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Fort Snelling | |
Minnesota State Register of Historic Places | |
 Fort Snelling's round tower | |
  | |
| Location | Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory, Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | BorderingMinneapolis,St. Paul,Mendota andMendota Heights. |
| Coordinates | 44°53′34″N93°10′50″W / 44.89278°N 93.18056°W /44.89278; -93.18056 |
| Built | 1819 |
| Architect | ColonelJosiah Snelling |
| Website | Historic Fort Snelling |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000401 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | 15 October 1966[1] |
| Designated NHL | 19 December 1960[2] |
Fort Snelling is a former military fortification andNational Historic Landmark in the U.S. state ofMinnesota on the bluffs overlooking theconfluence of theMinnesota andMississippi Rivers. The military site was initially namedFort Saint Anthony, but it was renamed Fort Snelling when its construction was completed in 1825.
Before theAmerican Civil War, the U.S. Army supported slavery at the fort by allowing its soldiers to bring their personal enslaved people. These included African AmericansDred Scott andHarriet Robinson Scott, who lived at the fort in the 1830s. In the 1840s, the Scotts sued for their freedom, arguing that having lived in "free territory" made them free, leading to the landmarkUnited States Supreme Court caseDred Scott v. Sandford.[3] Slavery ended at the fort just before Minnesota statehood in 1858.
The fort served as the primary center for U.S. government forces during theDakota War of 1862. It also was the site of theconcentration camp[4] whereeastern Dakota andHo-Chunknon-combatants awaitedriverboat transport in their forced removal from Minnesota when hostilities ceased. The fort served as a recruiting station during the Civil War,Spanish–American War, and both World Wars before being decommissioned a second time in 1946. It then fell into a state of disrepair until the lower post was restored to its original appearance in 1965. At that time, all that remained of the original lower post were the round and hexagonal towers. Many of the upper post's important buildings remain today, with some still in disrepair.
The historic fort is in the unorganized territory ofFort Snelling withinHennepin County, borderingRamsey andDakota counties.
Multiple government agencies now own portions of the former fort, with theMinnesota Historical Society administering theHistoric Fort Snelling site. TheMinnesota Department of Natural Resources administersFort Snelling State Park at the bottom of the bluff. Fort Snelling once encompassed the park's land. It has been cited as a "National Treasure" by theNational Trust for Historic Preservation.[5] The historic fort is in theMississippi National River and Recreation Area, aNational Park Service unit.
Bdóte ("meeting of waters" or "where two rivers meet")[6] is considered a place of spiritual importance to the Dakota.[7]A Dakota-English Dictionary (1852), edited by missionaryStephen Return Riggs, originally recorded the word asmdóte, noting that it was also "a name commonly applied to the country about Fort Snelling, or mouth of the Saint Peters",[8] now known as the Minnesota River. According to Riggs, "TheMdewakantonwan 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.".[9]
The confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers also became a place whereNative Americans signed treaties with theUnited States: the 1805 Treaty of St. Peters signed by theMdewakanton Dakota, the1837 White Pine Treaty signed by severalOjibwe bands, and the1851 Treaty of Mendota signed by representatives of the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute Dakota.
