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St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, May 10, 1896, Image 15

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VOL. XIX.—PRICE FIVE CENTS.
I Old arid NgW Fort Snelling. 1
TiV the year 1805 the first* steps to
wards founding this post were taken by
Lieut. Z M. Pike, United States army,
who, while in command of an explor
ing expedition, arrived in this vicinity,
and held a conference with the Sioux
Indians, on the island that now bears
his name, at the junction of the Min
nesota (then the Saint Peter's) river
with the Mississippi.
This is a copy of the treaty or agree
ment:
Conference between the United States of
America and the Sioux Nation of Indians.
Whereas. A conference held between the
United States of America and the Sioux Na
tion of Indians, Lieut. Z. M. Pike, of the
army of the United States, and the chiefs
and warriors of said tribe, have agreed to
the following articles, which, when ratified
and approved by the proper authority, shall
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be binding on both parties:
Article I. That the Sioux Nation grants
»nto the United States, for the purpose of
the establishment of military posts, nine
miles square at the mouth of the river St.
Croix; also, from below the confluence of
the Mississippi and St. Peter's, up the Mis
sissippi to include the fulls of §t. Anthony,
extending nine miles on each side of the
river. That the Sioux Nation grants to the
United States the full sovereignty and power
over said district forever, without any let or
hindrance whatsoever.
Article 11. That, in consideration of the
above grants, the United States * * *
Article 111. The United States promises on
their part to permit the Sioux to pass, re
pass, hunt, or make other uses of the said
districts, as they have formerly done, with
out any other exceptions than those speci
fied in article first.
In testimony hereof we, the undersigned,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, at
the mouth of the river St. Peter, on this
twenty-third day of September, one thuu^nd
eight hundred and five.
(Seal.) —Z. M. Pike,
First Lieutenant and Agent at the above
conference.
—Le Petit Corbeau, his X mark. (Seal.)
—Way-Aga-Ewagee, his X mark. (Seal.)
This treaty does not appear in the
United States Statutes at Large. It
was, however, submitted by the presi
dent to the senate, March 29, 1808. The
senate committee reported favorably
on April 13, with the following amend
ment, to fill the blank in article 11,
viz.: "After the word 'states' in the
second article Insert the following
words, 'shall, prior to taking posses
ion thereof pay the Sioux two thous
and dollars, or deliver the value there
of in such goods and merchandise as
they shall choose.' " In this form the
senate, April 16, 1808, advised and con
sented to its ratification by a unanim
ous vote.
An examination of the records of the
Btate department fails to indicate any
subsequent action by the president in
' *£SSSS^~ «is/ft -
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|,s%i^»iSaaja&^.?s_ s^ ;-r 77A$Mm A,^AA T-y 7 ' ::.7y.^^-7^y^
proclaiming the ratification of this
treaty; but, more than a quarter of a
century subsequent to its approval by
the senate, the correspondence of the
war department speaks of the cessions
of land described therein as an ac
complished fact.
Nothing more was done until the
year 1819, when Lieut. Col. H. Leaven
worth, of the Fifth United States in-
THE SAINT PAUL GLOBE.
fantry, arrived with his regiment, be
ing directed to establish a post upon
the military reserve located by Lieut.
Pike. The first monthly return from
this vicinity was rendered for Septem
ber, of that year; but, because of sick
ness (scurvy) among the troops, no
work was undertaken until the spring
of 1820, up to which time the troops
lived in hutp on the right bank of the
Minnesota, nearly opposite the site of
the present fort. In May, 1820, Lieut.
Col. Leavenworth moved the regiment
across the Minnesota to the right bank
of the Mississippi, and camped it near
a spring In the neighborhood of the old
burial ground, which camp was called
"Camp Coldwater," and In it they re
mained until the fort was completed.
The site first selected was that of the
present military cemetery, and prelim
inary preparations, such as cleaning
and conveying logs, were begun; but,
in August, Col. Joslah Snelling, Fifth
infantry, arrived, assumed command,
and selected the high bluff, or promon
tory, opposite Pike's island, as the lo
cation for the post.- This narrow neck
of land, rising sheer from the two riv
ers, dominated them and their nearer
and farther banks, commanded the
island and was, to the artillery of those
days, practically impregnable upon
three sides: for it is bounded on the
north and east by precipitous cliffs,
washed at their foot by the "Father of
Waters," on the south by sharp and
rocky declivities, having their base in
the nearly impassable slough of the
Minnesota, and on the west, only,
opening upon the level of the plateau.
