![Colonel Josiah Snelling](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Colonel_Josiah_Snelling.jpg)
Colonel Josiah Snelling (1782 – 20 August 1828) was the first commander of
Fort Snelling
Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint Anth ...
, a fort located at the confluence of the
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
and
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
rivers in
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. He was responsible for the initial design and construction of the fort, and he commanded it from 1820 through 1827. He had a reputation for being tough and fair-minded, but also had a mean temper when he was drunk. His second wife, Abigail Hunt Snelling, extended hospitality to visitors to the fort. She also founded a
Sunday School
A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West.
Su ...
for the fort's children and assisted families from the
Red River Colony
The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, Assinboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hud ...
(the Selkirk Settlement).
Lieutenant Colonel
Henry Leavenworth
Henry Leavenworth (December 10, 1783 – July 21, 1834) was an American soldier active in the War of 1812 and early military expeditions against the Plains Indians. He established Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, and named after him is the city of L ...
was originally chosen to locate the fortification at the mouth of the St. Peter's River (the prior name of the Minnesota River) in 1819. His expedition started out in
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...
in May 1819, ascending the
Fox River, then portaging to the
Wisconsin River
The Wisconsin River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At approximately 430 miles (692 km) long, it is the state's longest river. The river's name, first recorded in 1673 by Jacques Marquette as "Meskousi ...
and following it downstream to its confluence with the Mississippi River at
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
Prairie du Chien () is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP Code is 53821.
Often referred to as Wisconsin's second oldest city, Prairie du Chien was esta ...
. He remained at
Fort Crawford
Fort Crawford was an outpost of the United States Army located in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, during the 19th century.
The army's occupation of Prairie du Chien spanned the existence of two fortifications, both of them named Fort Crawford. The ...
with his soldiers until supplies arrived in August, 1819, and then the expedition traveled upriver to the confluence with the St. Peter's River. His soldiers originally built a winter settlement, known as Cantonment New Hope, two miles (3 km) up the St. Peter's River from the confluence. The next spring, in anticipation of flooding, he moved the troops to higher ground at a site known as
Camp Coldwater, a mile up the Mississippi from the confluence of the rivers. Leavenworth was later relieved of his duty in August 1820 and succeeded by Colonel Josiah Snelling.
Two Minnesota streets, one in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
(Snelling Avenue), the other in
Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
(Snelling Avenue), in Minnesota's capital city, are named after him.
Life and career
Snelling, born in 1782, was the son of a well-to-do
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
baker. He married Elizabeth Bell and fathered a son,
William Joseph Snelling
William Joseph Snelling (December 26, 1804 – December 24, 1848) was an American adventurer, writer, poet, and journalist. His short stories about American Indian life were the first to attempt to accurately portray the Plains Indians and am ...
, in 1804; his wife died in 1810. He joined the army in May 1808 and was recognized for his performance at the
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe ( ) was fought on November 7, 1811, in Battle Ground, Indiana, between American forces led by then Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and Native American forces associated with Shawnee leader Tecums ...
. He was assigned to command
Fort Harrison
Fort Harrison, later renamed Fort Burnham, was an important component of the Confederate defenses of Richmond during the American Civil War. Named after Lieutenant William Harrison, a Confederate engineer, it was the largest in the series of fort ...
during the winter of 1811–12. on the
Wabash River
The Wabash River ( French: Ouabache) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana in the United States. It flows fro ...
at the present site of
Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...
. During the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
, he was promoted to Major and sent to
Fort Detroit
Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Detroit (1701–1796) was a fort established on the north bank of the Detroit River by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and the Italian Alphonse de Tonty in 1701. In the 18th century, Fre ...
, where he met and married Abigail Hunt. They had 5 children, Mary,
Henry Hunt Snelling
Henry Hunt Snelling (8 November 1817 – 24 June 1897) was a 19th-century American photographer, editor, author and inventor.
Biography
Born in Plattsburgh, New York, Snelling was a son of Col. Josiah Snelling and Abigail (Hunt) Snelling. Duri ...
, James, Marion, and Josiah. After the size of the army was reduced in 1815, Snelling spent about four years on the northern border of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. In June 1819, Snelling was promoted to Colonel of the 5th Infantry Regiment and sent to oversee the construction of
Fort St. Anthony. Snelling was concerned about the unhealthy living conditions of the temporary quarters at Cantonment New Hope on the St. Peter's River. He traveled upriver from
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
and arrived at the cantonment on September 5, 1820, and immediately started the relocation and design of the new fort.