In 1805, LieutenantZebulon Pike signed a treaty he was unauthorized to create, known asPike'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).[10] The document offered an unspecified amount of money, later valued at $2,000, for the land. The treaty states:
Article One — That the Sioux nation grants unto the United States for the purpose of establishment of military posts, nine miles square at the mouth of river St. Croix, also from below the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Peters, up the Mississippi to Include the falls of St. Anthony, extending nine miles on each side of the river.[11]
Legal scholars, historians, and the Dakota have long raised questions about the 1805 treaty's validity.[12][13] 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.[12] Pike represented the treaty as having been agreed to by the entire Sioux nation, but in reality it was signed only by representatives of two Mdewakanton villages.[10]
From a legal point of view, the land the signers intended toconvey was inadequately described.[12] Furthermore, no consideration, or payment terms, were in the treaty.[12] Pike wrote in his journal he thought the land was worth US$200,000, but within the treaty itself he left the payment amount blank,[14] letting Congress determine the final amount.[15] On April 16, 1808, when theU.S. Senate ratified the treaty, it approved payment to the Dakota of only $2,000.[14] Payment for the ceded lands arrived only in 1819, when theUnited States Department of War sent Major Thomas Forsyth to distribute goods worth approximately $2,000.[16] In 1838, Indian agentLawrence Taliaferro paid a further $4,000 to try to settle the matter with the other Dakota band. The issue was raised in subsequent treaty negotiations in the 1850s.[12] In 1863, Congress passed an act that "abrogated and annulled" all treaties with the Dakota people.[17] The moral legitimacy of the land title is still disputed.[18]
Pike Island, at the mouth of theMinnesota River, was later named after Zebulon Pike.[19]
After theWar of 1812, theUnited States Department of War built a chain of forts and installedIndian agents fromLake Michigan to theMissouri River in South Dakota. These forts were intended to extend the United States presence into the northwest territories after theTreaty of Ghent and the demarcation of the49th 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.[20] The Fort Snelling garrison also attempted to keep the peace among theDakota and other tribes.[21] Also built on army land was the St. Peter's Indian Agency at Mendota.[22] 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 ColonelHenry Leavenworth commanded the expedition of5th Infantry that built the initial outpost in 1819. Thatcantonment was called "New Hope" and was on the river flats along the Minnesota River. Leavenworth lost 40 men toscurvy that winter and moved his encampment toCamp Coldwater because he felt the riverside location contributed to the outbreak.[23] The new camp was near aspring 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 theSioux. The postsurgeon beganrecording meteorological observations at the fort in January 1820. The U.S. Army Surgeon General had made the recording of four weather readings every day a duty of the surgeon at every Army post.[24] Fort Snelling has one of the nation's longest near-continuous weather records.[25] In 1820, ColonelJosiah Snelling took command of the outpost and the fort's construction. Upon completion in 1824, he christened his work "Fort St. Anthony" for thewaterfalls just upriver. GeneralWinfield 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,[26]5th,[27]6th,[28] and10th Regiments—[29] as did a company from the1st Dragoons. In 1827 the 5th Infantry was replaced by the 1st Infantry for ten years, with the 5th returning in 1837.[23] The 5th garrisoned the fort until the 1st relieved it again in 1840. In 1848 the 6th Infantry became the garrison.[23] The garrison changed again in November 1855. The 10th, commanded by ColonelC.F. Smith, assumed duty. Smith went on to become a major general.
Colonel Snelling was recalled to Washington, leaving Fort Snelling in September 1827. He died the next summer from complications of dysentery and a "brain fever".
In 1827, Minnesota's firstpost office opened at Fort Snelling, with most mail forwarded fromPrairie du Chien.[30]
ColonelZachary 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 andwild rice".[31] While Taylor was posted to Fort Snelling, eight adult enslaved people with him died, as did several minors.[31]
Along with the construction of the fort, an Indian Agency was constructed on the military reservation opposite the fort at Mendota. It was administered by MajorLawrence Taliaferro. In 1834 Taliaferro and the fort commandant, Major Bliss, assistedmissionaries Gideon and Samuel W. Pond in developing the Dakota alphabet and compiling a Dakota dictionary.[32] Taliaferro also served as the TerritorialJustice of Peace until 1838, when the governor of Iowa namedHenry Sibley as his replacement.[33]
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.[34] Both Fort Snelling and Fort Ripley provided this civil service for internment of criminals until the territory developed the necessary civil infrastructure.[34] There were 21 enslaved people with Taliaferro, one of whom wasHarriet Robinson.[35] She marriedDred Scott, with Taliaferro officiating, at Mendota.
