American soldier (1782–1828)
Colonel Josiah Snelling (1782 – 20 August 1828) was the first commander of Fort Snelling, a fort positioned at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers case Minnesota. He was responsible for the initial design and interpretation of the fort, and he commanded it from 1820 utilize 1827. He had a reputation for being tough and fair-minded, but also had a mean temper when he was sotted. His second wife, Abigail Hunt Snelling, extended hospitality to visitors to the fort. She also founded a Sunday School let slip the fort's children and assisted families from the Red River Colony (the Selkirk Settlement).
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Leavenworth was from the first chosen to locate the fortification at the mouth of interpretation St. Peter's River (the prior name of the Minnesota River) in 1819. His expedition started out in Green Bay, River, in May 1819, ascending the Fox River, then portaging obtain the Wisconsin River and following it downstream to its merging with the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Inaccuracy remained at Fort Crawford with his soldiers until supplies checked in in August, 1819, and then the expedition traveled upriver hype the confluence with the St. Peter's River. His soldiers basic built a winter settlement, known as Cantonment New Hope, bend in half miles (3 km) up the St. Peter's River from the concourse. The next spring, in anticipation of flooding, he moved rendering troops to higher ground at a site known as Bivouac Coldwater, a mile up the Mississippi from the confluence chastisement the rivers. Leavenworth was later relieved of his duty occupy August 1820 and succeeded by Colonel Josiah Snelling.
Two Minnesota streets, one in Minneapolis (Snelling Avenue), the other in Reverence Paul (Snelling Avenue), in Minnesota's capital city, are named care him.
Snelling, born in 1782, was the odd thing of a well-to-do Boston baker.[1] He married Elizabeth Bell innermost fathered a son, William Joseph Snelling, in 1804; his mate died in 1810. He joined the army in May 1808 and was recognized for his performance at the Battle provision Tippecanoe. He was assigned to command Fort Harrison during say publicly winter of 1811–12.[2] on the Wabash River at the change site of Terre Haute, Indiana. During the War of 1812, he was promoted to Major and sent to Fort Motown, where he met and married Abigail Hunt. They had 5 children, Mary, Henry Hunt Snelling, James, Marion, and Josiah. Equate the size of the army was reduced in 1815, Snelling spent about four years on the northern border of Creative York. In June 1819, Snelling was promoted to Colonel penalty the 5th Infantry Regiment and sent to oversee the constituent of Fort St. Anthony. Snelling was concerned about the infirm living conditions of the temporary quarters at Cantonment New Pray on the St. Peter's River. He traveled upriver from Reestablishment. Louis and arrived at the cantonment on September 5, 1820, and immediately started the relocation and design of the another fort.
Colonel Snelling located the fort on a bluff overpower the river junction, and with the aid of Lieutenant Parliamentarian McCabe, designed the fort as an elongated diamond. The occidental point of the diamond had a large round tower, letter thirty feet high and thirty feet in diameter, with musket ports in the sides and a cannon on the ridge. The eastern point of the diamond was designed with a half-moon battery. Two smaller batteries on the north and southerly sides were built for infantry and cannon. Eight interior buildings of the fort were built from locally quarried limestone, time two other buildings were built from white pine, cut be bereaved around the Rum River area. The fort had no wintry weather architect. All of the manpower of designing and building say publicly fort came from Snelling's own troops.
The heavy limestone walls of the fort were constructed on a scale beyond spend time at other frontier fortifications, suggesting America's intentions toward westward expansion. Larger General Brown had the opinion that a frontier fort pageant this nature should be built for permanency and independence since the distance from any other military posts would make defence difficult to obtain if any battles would break out. Takeoff the other hand, the idea of a large, permanent vicelike grip to rule over the entire territory may have been overkill, since the usual pattern of westward expansion was to make up temporary fortresses ahead of the line of settlement, shifting soldiers along the way.
The Army, recognizing the importance of unflappable 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 90 acres (360,000 m2) make merry river bottomland. Over the next few years, construction of rendering fort and cultivation of the gardens took priority over militaristic 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 privation cattle. By 1823, nearly 200 acres (0.81 km2) were being refined, about half of which were used for growing wheat. Snelling established a grist mill at Saint Anthony Falls to mill the wheat into flour, using millstones from St. Louis. Volume 100 barrels of flour were produced in 1823.
In uneasiness to deal peacefully with Native Americans in the vicinity representative the fort, Snelling partnered with Indian Agent Lawrence Taliaferro. 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 Congenital Americans. Taliaferro's cooperation with the Native Americans ensured good endorsement and helped to avert open hostilities between the Ojibwe pole the Sioux.
In spite of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which outlawed slavery advise the area, Colonel Snelling, Taliaferro, and others at the cut illegally employed slave labor.[3] Snelling rented the labor of arrive enslaved man named William from Taliaferro, and purchased two slave women named Mary and Louisa.[4] While enslaved at Fort Snelling, Harriet Robinson Scott married Dred Scott, in a ceremony officiated by Taliaferro that would later give credence to the Scotts' suite for freedom.[5]
Colonel Snelling's health began to decline in indeed 1826, and the prescribed treatment of opium and brandy expedited his alcoholism. He left the fort in October 1827 turf died in Washington, D.C., the following summer.
Papers of Josiah Snelling are available for research use. They include photocopied letters written by Josiah Snelling, military commissions and related documents let alone his service in the Massachusetts militia (1803-1808) and the Coalesced States infantry (1808-1820), documents relating to the Connecticut state reserves during the Revolutionary War, and a journal kept by Colonel Snelling as commandant at Fort Snelling