In Unit 2, you learned about the interactions between the Anishinaabe, Dakota, and European fur traders in the Upper Mississippi River Valley. These cultures had traded goods and forged alliances, often through intermarriage. First French, then British companies made huge profits from this partnership with Native Americans.

When the Louisiana Purchase was signed in 1803, the British were in control of the fur trade in the Upper Mississippi River Valley. One reason for building Fort Snelling was to take control of the fur trade since this region was now part of the United States.

Fort Snelling was the first U.S. military post in the Upper Mississippi River Valley. It marked a turning point in the settlement of this region. In the decades after Fort Snelling was built, waves of immigrants came to the area, where they claimed land, established farms, created cities, and displaced the Dakota and Anishinaabe people.

In this lesson, we will seek to answer these essential questions:

Why and where was Fort Snelling built? How did it lead to more settlement in the Upper Mississippi River Valley?

Activity 1: Examining Artwork: Facts and Inferences

Fort Snelling, 1844, by John Caspar Wild

This painting shows Fort Snelling in the background; Pike Island in the middle; the settlement of Mendota in the left foreground.

Critical thinking: Fort Snelling was built where the St. Peter (now Minnesota) River flows into the Mississippi Rivers. Why do you suppose this might be a good place to build a fort? What conflicts might occur between the Dakota and the U.S. government?

Pair Share

Fact/Inference: A fact is a statement that can be proven. An inference is a statement we make when we put facts together with our own knowledge.

In your MN Studies Notebook: What facts can be seen in this painting? What can you infer about this place by looking at this painting?

Pair Share

Activity 2: The Mississippi and Minnesota River Confluence

Fort Snelling was built where the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers meet, or converge. This meeting place is called a confluence.

Read this article: Rivers and Cultures Converge

The confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers is one of the most powerfully historic places in the Twin Cities. To the Mdewakanton Dakota it has deep historic and spiritual meaning. They called the joining of the two rivers Bdote Minisota. For some, it was their place of origin, their Garden of Eden. To early Americans it became a center of trade and military authority.

On July 4, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson announced the Louisiana Purchase. The United States had bought the western half of the Mississippi River watershed from France. Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark out west and Lieutenant Zebulon Pike up the Mississippi River. Pike’s commander, General James Wilkinson, ordered Pike to discover the Mississippi’s source, make alliances with the Chippewa (Anishinaabe) and Dakota, stop intertribal fighting, assess the fur trade, observe the weather, and secure the best sites for military posts.

On September 21, 1805, Lt. Zebulon Pike landed his boats on the big island at the confluence. That island is now Pike Island. About noon on September 23, Pike says he “had a bower or shade, made of my sails, on the beach, into which only my gentlemen (the traders) and the chiefs entered.” He gave a speech telling the Dakota that America now owned both sides of the Mississippi.

Pike wanted the Dakota to sign a treaty granting the U.S. land at the confluence, St. Anthony Falls, and the St. Croix River’s mouth for military forts. After the Dakota signed, Pike boasted to Wilkinson that he had acquired the land “for a song.”

The Americans made little effort to take control of the area from the Dakota until 1819, when Colonel Henry Leavenworth arrived to build a fort. One year later, Colonel Josiah Snelling replaced Leavenworth, and on September 10, Snelling set the fort’s cornerstone.

Finished in 1824, Fort Snelling became the regional center for inter-tribal gatherings and negotiations. Although in Dakota territory, the Chippewa, Menominee, and Winnebago also visited the fort. Fur traders soon located across the river at Mendota, nearby at Camp Coldwater and just up the Minnesota River.

Excerpted from the National Park Service. web. 30 June 2012. http://www.nps.gov/miss/historyculture/confluence.htm

Pair Share: What were some reasons for building Fort Snelling? What facts did you learn about Fort Snelling?

Critical thinking: Choose one of these statements from the article. Read it carefully. In your notebook, write your opinion about the statement. What questions arise? What surprises you?

1. "The confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers is one of the most powerfully historic places in the Twin Cities. To the Mdewakanton Dakota it has deep historic and spiritual meaning. They called the joining of the two rivers Bdote Minisota. For some, it was their place of origin, their Garden of Eden. To early Americans it became a center of trade and military authority."

2. "Pike gave a speech telling the Dakota that America now owned both sides of the Mississippi."

3. "Pike boasted to Wilkinson that he had acquired the land 'for a song.'"

Pair Share

Activity 3: Who was Colonel Snelling?

Read to learn about Josiah Snelling, the namesake of Minnesota's first fort.

Pair Share: What are three interesting facts you learned about Josiah Snelling?

Activity 4: Military History of Fort Snelling

Fort Snelling reflects the growth of Minnesota and its military involvement over 120 years.

Read about Fort Snelling during the Expansionist Era (1805-1858).

In your MN Studies Notebook: What were three reasons Fort Snelling was built? Why was Fort Snelling sold, then repurchased? What else did you learn about Fort Snelling?

Assessment: Complete the Fort Snelling Short Essay:

Why and where was Fort Snelling built? How did it lead to more settlement in the Upper Mississippi River valley?