John Marsh arrived at the fort during the early 1820s. He started the first school in theTerritory 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 atHarvard 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.[36] Major Plympton became 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 notoriousbootlegger doing business with both the Dakota and the soldiers, causing trouble for the fort commander.[37] 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.[38] The eviction coincided with the arrival of theCatholic missionaryLucian Galtier. That year also saw the arrival ofPierre Bottineau, who served the fort as a guide and interpreter.
Lieutenant ColonelSeth Eastman was commander of the fort twice in the 1840s.[39][40] Eastman was an artist. He has been recognized for his extensive work recording the Dakota.[41] His skill was such that Congress commissioned him to illustrateHenry Rowe Schoolcraft's six-volume studyIndian Tribes of the United States. The set was published between 1851 and 1857 with hundreds of his works.[42]
From 1833 to 1836 the surgeon Nathan Sturges Jarvis was stationed at Fort Snelling.[43] During that time he acquired a notable collection of northern plains Native American artifacts now housed at theBrooklyn Museum.[43]
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 toFort Leavenworth, Kansas, to join the other units being sent to Utah for what became known as theUtah War.[29] With the departure of the10th Infantry, Fort Snelling was designated surplus government property. In 1858, when Minnesota became a state, the army sold it toFranklin Steele for $90,000. Steele operated the two ferries serving the fort across both rivers at the same time he was thesutler to the fort. He also was a friend of the sitting president,James Buchanan.[48][44] At that time the fort sat on 8,000 acres (32 km2). A small portion of that was later annexed into south Minneapolis.[49] 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),[50] Minnesota Veterans Home (53 acres), the Coldwater Spring unit of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (29 acres),[51] the Upper Post Veterans Home, andMinneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and theMinneapolis-St Paul Joint Air Reserve Station (2,930 acres).
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 theNorthwest Ordinance of 1787 and theMissouri Compromise of 1820, an estimated 15–30 Africans were enslaved at the fort.[53] 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.[54]
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 atFort 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 theMinnesota Territory. In 1836 the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in her favor, making her a free person.[54] The second woman, Courtney, also sued for freedom in St. Louis. When the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in Rachel's favor, Courtney's enslaver conceded her case as well, and freed Courtney and her son William.[54][55] Courtney had another son,Godfrey, who remained in Minnesota when she was sent to aslave market in St. Louis.[56] He is the only known "Minnesotarunaway slave" who ran away from the fort and was taken in by the Dakota.[56] He was involved in the Dakota War and was the first defendant on the docket of the military tribunal for hanging.[56]James Thompson was also enslaved around the same time at Fort Snelling, first by a sutler and then by military officer William Day; his freedom was purchased by Methodist missionaryAlfred Brunson.[57][58]
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.[53] There Scott met and married Harriet and had two children as slaves at Fort Snelling from 1836 to 1840. Emerson's wife, Irene, returned to St. Louis, taking the Scotts and their children in 1840. In 1843 Scott sued for his family's freedom for illegally being indentured in free territory. Although he lost the first trial, he appealed and in 1850 his family was given its freedom. In 1852, Emerson appealed and the Scotts were again enslaved. Dred Scott appealed that decision and in 1857 the US Supreme Court decided that the Scotts would stay enslaved.Dred Scott v. Sandford was a landmark case that held that neither enslaved nor free Africans were meant to hold the privileges or constitutional rights of U.S. citizens. This case garnered national attention and pushed political tensions toward the Civil War.[54][53]
A longstanding precedent infreedom suits of "once free, always free" was overturned in this case. (The cases were combined under Dred Scott's name.) It was appealed to the United States Supreme Court. InDred Scott v. Sandford (1857), Chief JusticeRoger Taney ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that enslaved Africans had no standing under the constitution, and so could not sue for freedom. The decision increased sectional tensions between the North and South.
