Old Fort Snelling Part 3

IV

LORDS OF THE NORTH

An old settler, speaking of the expulsion of the squatters on the military reservation remarked: "At that time, and both before and since, the commanding officers of the fort were the lords of the north. They ruled supreme. The citizens in the neighborhood of the fort were liable at any time to be thrust into the guard-house. While the chief of the fort was the king, the subordinate officers were the princes, and persons have been deprived of their liberty and imprisoned by those tyrants for the most trivial wrong, or some imaginary offense."[145]

This statement is doubtless rather extreme; but the fact remains that the fort was the only agency of government in the region, and so the commanding officer was indeed the supreme ruler in so far as he directed the policy and activities of the post.

Interest in Old Fort Snelling is not primarily in the logs and stones which made up its building, but in the men and women who lived within its walls. Many were the lives influenced by a residence in its barracks. Characters were formed by the stern rigors of frontier service. Far from busy cities, in the tiresome routine of army life, men were being trained who were to be leaders in the political and military life of the Nation. Others never rose to a higher position; but they command attention because in their faithful performance of daily duties, year after year, they were quietly helping to make the history of the Northwest. It is impossible to consider every man who might be cla.s.sed among the "Lords of the North", but a review of the careers of a few of them indicates the type of men whose natural ability was supplemented by the self-confidence and the grim determination which are the products of frontier service.[146]

The memory of the man who led the troops to the mouth of the Minnesota River in 1819 is commemorated by a fort and a city in another State. The trials which he endured during that first winter at Cantonment New Hope were only harbingers of greater difficulties which were to bring to him the death of a frontier martyr. Although he had been educated for the lawyer's profession, Henry Leavenworth raised a company of volunteers in Delaware County, New York, in 1812, and was elected its captain. He served under General Winfield Scott and won honors for distinguished service at the Battle of Chippewa and at Niagara Falls. After the war he continued in the army, being appointed lieutenant colonel of the Fifth United States Infantry on February 10, 1818. After conducting the troops up the Mississippi River in 1819 and remaining through the winter, he was superseded by Colonel Snelling.

Expeditions and Indian duties occupied his attention during the next few years, and in May, 1827, he established "Cantonment Leavenworth" on the west bank of the Missouri River. On February 8, 1832, the name was changed to Fort Leavenworth. During a campaign against the p.a.w.nee Indians, who were hara.s.sing the caravans of the Santa Fe traders, Colonel Leavenworth was taken sick with fever and died on July 21, 1834, in a hospital wagon at Cross Timbers in Indian Territory.

The body was wrapped in spices and sent by way of St. Louis, New Orleans, and New York City, to Delhi, New York, where it remained until in 1902 it was reinterred in the national cemetery at Fort Leavenworth.

A granite shaft some twelve feet high marks his resting-place.[147]

The monument to the man under whose direction the fort was built is the modern military establishment named Fort Snelling. The erection of this fort was the last achievement of a life which, though comparatively brief, had already accomplished much. Josiah Snelling was born in Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts, in 1782. His first commission was as a first lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry and bears the date of May 3, 1808. In the Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811, he commanded one of the companies that were attacked in their camp in the early morning. An attempt was made by a company of dragoons to drive off the groups of Indians whose fire was the heaviest, but the officer who was leading was wounded and the attempt failed. "The Indians", reported General Harrison, "were, however, immediately and gallantly dislodged from their advantageous position by Captain Snelling, at the head of his company."[148] During the War of 1812 he served with Hull's army about Detroit, and when the fort was surrendered he was taken a prisoner and brought to Canada. But he was exchanged and ordered to Plattsburg, and later was sent to Fort Erie on the staff of General George Izard. At the close of the war he was retained as lieutenant colonel of the Sixth Infantry and was stationed at Plattsburg for four years.[149]

Bravery and impetuosity were two of Colonel Snelling's traits. During the campaign about Detroit he was married to Abigail Hunt by the chaplain of General Hull's army. The general and other officers were present. An account of the life of his wife states that "the ceremony had been performed but a few moments when the drum beat to arms; and Capt. Snelling instantly started up to go in search of his sword. All rushed to the door except Gen. Hull, who laying his hand on the young officer's shoulder as he was about leaving the house, said, 'Snelling, you need not go, I will excuse you.' 'By no means,' was the reply, 'I feel more like doing my duty now than ever.' 'Stay, it is a false alarm by my order,' said the General."[150] The ign.o.ble surrender of Detroit by General Hull was deplored by many of the men under him. The story is told that while General Hull's aid was trying to place the white flag in position he called, "Snelling, come and help me fix this flag."