It was a naturally defensible position,
and the strategic key of this section of
country. The work was begun in Sep
tember, 1820, and steadily prosecuted
until October, 1822, when it was first
occupied.
During the whole of this period, Col.
Snelling was in actual command of the
troops, his own regiment being engaged
in the excavating, quarrying and build
ing. Upon his recommendations the
fort was named Fort Saint Anthony,
and was so known until the year 1824,
when it was visited by Gen. Winfield
Scott, at whose suggestion, and as a
compliment to the officer under whose
superintendence it was erected, the
name was then changed to Fort Snel
ling.
The defenses, and some of the store
houses and shops, were built of stone,
FORT SXELLIXG IX 18GO.
(By Courtesy of Zimmerman.)
but the barracks of the soldiers and
the quarters of the officers were gen
erally primitive log huts'; and it was
not until after the Mexican war, and
while the fort was garrisoned by the
Sixth United States infantry, that the
interior assumed its present appear
ance.
Since soldiers, only, were employed in
building the fort, its cost to tbe gov-
ST. PAUL., MINN., SUNDAY MOIINH*G, MAY 10, 1896
ernment must have been very little,
the only expenditure incurred being for
tools and iron, and the small daily al
lowance of 15 cents and a gill of whis
ky to each man engaged in the work.
The original defenses, of which por
tions are still standing, were diamond,
or, rather, coffin-shaped, with stone
bastions on the river end and sides,
and a round-tower of two stories,
pierced for both cannon and musketry,
and with a crenelated roof, overlooked
the plain to the west. The old round
tower is in a pretty good state of
preservation, having been several times
repaired and whitewashed, and the
bastion on the Minnesota side is a
really picturesque ruin, its roof and
floors fallen, and its empty embrasures
the eyeless sockets of a skull. On the
north and south sides of the quadran
gle, the low barracks and quarters of
men and officers still outline the coffin
shaped sides of the original enclosure,
and the handsome old bouse of the erst
while commandants indicates the foot
board; but connecting walls and other
defenses have long since crumbled
away or been destroyed.
United States troops garrisoned the
fort from the time it was completed
until May, 1858, when they were with
drawn, the secretary of war, by virtue
of an act of congress of March, 1857,
having sold the entire military reserva
tion of Fort Snelling, supposed then to
be about 6,000 acres, to Franklin Steele,
of Minnesota, for $90,000. This land
transfer is a curious one and worth be
ing noted. The purchaser paid $30,000
down, and agreed to pay tho residue in
two equal annual payments thereafter.
He entered into possession and occu
pation, but "made default in the pay
ment of the two remaining unpaid in
stallments." I quote from the govern
ment deed. So, in April, 1861, Uncle
Sam came back, and planted himself
again on the reservation, which was
occupied by Minnesota volunteers un
til November, 1565, when the regulars
returned, and the command of the post
developed upon Col. Robert H. Hall,
then a captain of the Tenth infantry,
to whose able report I am indebted for
most of the history and descriptions of
the old post. Brer Steele, "he lay low"
until February, 1868, when he filed "a
claim In the war department exceed
ing in amount the sum of the principal
and interest due on said purchase."
One seems to feel the presence of a
brass foundry.
But in 1871 the then secretary of war
said to Mr. Steele (in substance , the
deed is too long to recite), Let the
United States have 1,500 acres of this
reservation back, and you shall keep
the 4,500 acres, and be forgiven your
defct to the government. The offer
was accepted, and Mr. Steele bought,
in 1871, for $6,38 2-8 an acre land he
bad promised to pay for, in 1857, at
the rate of $15 an acre. "What's in a
name!"
There have b^en about 140 command
ing officers of FoTt Snelling since it was
established, and- it has been occupied
by the First. Third, Fifth, Sixth, Sev
enth, Tenth, Seventeenth, Twentieth
and Twenty-fifth regiments of United
States infantry; by the' Second and
Third artillery, by the First dragoons,
by the Veteran 'Reserve corps, by the
First. Sixth and Seventh Minnesota
infantry and by the Second Minnesota
cavalry.