When theAmerican Civil War broke out, the government commandeered the fort for the War Department as an induction station. At the time Steele was in arrears, having made only one payment.[44] WhenGovernor Ramsey offeredPresident Lincoln 1,000 troops to fight theSouth, the volunteers he got were organized at Fort Snelling into a regiment, the1st Minnesota. More than 24,000 recruits were trained there.[59]
Minnesota units mustered in at Fort Snelling:
In 1860 and 1863 theMinnesota State Fair was held at the fort.[62]
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.[63][64] In June 1865 the 10th US Infantry Hq, D, and F Companies returned to the 10th's prewar post at Fort Snelling.[29] B and H Companies went to Fort Ridgely while A and I Companies went to Fort Ripley.
After the war, Steele submitted a claim of $162,000 for the fort's use during the war. He hoped to gain the money he still owed from the 1857 purchase. In 1873 an agreement was reached giving the Army the fort. In exchange, his debt was cleared and Steele was given title to 6,395 acres of the original Fort Snelling Reservation.[44]
On 19 August 1862, after hearing ofattacks at the Lower Sioux Agency the day before, GovernorAlexander 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 theAmerican Civil War. The same day, he asked his longtime friend and political rival, former GovernorHenry Hastings Sibley, to lead an expedition up theMinnesota River to end thesiege at Fort Ridgely. Ramsey gave him a commission as colonel and turned over four companies of the newly organized6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment to Sibley at Fort Snelling.[65][66]
The fort became the rendezvous point for the state and federal military forces during theDakota War of 1862.[67] During the war, the 6th, 7th, and 10th Minnesota Regiments did garrison duty at Fort Snelling.[citation needed]
To deal with the uprising, theUnited States Department of War created theDepartment of the Northwest, headquartered atSt. Paul and commanded byMajor General John Pope. Pope arrived in St. Paul on 15 September, and sent requests to the governors of Iowa and Wisconsin for additional troops. The25th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment arrived at Fort Snelling on 22 September, the day before the decisiveBattle of Wood Lake, and were sent immediately toMankato andPaynesville. The27th Iowa Infantry Regiment arrived at Fort Snelling in October, well after the war. Four companies stayed at Fort Snelling, while the other six marched north toMille Lacs and returned to Fort Snelling on 4 November; three days later they were sent toCairo, Illinois.[67]
In November 1862, 1,658 Dakota, all innocent non-combatants, were moved from theLower Sioux Agency to Fort Snelling, escorted by 300 soldiers under Lieutenant ColonelWilliam Rainey Marshall.[68][69] They were mostly Dakota women and children, but also included 22 Franco-Dakota and Anglo-Dakota men who had not been tried, as well as Christian and farmer Dakota such as Taopi, ChiefWabasha, Joseph Kawanke, Paul Mazakutemani, Lorenzo Lawrence,John Other Day andSnana, who had opposedChief Little Crow III and the "hostile" faction during the war.[65][70]
An encampment was created below the fort onPike Island. The Dakota had brought their own tipis and household goods with them, and set up more than 200 tipis.[69] The military leaders had apalisade erected around the encampment to protect the Dakota from angry settlers, some of whom had attacked the women and children as they passed throughHenderson en route to Fort Snelling.[71][68] Shortly after they arrived, soldiers raped one of the Dakota women.[71] The Dakota wintered there in 1862–63. An estimated 102 to 300 Dakota died due to the harsh conditions, lack of food,measles, andcholera.[72][69]
In May 1863, the Dakota who survived were loaded on twosteamboats and taken down the Mississippi and up theMissouri River toCrow Creek by theGreat Sioux Reservation. Three hundred more died on the way and three to four a day for weeks after they arrived. Some of the Dakota who made it to Crow Creek were forced to move again three years later to theSantee Sioux Reservation inNebraska. For the women it was an extended period of hardship and degradation.[73] 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.[74] Because of the prevailing attitudes towards all "Indians" theHo-Chunk (Winnebago) living outsideMankato were also sent to Fort Snelling.[75] 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 tostarvation.