Whereupon that officer replied, "No, sir; I will not soil my hands with that flag."[151]

On June 1, 1819, he was appointed colonel of the Fifth Infantry, and ordered to St. Louis, where the following winter was pa.s.sed. In the summer he started up the Mississippi, but was detained at Prairie du Chien by a court-martial of which he was the president, and it was not until August that he reached the troops at Camp Cold Water. From that time until the fall of 1827 Colonel Snelling was in command of the post, when not absent on official business. Except when he had been drinking too much, he was a favorite with the troops, and as he had red hair and was somewhat bald, they nicknamed him the "prairie-hen".[152]

In the fall of 1827 the Fifth Infantry was withdrawn from the post and was succeeded by the First Infantry. The Snelling family located at St.

Louis, while Colonel Snelling proceeded to Was.h.i.+ngton to settle some accounts. While here he was suddenly taken sick and died on August 20, 1828.[153]

The man whose name was applied to the post which has become so historic was a typical soldier of his day. Along with the bravery and zeal of the army, he possessed also its failings. "Of myself I have little to say", he wrote on one occasion. "I entered the army a subaltern, almost eighteen years ago. From obscurity I have pa.s.sed through every grade to the command of a regiment. I owe nothing to executive patronage, for I have neither friend or relation connected with the government: I have obtained my rank in the ordinary course of promotion, and have retained it by doing my duty; and I really flatter myself that I still possess the confidence of the government, and the respect of those who serve with and under me."[154]

Daniel Webster, speaking in the Senate on July 9, 1850, remarked that it was not in Indian wars that heroes were celebrated, but it was there that they were formed.[155] The occasion of this speech was the death of the President, Zachary Taylor, who had served for many years upon the Indian frontier. As lieutenant colonel of the First Infantry, he came to Fort Snelling during the summer of 1828 and remained there for a year, when he established his headquarters at Fort Crawford. His achievements on the frontier and in the Mexican War, which finally brought him to the presidency are a familiar story, and the training which he received in Old Fort Snelling was only a part of that which gave him the name of "Rough and Ready". It is a remarkable fact that at Fort Snelling he was remembered less for his own actions than for those of his four pretty daughters whose presence spread commotion in the hearts of the homesick young officers.[156]

In 1837 the First Infantry was withdrawn and part of the Fifth Infantry returned to its former station. Among the familiar faces seen about the garrison again was that of a man whose eccentricities and personality are closely a.s.sociated with the life of the fort.[157] In reporting the casualties of the battle of Molino del Rey, September 8, 1847, the general commanding the American forces applied an adjective to only one of the dead. The report reads, "the service mourns the high-souled Scott, brevet lieutenant colonel 5th infantry".[158] This was Martin Scott, one of the most human, most lovable, and most energetic men who ever reviewed troops on the parade ground of Old Fort Snelling. Only from July 15, 1837, until August 20, 1837, was he in command, but for many years he was a familiar figure around the barracks and in the surrounding country.

Hunting was his favorite pastime, and many a time the prairie rang with the yelping of the twenty or twenty-five dogs which he kept under the care of a special negro servant at the fort. His deadly aim was known to all. An army officer who insulted him was severely wounded in a duel; he often played the part of William Tell by shooting with his pistol through an apple placed upon the head of his negro; and if credence is to be given to the stories which are told, even the animals were aware that from him there was no escape. A c.o.o.n sitting high on a tree was shot at by several hunters in succession, but still remained in its position. Captain Scott came along and took aim, whereupon the c.o.o.n asked, "Who is that?" The reply was, "My name is Scott." "Scott? what Scott?" continued the c.o.o.n. "Captain Martin Scott." "Are you Captain Martin Scott?" There was a pause before the voice in the tree-top continued, "Then hold on--don't shoot; I may as well come down."[159]

Martin Scott was born in Bennington, Vermont, on January 17, 1788. His family was extremely poor, but because of his freedom from army vices--gambling and drinking--he was able in later years to do them many favors. His kindness was equalled only by his bravery. For gallant conduct during the Mexican War he received several promotions, and held a commission as lieutenant colonel when he met death leading his regiment in the battle of Molino del Rey.[160]

A newspaper correspondent who went over the field of battle, saw a gray-headed soldier spreading the blanket over the corpse of a fallen comrade. "I rode up to him", wrote the reporter to his newspaper, "and asked him whether that was an officer. He looked up, and every lineament of his face betokening the greatest grief, replied, 'you never asked a question sir, more easily answered, it is an officer.' I then asked him who he was. He again replied, 'The best soldier of the 5th infantry, sir.' I then alighted from my horse and uncovering the face, found it was Col. Martin Scott. As I again covered the face, the soldier continued, without apparently addressing himself to any person in particular--'They have killed him--they will be paid for this--if it had only been me--I have served with him almost four enlistments but what will his poor family say?' And as he concluded thus the tears coursed down his furrowed cheeks, and the swelling of his bosom showed how deeply he was affected by the death of his veteran and gallant commander."[161]