There is no record of an attack upon
the fort, but the garrison has often
been sent to the aid of threatened posts
In the vicinity, and had several scares.
The following description of the de
fenses, as they appeared thirty years
ago, is taken from Col. Hall's report
of that date.
"The fort is an irregularly shaped bastior.
redoubt, with towers at the salient, the
shoulder-angles and the center of the gorge.
The body of the work is a stone wall, hav
ing an uniform hetg"ht of twelve feet, slightly
salient at the center of the gorge, and with
a crotchet ia the left flank. The tower at the
salient la much the most entensive, being
twenty-eight feet In height, and arranged
with two tiers of loopholes. Tha toy er at
the left shoulder-a"gle is smaller, but is loop
holed in the same manner. At the right
shoulder-angle, the tower is but very little
higher than the walls, and has but one tier
of loopholes, Tli"te two towers are square
and placed obliquely to the wall, presenting
a salient to the attacking party; while that
at the gorge is, in fact, but a portion of the
wall thrown forward In a semi-cfrcular form,
and is without loopholes. • • •
"A sally-port is in the center of the left
face of the basMon. with gates and bars
capable of effectually closing it. * * * An
other, but a smaller, sally-port in the right
face, near the shoulder-angle, leads to a
new stone building, immediately outside the
wall, used for a guard house and military
prison. There has been another sally-port
in the gorge, but it is now walled up, and
the first two are tne only points of entrance.
"Immediately inside the wall, and running
almost entirely about the foot, is a road
way, from which stairs lead at various
points to the parade. This is, at the gorge,
five feet above the roadway, but the latter,
by a gradual ascent along the flanks, arrives
on the same level at the shoulder-angles.
On tho outer edges of the parade are situated
the officers' quarters, men's barracks, hos
pital, offices and sutler's store.
"The stables, workshops and other neces
sary attendant buildings are outside the wall.
These, very few in number when the post
was first occupied, have gradually increased
until now they form the most important
feature.
* *****
"A great improvement might be effected in
the methods of supplying the post with wa
ter, for which It is now dependent upon a
spring situated about sixteen hundred yards
from the fort. Water wagons are employed
to supply the necessary wants of tho gar
rison and the nublic animals. Each wagon
requires, to render it efiicient, six horses
and two men, .and the number of wagons
thus, each day, constantly employed, has
•varied from four to ten, dependent upon the
strength of the garrison. The road which
these wagons necessarily traverse is a diffi
cult one, and upon the breaking up of win
ter requires much repairing to render it even
passable."
The cost of introducing water in
pipes was shown by Col. Kail to be
less than a year's maintenance of the
water-wagon system. Tsut that clumsy
and expensive method prevailed for
some time.
In the old fort, In 1822, Mrs. Abigal
Hunt Snelling, the wife of Col. Joslah
Snelling, gave birth to the first white
child born in Minnesota. It was on this
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||IL;i&sy<_^ ______ "-^^S-S^^ <ej^& J_r^j^atr :;: - -S^=^^_^^^^^^^^S
reservation, too, that Minnesota's first
flour mill was built and operated. The
bill for materials was as follows:
One pair burr mill stones $250 11
337 pounds plaster of Paris 20 22
Two dozen sickles at $3 18 00
Minneapolis now stands where Col.
Leavenworth built Minnesota's first
sawmill in 1822.
The contract prices for army supplies
in the early twenties are rather amus
ing. Salt at $2 per bushel and soap at
10 cents per pound were luxuries; but
whisky at 50 cents a gallon was one
of the cheap necessities of life to the
defenders of our liberties. Think of it:
In those grand old days one could get
four whole pints of liquid rapture for
a quarter, whereas, in these degener
ate times "four fingers" is all that can
bo purchased for that amount. And
one could have economized in salt p.nd
soap.
In May, 1823, the steamboat Virginia,
lcng looked for and anxiously expected,
arrived, and the whole garrison rushed
dc\vn.the hill to greet the pioneer of
steam on the upper Mississippi.