Colonel Snelling located the fort on a bluff above the river junction, and with the aid of Lieutenant Robert McCabe, designed the fort as an elongated diamond. The western point of the diamond had a large round tower, about thirty feet high and thirty feet in diameter, with musket ports in the sides and a cannon on the top. The eastern point of the diamond was designed with a half-moon battery. Two smaller batteries on the north and south sides were built for
infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...
and
cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
. Eight interior buildings of the fort were built from locally quarried limestone, while two other buildings were built from white pine, cut from around the
Rum River
The Rum River is a slow, meandering stream that connects Minnesota's Mille Lacs Lake with the Mississippi River. It runs for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 5, 2 ...
area. The fort had no formal architect. All of the manpower of designing and building the fort came from Snelling's own troops.
The heavy limestone walls of the fort were constructed on a scale beyond many other frontier fortifications, suggesting America's intentions toward westward expansion. Major General Brown had the opinion that a frontier fort of this nature should be built for permanency and independence since the distance from any other military posts would make assistance difficult to obtain if any battles would break out. On the other hand, the idea of a large, permanent fortress to rule over the entire territory may have been overkill, since the usual pattern of westward expansion was to build temporary fortresses ahead of the line of settlement, shifting soldiers along the way.
The Army, recognizing the importance of fresh fruit and vegetables in a soldier's diet, made post commanders responsible for establishing gardens. Colonel Snelling started cultivation in 1820, planting corn and potatoes in about of river bottomland. Over the next few years, construction of the fort and cultivation of the gardens took priority over military duties. Snelling recognized that the fort should strive toward self-sufficiency, especially since the government stopped paying for seed in 1821 and since the government often delivered spoiled food or starving cattle. By 1823, nearly were being cultivated, about half of which were used for growing wheat. Snelling established a
grist mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...
at
Saint Anthony Falls
Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony ( dak, italics=no, Owámniyomni, ) located at the northeastern edge of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the only natural major waterfall on the Mississippi River. Throughout the mid-to-late 1 ...
to grind the wheat into flour, using
millstone
Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones.
Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...
s from St. Louis. About 100 barrels of flour were produced in 1823.
In order to deal peacefully with
Native Americans in the vicinity of the fort, Snelling partnered with Indian Agent
Lawrence Taliaferro
Lawrence Taliaferro ( ; February 28, 1794 – January 22, 1871) was a United States Army officer who served as an Indian agent at Fort Snelling, Minnesota from 1820 through 1839. He was also part of the famous African American slave Dred Scott's s ...
. Taliaferro built a council house west of the fort in 1823, and was able to exert his influence by carefully distributing supplies such as food, gunpowder, tobacco, and whiskey to Native Americans. Taliaferro's cooperation with the Native Americans ensured good relations and helped to avert open hostilities between the
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
and the
Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
.
In spite of the
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio and also known as the Ordinance of 1787), enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Co ...
and the
Missouri Compromise of 1820
The Missouri Compromise was a federal legislation of the United States that balanced desires of northern states to prevent expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand it. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and ...
which outlawed slavery in the area, Colonel Snelling, Taliaferro, and others at the fort illegally employed slave labor. Snelling rented the labor of an enslaved man named William from Taliaferro, and purchased two enslaved women named Mary and Louisa.
While enslaved at Fort Snelling,
Harriet Robinson Scott
Harriet Robinson Scott (c. 1820 – June 17, 1876) was an African American woman who fought for her freedom alongside her husband, Dred Scott, for eleven years. Their legal battle culminated in the infamous Supreme Court of the United States, U ...
married
Dred Scott
Dred Scott (c. 1799 – September 17, 1858) was an Slavery in the United States, enslaved African Americans, African American man who, along with his wife, Harriet Robinson Scott, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for freedom for themselves and thei ...
, in a ceremony officiated by Taliaferro that would later give credence to the Scotts' suite for freedom.
Colonel Snelling's health began to decline in early 1826, and the prescribed treatment of
opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
and
brandy
Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...
accelerated his alcoholism. He left the fort in October 1827 and died in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
the following summer.
Papers
Papers of Josiah Snellingare available for research use. They include photocopied letters written by Josiah Snelling, military commissions and related documents from his service in the Massachusetts militia (1803-1808) and the United States infantry (1808-1820), documents relating to the Connecticut state militia during the Revolutionary War, and a journal kept by Colonel Snelling as commandant at Fort Snelling
References
*
* Reichardt, Mary R. (1999). "SNELLING, William Joseph", ''American National Biography'', Vol. 10. New York: Oxford University Press. .
*
*
External links
Josiah Snelling in MNopedia, the Minnesota Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snelling, Josiah
1782 births
People of pre-statehood Minnesota
1828 deaths