When the Fifth Infantry was transferred in 1840 there was a second home-coming at Fort Snelling in that it was succeeded by parts of the First Infantry which remained until the year 1848. Captain Seth Eastman was in command at four different times during this period, and it was through his eyes that we can see Old Fort Snelling as it was.[162] After his graduation from the Military Academy he was an a.s.sistant teacher of drawing at West Point. Following this he served in the Florida War and on the frontier until 1850, when he was called to Was.h.i.+ngton to ill.u.s.trate the _History, Condition, and Future Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States_. Active service on the frontier and in the Civil War followed, and in 1866 he was breveted a brigadier general.[163]

Mary Henderson Eastman, his wife, also commands attention. The intimate a.s.sociation of the fort with the surrounding Indians brought to her knowledge many incidents connected with their life which she embodied in a volume published in 1849 and ent.i.tled: _Dahcotah: or, Life and Legends of the Sioux around Fort Snelling_. In this volume Longfellow read of the Falls of Minnehaha, which he describes so picturesquely in _Hiawatha_.[164] Other literary work was done by Mrs. Eastman, one of her volumes being _Aunt Phyllis's Cabin_, a reply to Mrs. Stowe's _Uncle Tom's Cabin_.[165]

Parts of the Sixth Infantry were garrisoned in Fort Snelling from 1848 to 1852, and beginning in 1850 there was also a company of the First Dragoons who engaged in many of the expeditions narrated in the preceding chapter. Among the officers who commanded during this period was Lieutenant William T. Magruder, who was killed on July 3, 1863, at the Battle of Gettysburg while serving in the ranks of the Confederate army.[166] One company of the Third Artillery was located at the post from 1853 to 1856. At the head of this company was Captain W. T. Sherman who, after serving in the Indian wars and the Mexican War, rose to prominence in the Civil War during which he was brevetted a major general. After the Civil War he was appointed commander of the Department of the East.[167]

Among the last troops which occupied Fort Snelling before it was abandoned in 1858 was a part of the Tenth Infantry. Major E. R. S. Canby of this regiment was in command of the fort during the summer and autumn of 1856. His was a wonderful record of achievement upon the frontier and in the Civil War, and like Colonel Leavenworth he met his death in service. Born in Kentucky the year that Fort Snelling was founded, he moved to Indiana as a boy. He was appointed to the Military Academy at West Point in 1835 and graduated in 1839. For the next three years he was engaged as a second lieutenant in the Second Infantry in the Florida War, and upon the successful termination of the campaigns he was employed in removing the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks to Indian Territory. After a few years in garrison duty and the recruiting service he partic.i.p.ated in the Mexican War, being promoted "for gallant and meritorious service" at Contreras, Cherubusco, and the Belen Gate of the City of Mexico. On March 3, 1855, a promotion made him major in the Tenth Infantry; and it was while holding this position that he served at Fort Snelling.

In 1858 Major Canby was transferred to Fort Bridger, Utah, where he commanded an expedition against the Navajo Indians. While stationed at Fort Defiance, New Mexico, during the early years of the Civil War, he repelled the Confederate general, Sibley, who left one-half of his force behind him in killed, wounded, and prisoners. On March 31, 1862, he was made a brigadier general of volunteers and summoned to Was.h.i.+ngton to a.s.sist Secretary of War Stanton. While here General Canby was called upon to take charge of a difficult position. Draft riots in New York City from July 13th to July 16th resulted in the killing and wounding of about a thousand people and the destruction of about one and a half million dollars worth of property.[168] On July 17th General Canby was put in charge of the Federal troops in the city, and he was later able to enforce the provisions of the draft without difficulties.[169]

Following this came an appointment as commander of the military division of West Mississippi, where he was wounded by Confederate guerrillas.