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.[76] 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.[76] At Fort Gerry, two Dakota leaders were drugged, kidnapped, and taken to Major Hatch for a bounty. The killings at St. Joseph caused almost 400 Dakota to turn themselves in to Hatch as well.[76]
When conditions allowed, Hatch's cavalry took the prisoners back to Fort Snelling. The two chiefs, Little Six (Sakpedan) and Medicine Bottle (Wakanozanzan), were hanged at the fort.[77][78] Chief Little Leaf evaded capture.[76]
The next year four companies of the30th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment arrived at Fort Snelling with three of them moving on to Camp Ridgely en route toAlfred Sully's Dakota campaign.[79]
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Steele had made plans and plotted his purchase to build the City of Fort Snelling.[80] But he failed to make the agreed payments, causing the government to revoke the sale and repossess the fort lands.[81] Placing theDepartment of the Northwest at Fort Snelling led to the fort's further development in 1866 when the department transitioned to theDepartment of Dakota.[81] The next year, the department headquarters moved to St. Paul. The HQ returned to the fort in 1879 and remained there until 1886, when it returned to St. Paul.[81] After the Civil War, Minneapolis began to expand into the fort's surroundings.[82]
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.
TheUnited States Army assigned the7th Infantry to garrison the fort in 1878 and six companies arrived in September.[83] 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.[84] The next October 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 theUtes atWhite River, Colorado. They returned to Fort Snelling in 1880.[83] In November 1882 the 7th was relieved by the25th Infantry (colored).[85] The 25th's HQ, band and four companies garrisoned the fort until 1888, when they were relieved by the3rd Infantry. During the 1880s, companies of the7th Cavalry were at the fort.[23] The 3rd Regiment remained until 1898. Some of the garrison were sent toCuba and fought in theSpanish–American War of 1898.[21] During one of the last battles of the Indian Wars, six soldiers of the 3rd Infantry were killed at theBattle of Leech Lake October 5, 1898. Those killed were Major Wilkinson, Sergeant William Butler, and Privates Edward Lowe, John Olmstead (Onstead), John Schwolenstocker (aka Daniel F. Schwalenstocker), and Albert Ziebel. They were buried at the post's north end.[86] Ten others were wounded in the battle. Among them were five Minnesotans: Privates George Wicker, Charles Turner, Edward Brown, Jes Jensen, and Gottfried Ziegler.[87] PrivateOscar Burkard received the lastMedal 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 through 1905 Congress spent $2,000,000 on the Fort Snelling upper post.[81]
In 1901 the14th Infantry became the garrison, followed by the28th in 1904.[81] From 1905 to 1911 squadrons of the3rd,2nd, and4th Cavalry Regiments were the occupants of the new cavalry barracks on the upper post.[88]
In June 1916 PresidentWoodrow Wilson hadGeneral Pershing in Mexico on the trail ofPancho Villa. To provide border security, Minnesota's entireNational 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 the135th Infantry. It is the direct descendant of the 1st Minnesota formed at the fort in 1862.[89]
Once the U.S. enteredWorld War I, the fort became a recruit processing station. The41st Infantry was constituted at the fort in May 1917 and inactivated in September 1921. The army established anofficer training school, which closed when the war ended.[91] At that time the only building in use was the base hospital. It was expanded to 1,200 beds and designated General Hospital 29. During the1918 influenza pandemic it saw extensive use.[91] It was the forerunner of the VA Hospital at Fort Snelling now. Between wars, the 14th Field Artillery and the 7th Tank Battalion were assigned to Fort Snelling while the base was considered the "Country Club of the U. S. Army".[91]
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. The next June 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 the88th Divisional area in Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Fort Snelling became aCitizens Military Training Camp (CMTC) for the351st Infantry Regiment of the 88th Division. The unit's officers worked with the CCC program at Fort Snelling. When Japan attackedPearl 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.
