Chapter I: Preface

If this compend of Minnesota history shall be found a desirable addition to those already before the public, it will be due to the good fortune of the writer in reaching original sources of information not accessible to his predecessors.

The most important of them are: the papers of Governor Alexander Ramsey, in the possession of his daughter, Mrs. Marion R. Furness; the letter-books and papers of General H. H. Sibley, preserved in the library of the Minnesota Historical Society; some hundreds of letters saved by Colonel John H. Stevens, and deposited by him in the same library; the papers of Ignatius Donnelly, in the hands of his family; the great collection of Green Bay and Prairie du Chien papers belonging to the Wisconsin Historical Society; the remarkable group of early French documents owned by the Chicago Historical Society; and finally, the priceless collection of Minnesota newspapers preserved by the Minnesota Historical Society.

Grateful acknowledgments are offered to many citizens who have given information out of their own knowledge, or have directed the writer to other sources. Among “old Territorians” who have rendered invaluable aid must be named Simeon P. Folsom, John A. Ludden, Joseph W. Wheelock, Benjamin H. Randall, A. L. Larpenteur, A. W. Daniels, John Tapper, and William Pitt Murray. The last named has put me under the heaviest obligation.

W. W. F.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., June 1, 1908.

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE FRENCH PERIOD 1

II. THE ENGLISH DOMINION 29

III. MINNESOTA WEST ANNEXED 42

IV. FORT SNELLING ESTABLISHED 54

V. EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS 70

VI. THE TERRITORY ORGANIZED 86

VII. TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT 108

VIII. TRANSITION TO STATEHOOD 133

IX. THE STRUGGLE FOR RAILROADS 159

X. ARMING FOR THE CIVIL WAR 178

XI. THE OUTBREAK OF THE SIOUX 190

XII. THE SIOUX WAR 205

XIII. SEQUEL TO THE INDIAN WAR 222

XIV. HONORS OF WAR 240

XV. REVIVAL 254

XVI. STORM AND STRESS 267

XVII. CLEARING UP 304

XVIII. FAIR WEATHER 333

XIX. A CHRONICLE OF RECENT EVENTS 340

INDEX 367

MINNESOTA