At the close of the war, Edward Canby, then a major general of volunteers was sent to the far West as commander of the Department of the Columbia. Here the United States was engaged in a war with the Modoc Indians led by their chief "Captain Jack". On April 11, 1873, General Canby held a peace parley with the Indians. It had been agreed that both parties should be unarmed, but in the middle of the negotiations "Captain Jack" suddenly drew a revolver from his breast, and shot Canby through the head killing him instantly.[170]

Other officers at the post who had real power were the garrison physicians. One of these, Dr. John Emerson was a giant in body and impulsive in spirit. On a certain day in early winter when the quartermaster was distributing stoves to the officers, Dr. Emerson asked for one for his negro servant. This the quartermaster refused, saying that there were not enough in store; whereupon the doctor insinuated that the statement was a lie. Upon being insulted thus the quartermaster struck his companion between the eyes. Emerson turned on his heels immediately, but he returned in a few minutes with a brace of pistols which he pointed at his a.s.sailant. The fighting spirit of the quartermaster fell at the appearance of these weapons, and he started across the parade ground on a run followed by the doctor. A third character appeared in the person of Major Plympton, the commanding officer, who arrested Dr. Emerson. This episode gave rise to a great commotion in the garrison. One group who wanted some excitement urged that only in blood could the quarrel be settled; while the other group sought for peace, knowing that there was no other physician nearer than Prairie du Chien. Not for several days was the quarrel patched up, and then the terms were never made public.[171]

The cause of all this trouble was Dred Scott, man of color, and the slave of Dr. Emerson. He had been brought to Fort Snelling by his master in 1836, and here he was married to Harriet, also colored, who had been sold by Major Taliaferro to the doctor. When Dr. Emerson was transferred to Missouri, he took Dred Scott with him. After the death of his master, Scott began proceedings in the courts for his freedom on the ground that his residence at the military post made him free--Fort Snelling being located on soil where slavery was prohibited by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Mrs. Emerson, who wanted to avoid an appearance in the courts, made over the control of Scott to John F. A. Sanford, and the case was finally brought to the Supreme Court of the United States. Thus Old Fort Snelling was connected with the case of _Scott vs. Sanford_, which was so important among the events leading up to the Civil War.[172]

Were battles and military operations alone considered, the annals of Fort Snelling would comprise few pages; and were only military men characterized one of the most potent factors in the life of the fort would be omitted. The influence of the fort on the Indians was felt more through the quiet daily work of the Indian agent who was their official friend. Although he was an officer entirely distinct from the military organization at the fort, his work may legitimately be accredited among the other activities of the post. He was, in fact, an army official. The act of August 7, 1789, which organized the War Department, placed Indian affairs in the hands of the Secretary;[173] on July 9, 1832, a commissioner of Indian affairs was authorized;[174] and on June 30, 1834, the relations of the Indian agents to the military department were more clearly defined. The Superintendent of Indian Affairs, the Indian agents, and the sub-agents were given the right to call upon the military forces to remove all trespa.s.sers in the Indian country, to procure the arrest and trial of all Indians accused of committing any crime, and to break up any distillery set up in the Indian country.[175]

By the act of March 3, 1849, the Department of the Interior was organized. Section Five of the act stipulated that "the Secretary of the Interior shall exercise the supervisory and appellate powers now exercised by the Secretary of the War Department, in relation to all the acts of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs".[176] On the whole this law did not disturb the cooperation between the two branches of the government service, although the commander at Fort Snelling intimated to the agent that his privileges were "not of right but by courtesy".[177]

One name more than any other is a.s.sociated with the agency at Fort Snelling--usually called the agency of St. Peter's. From 1820 to 1840 regiments came and went, and the officers who ruled as "Lords of the North" were soon transferred to other posts. The military establishment was itself known by several different names in succession, but the Indian agent remained the same--Lawrence Taliaferro. His was a lasting influence--lasting because of the position he held in the memories of his wards and his a.s.sociates, and lasting because of the records that he left.

To the Indians he was a real "Father". Americans, Scotch, Sioux, and French could all find within his breast, they said, a kindred spirit, and they bestowed upon him the name of "Four Hearts" because of the impartiality of his actions to all nationalities.[178] In June, 1858, a number of Sioux chiefs were in Was.h.i.+ngton and came to see him. "My old Father," said Little Crow, "we have called upon you; we love you; we respect you.... Since you left us a dark cloud has hung over our nation.