Although Fort Snelling was never
attacked, it was the scene of a bloody
Indian emeute, which I once heard de
scribed by a very charming old gentle
woman, who was an eye witness of the
double tragedy. Mrs. Charlotte Quis
consin Van Clev.e, the writer of "Life-
Long Memories of Fort Snelling," was
the daughter of Maj. Nathan Clark,
formerly of the Fifth United States
infantry, and married Lieut. H. F.
Van Cleve, of the same regiment, aft
erward colonel of the Second Minne
sota infantry. She came to Minnesota
with Col. Leavenworth's expedition in
1819, a baby about a year old, and the
fort was her earliest home. I will give
the story in her own words:
"LT*e the old man in Dickens' 'Child's
Story,' I am always remembering; come
and remember with m/. I close my eyes
and recall an evening some sixty years ago.
when in one of the stone cottages near Fort
Snelling. which wcis our home at that time."
(1827), "a pleasant company of officers and
their families we c spending a social even
ing with my parents.
"The doors w: c thrown open, for the
weather was wa; „i, and • * Capt. Cruger
was walking on the piazza, when we were
all startled by the sound of rapid firing near
us. The captain rushed into the house, much
agitate*, exclaiming: 'That bullet almost
grazed my ear.' What could it mean? Were
the Indians surr ending us? Soon the loud
yells and shrie s from the , Indian camp
near our house made it evident that the
treaty of peace mlde that afternoon between
the Sioux and Chippewas had ended, as all
those treaties did Tin treachery and blood
shed. The principal men of the two nations
had met at the Indian agency, and, in the
presence of Maj. Taliaferro, their 'White
Father,' had made a solemn treaty of peace.
In the evening, at the wigwam of tho Chlp-
pewa chief, they had ratified this treaty by
smoking the pipe of peace together, and
then, before the smoke of the emblematic
pipe had cleared away, the treacherous Sioux
had pone out and deliberately fired Into the
wigwam, kilMrg and wjunding several of
the unsuspecting, inmates. The Chippewas,
of course, returned the Sre. and this was
what had startled us all. • * The Chippe
was, with their wounded, sought refuge and
protection within the walls of the fort, com
manded at that time by Col. Snelling. They
were kindly cared for, and the wounded
were tenderly nursed in our hospital. One,
a little girl, daughter of the chief, excited
much sympathy, and I cannot forget the
Interest I felt in her, for she was but a year
yU
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tWbW se&&£':yi? yS^%M 2^%l<v f^.E7/ y,i ■„ i /5-
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or two older than myself, and it seemed to
me so cruel to ruthlessly put out her young
life. * * * she lingered but a few days,
in great agony. * * *
"Meanwhile, our prompt and efficient col
onel demanded of. the Sioux the murderers,
and in a very few days a body of Sioux ap
peared, as we supposed, to deliver up the
criminals. Twe companies of soldiers were
sent to meet them and receive the murder
ers. * * Strange to say, although they had
tlie men, they refused to give them up,
when our interpreter • • • said: 'If you
do not yield up these men peaceably, thin,
as many leaves as there are on those trees,as
many blades of grass as you see ocn<.ath
your feet, so many white men will come
upon you, burn your villages and destroy
your nation.'
"A few moments' consideration • • •
and the guilty men were handed over «o
our troops. The tribe followed, as they were
taken into the fort, and, making a small
OLD FORT SXELLIXG FROM THE RIVER.
(Courtesy of Haas Bros.)
fire within the walls, the condemned men
marched round and round it, singing their
death songs, and then were • • • put in
irons and held in custody until time should
determine how many lives should pay the
forfeit, for * * ♦ Indian revenge is a life
for a life, and the colonel had
decided to give them into the handj
of the injured, to be punished accord
ing to their own customs.
"Some weeks passed, and It was found that
five lives were to be paid for in kind. A
council of Chippewas decided that the five
selected from the prisoners should run the
gauntlet, and it was approved. And now,
back over the lapse of many years, I pass,
and seem to be a child again, standing be
side my only brother, at the back door of
my father's house. The day Is beautiful;
* * * It Is hard to realize what is going on
over yonder, by the graveyard, *.**',
for there are gathered together the Chippe
was, old and young men, women and chil
dren, who have come out to witness or take
part in this act of retributive justice. There
are blue coats, too, * • • ; for it is nec
essary to hold some restraint over those red
men, or there may be wholesale murders;
and, borne on the shoulders of his young
men, we see the form of the wounded, dy
ing chief, regarding all with calm satisfac
tion. • • • And there stand the young
braves who have been selected as the execu
tioners; their rifles are loaded, and all Is
ready when the word shall be given. There,
too, under guard, are the five doomed men.