In 1933 theCivilian Conservation Corps was created byExecutive Order 6101.[92] Fort Snelling was in theSeventh Corps Area of the US Army, and theWorks Progress Administration (WPA) established a supply depot at Fort Snelling to supportCCC camps. A CCC Headquarters Company was stationed at the fort. Minnesota had two CCC companies that were entirely African American.[92] One of these worked next to the fort in Fort Snelling State Park.[92]
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. TheWar Department chose the base to be the site of the army'sMilitary 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.[93] That year the Army created two Railroad Divisions with theGreat Northern Railroad sponsoring the 704th.[93] The 1st MRS Division was activated at Fort Snelling (as the 701st) from where it deployed to theMediterranean(Italy, Southern France, andNorth Africa). It was commanded by Brig. Gen.Carl R. Gray Jr. of theChicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway.[93] Gen. Gray was responsible for creating a Commendation for Meritorious Service(MRS Certificate of Merit) specific to railroading troops.[94] In January 1943 the 701st Railway Grand Division, sponsored by theNew York Central Railroad, was stood up at Fort Snelling.[95] Minnesota Railroads sponsored multiple Railroad Operating Battalions(ROB)s with the Great Northern sponsoring the 732nd ROB.[93][96][self-published source] Even though sponsored by the Great Northern, the 732nd trained atFort Sam Houston. It landed in France and was one of twospearhead ROBs. The 732nd operated in support of Gen.Patton's3rd Armored Division and went into Germany with them.[96][self-published source] During theBattle of the Bulge Patton's armor would come to the 732nds trains to refuel.[96][self-published source] The Army positioned field Artillery directly adjacent to the rail lines so that the 732nd delivered ammo directly to the guns.[96] The 757th Railroad Shop Battalion, sponsored by theChicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, set up operations atCherbourg. TheChicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway sponsored the 714th ROB in theTerritory of Alaska.
In 1944 theMilitary Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS) forJapanese language had outgrown its facilities atCamp Savage and it relocated to Fort Snelling. With the move the curriculum was expanded with Chinese. It had 125 classrooms, 160 instructors, and 3000 students. June 1946 would see the fort's 21st and last commencement at the school. The War Department constructed scores of buildings at the fort for housing and teaching during the war.[84][49] The language school was relocated toMonterey, California, in June 1946.[97]
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 theMinnesota Air National Guard. WWII Fort Snelling facilities covered 1,521 acres at war's end.
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 aNational 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.[2][98]
Many acres of fort land have been lost to roads. Construction of theMendota Bridge ran astate highway across old fort land. More fort land was lost when anInterstate 494interchange 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 ofUnited States Army Reserve205th 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.[99] 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.[99] At that time all that remained of the original fort were the round and hexagonal towers. Statearchaeologists located the foundations of all that had been demolished allowing them to pin point the structures they reconstructed. TheMinnesota Historical Society has since made the original walled fort or "Lower Post" into an interactive interpretive center. It has been staffed from spring to early fall with personnel attired in period costumes. Although restoring the original fort assured its survival, many of the buildings constructed later, composing the "Upper Post", suffered serious disrepair and neglect. Many of them have been demolished.
In May 2006, theNational Trust for Historic Preservation added Upper Post of Fort Snelling to its list of "America's Most Endangered Places". Some restoration on historic Fort Snelling continues. Crews removed the flagpole from the iconic round tower and installed it in the ground, a change since its opening as a historic fort.
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USSFort Snelling (LSD-30) was aThomaston-class dock landing ship of theUnited States Navy. She was named for Fort Snelling at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, for many years the northernmost military post in the land of the Dakota and Ojibwe. She was the second ship assigned that name, but the construction of Fort Snelling (LSD-23) was canceled on 17 August 1945.
Fort Snelling (LSD-30) was laid down on 17 August 1953 byIngalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Miss.; launched on 16 July 1954, sponsored by Mrs.Robert P. Briscoe, wife of Vice Admiral Briscoe; and commissioned on 24 January 1955, Commander H. Marvin-Smith in command.
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