1st Battalion was inactivated only for a short time. The regiment remained at Fort Snelling until 1941. Also in 1921 the US Army created the
88th Divisional area in Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Fort Snelling became a
Citizens Military Training Camp (CMTC) for the
351st Infantry Regiment of the 88th Division. The unit's officers worked with the CCC program at Fort Snelling. When Japan attacked
Pearl Harbor, the regiment's officers were immediately activated for active duty units, so that when the 351st was called up it had very few officers to meet the call.
Civilian Conservation Corps In 1933 the
Civilian Conservation Corps was created by
Executive Order 6101.
World War II During WWII the Fort Snelling military reservation served both the army and navy. The army had an enlistment center there that processed 300,000 enlistees. The
War Department chose the base to be the site of the army's
Military Railroad Service(MRS) HQ in 1942 and a winter warfare program later. The MRS was closely linked to commercial railroading with multiple Minnesota railroads sponsoring MRS Railroad Operating Battalions. That year the Army created two Railroad Divisions with the
Great Northern Railroad sponsoring the 704th. In January 1943, the 701st Railway Grand Division, sponsored by the
New York Central Railroad, was stood up at Fort Snelling. Minnesota Railroads sponsored multiple Railroad Operating Battalions(ROB)s with the Great Northern sponsoring the 732nd ROB. Even though sponsored by the Great Northern, the 732nd trained at
Fort Sam Houston. It landed in France and was one of two
spearhead ROBs. The 732nd operated in support of Gen.
Patton's
3rd Armored Division and went into Germany with them. In 1943, the navy opened an air station on the north side of Wold-Chamberlain Field that existed until 1970. That area is now used by reserve units and the
Minnesota Air National Guard. WWII Fort Snelling facilities covered 1,521 acres at war's end.
Post-war 20th century The War Department decommissioned Fort Snelling a second time on 14 October 1946. Various federal agencies were allowed to request land parcels from the land that made up Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory. Since the army departed, the majority of the structures fell into disrepair. In 1960, the fort itself was listed as a
National Historic Landmark, citing its importance as the first major military post in the region, and its later history in the development of the United States Army. Many acres of fort land have been lost to roads. Construction of the
Mendota Bridge ran a
state highway across old fort land. More fort land was lost when an
Interstate 494 interchange was added as well as access roads to the International Airport, National Cemetery, VA Hospital and bridge into St. Paul. In 1963, Fort Snelling became headquarters of
United States Army Reserve 205th Infantry Brigade, that had units throughout the upper Midwest. In 1994 that ended as a part of force-structure eliminations. The fort has been reconstructed to replicate its original appearance starting in 1965. Time and use had been hard on the original fort. The walls, barracks and buildings had been removed. There was archaeological work done at the site in 1957–1958 and again in 1966–1967. CBP and
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had spent nearly four weeks in Minnesota, in a controversial focused immigration sweep "
Operation Metro Surge", by 3000 agents. Federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens protesting and monitoring immigration enforcement actions, leading to nation-wide protests. One detainee at the Whipple Federal Building within Fort Snelling described a series of holding cells, some labeled "USC" for US citizen, and other, more crowded cells labeled "new."
Ilhan Omar,
Angie Craig and
Kelly Morrison were denied access to the building. On Jan. 13, the
Oglala Sioux Tribe said four homeless tribal members had been arrested by ICE and three were held in detention at Fort Snelling. In a memorandum, the Oglala Sioux Tribe said the detentions violate "tribal treaties, statutory law and constitutional rights of sovereign people." == Legacy ==