We have lost confidence in the promises of our Great Father, and his people; bad men have nearly destroyed us.... We failed to get a friend in anyone like you; they all joined the traders. We know your heart, it feels for your old children."[179]

Those who were a.s.sociated with him at the fort also had kind words for him. "He belonged to a cla.s.s more common then than now", remarked the son of Colonel Bliss. "He imagined it to be his imperative duty to see that every Indian under his charge had the enjoyment of all his rights, and never seemed to realize his opportunities for arranging with contractors for the supply of inferior goods and for dividing the profits."[180] Of this honesty Taliaferro wrote: "I have the Sad Consolation of leaving after twenty Seven years--the public Service as poor as when first I entered--The only evidence of my integrity".[181]

No one can write of Fort Snelling without using the papers which Lawrence Taliaferro left. The diary kept by him during these twenty years shows the meager pleasures and grim duties of his task. Of this diary only a few fragmentary pages are extant--three roughly bound collections of sheets, many of them torn, many of them half-burned, and their writing faded. But from almost every page that is legible some information is gleaned, concerning the life of the soldiers, the visits of the Indians, the state of the weather, and reflections on Indian relations and the best time for planting potatoes.[182] His wide acquaintance and the great extent of territory which his agency covered led to correspondence with many men. These letters also pa.s.sed through a fire, and those that were rescued are now bound in four volumes.[183]

His reports to General William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis, were forwarded to Was.h.i.+ngton where they are now kept in the files of the Indian office.[184] With methodical care Governor Clark copied the letters which he received into letter books. The existence of these letter books was not known until a few years ago, when some of them were found in the hands of a junk dealer in Lawrence, Kansas, and were rescued--a great gain to the history of the West.[185]

Many years after he closed his connection with the agency Lawrence Taliaferro wrote an "Autobiography"--a narrative that shows all the quaintness and egotism of the man. "Not until after the year 1840", he wrote "did the government become unfortunate in the selection of their agents for Indian affairs."[186] From this account can be gleaned information to supplement the bare facts usually given about his life.

His ancestors had come to England from Genoa, Italy, and later they emigrated to Virginia. Here Lawrence Taliaferro was born on February 28, 1794. At the age of eighteen he joined the army and served through the War of 1812, being a first lieutenant when it closed. Although he received no other promotion he was always known among his a.s.sociates as "Major".[187]

He was appointed Indian agent for St. Peter's on March 27, 1819, and on April 1, 1819, he accepted--resigning the same day from the army.[188]

He reached his new station probably in the summer of 1820, and was immediately engaged in the duties connected with Indian affairs.[189]

During his term of office he was continually troubled by ill-health which resulted from his campaigns in the late war. In 1824 he resigned because of this ill-health, and although he continued in service, Governor Clark at one time wrote to the Secretary of War that "his fate is considered as very doubtful."[190]

As early as 1831 he confided to his diary that "there is something of a Combination of Persons at work day after day to pick at my Actions both public and private".[191] His resignation finally came in 1839, and he closed his connection with the Department on January 1, 1840, because he could no longer endure the machinations of the traders.[192] Thereafter he made his home at Bedford, Pennsylvania, serving as a military storekeeper from 1857 to 1863, when he was put on the retired list. Mr.

Taliaferro visited his old home at Fort Snelling in 1856 and wrote characteristically: "We were in St. Paul on the twenty-fourth of June, the 'widow's son' was Irving's Rip Van Winkle; after a nap of fifteen years, we awoke in the midst of _fast_ times. We truly felt bewildered when we found all the haunts and resting-places of the once n.o.ble sons of the forest, covered by cities, towns, and hamlets. We asked but few questions, being to our mind received as a strange animal; if nothing worse."[193]

Among the others who served before 1858 as Indian agent were Amos J.

Bruce, R. G. Murphy, and Nathaniel McLean. The influx of whites had greatly increased the difficulties of their position, and the memory of their former agent made the Indians suspicious of their new advisers.

The Governor of the Territory became the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and his presence so near the agency took from the agent much of his power.[194]

Scott Campbell, the interpreter at Fort Snelling, was the intermediary between the Indians and their lords. He was a half-breed whom Meriwether Lewis had met on his expedition up the Missouri River.

He took the boy with him back to St. Louis; and when Lewis died, Campbell returned to his Sioux relatives and finally drifted to the agency at Fort Snelling.[195] Having a knowledge of four languages, and possessing the confidence of all the tribes within four hundred miles of the post, he was indispensable. From August, 1825, to April, 1826, he was engaged in the fur trade, but was lured back into service by a salary of thirty-four dollars per month and one ration per day. By 1843, however, he had become such a drunkard that he had to be dismissed.[196]

The veteran missionary, S. W. Pond, in recalling early days wrote that "Scott Campbell no longer sits smoking his long pipe, and conversing in low tones with the listless loungers around the old Agency House; but who that resided in this country thirty or forty years ago can pa.s.s by the old stone houses near Fort Snelling and not think of Major Taliaferro and of his interpreter?"[197]

And who can pa.s.s the Old Round Tower without thinking of those men who as officers at Fort Snelling ruled supreme over a vast region, and who left the fort for places of greater trust and greater influence?