* * *
"Away off, I cannot tell how many rods,
but it seemed to us children a long run, are
stationed the Sioux tribe; and that is the
goal for which the wretched men must run
for their lives.
"And now, all seems ready; the chairs are
knocked off, and the captives are set free.
At a word, one of them starts; the rifles,
with unerring aim, are fired, and, under
cove- of the smoke, a man falls dead. They
reload; the word is given, and another starts,
with a bound for home; but. ah! the aim
of those clear-sighted, bloodthirsty men is
too deadly: and, so, one after another, till
four are down.
"And, then, the last, 'Little Six,' whom, at
a distance we children readily recognized
from his commanding height and graceful
form- he is our friend, and we hope he will
get home. He starts; they fire; the smoke
clears away, and he Is still running. We
clap our hands and say, 'He will get home!'
but another volley, and our favorite, almost
at the goal, springs into the air and comes
down —dead! I cover my face, and shed tears
of real sorrow for our friend.
"And now follows a scene that beggars
description. The bodies, all warm and limp,
are dragged to the brow of the hill. Men,
who at the sight of blood become fiends, tear
off tne scalps, and hand them to the chief,
who hangs them around his neck. Women
and children, with tomahawks and knives,
cut deep gashes in the poor, dead bodies,
and scooping uo the hot blood with their
hands, eagerly drink it. Then, grown fran
tic, they dance and yell, and sing their hor
rid scalp-songs, recounting deeds of valor on
the part of their brave men. and telling or
the Sioux scalps taken in former battles, un
til a>- last, tired and satiated with their
ghoul-like feast, they leave the mutilated
bodies festering in the sun. At nightfall they
are thrown over the bluff Into the river, and
my brother and myself, awe-struck and
quiet trace their hideous voyage down the
Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. We lie
awake at night, talking of the dreadful
things we have seen; and we try to Imagine
what the people of New Orleans will think
PRICE FIVE CENTS—NO. 131.
when they see those ghastly up-turned faces; my life and experience and Dassinr
and we talk with quivering lips and tear
ful eyes of 'Little Six,' and the many kind m mental review the far larger set of
th'ngs he has done for us-the bows and ar- not es. written with the pen of observa
rows the moeauKS of sugar, and the pretty * X
beaded moccasns he has given us; and we tion upon the leaves of memory. I am
SL? h t L WrM'' it h±" C°l d a pleasantly Impressed with the fact
or that the vnmnewas rifles nail m!s?eu Are. '
And we s.eep and dream of sca'.ps. and rifles, that the military service Is obedient
and war-whoops, and frightful yells. • • • to the law of evolution, and th:tt there
hi'^ir foa;V^>, thi^^'lu PaLo,h e<LnP^ :uInV has been gradual, but steady, improve
himself for death, sang his death song, and 7, V
with those five fresh, bloody sea'.ps about his 1 ment In the conditions and envlron
neck. lay down and died calmly and peace- ment of the officer and enlisted man.
?,&li™%X to% b pMhnSntlSS ground,.' the most noticeable change for
prepared by the 'Good Spirit' for all those the better has been in matters affecting
OLD BLOCKHOUSE AT SXELLING.
Indians who are faithful to their friends and
avenge themselves upon their foes.
"A few years ago. I told this story to an
other 'L:ttle Six,' 'Old Shakopee.' as he lay.
with gyves up> n hi r 1-es, in our guard-houui
at Fort Snelling, awaiting execution for al
most numberless cold-blooded murders per
petrated during the dreadful massacre of '62.
He remembered it all. and h:s wicked o:d
face lighted up with joy as he told me he
was the son of that 'Little Six' who made
do brave a run for his life, and he showed
as much pride and pleasure in listening to
rh»> story of his father's treacherous conduct
as the children of our great generals will do
some day, when they read or hear of deeds of
bravery or daring that their fathers have
don-."
Oddly enough, Mrs. Van Cleve, who
saw the first steamboat arrive at Fort
Snelling, saw, about forty-one years
later, the first railway train leave the
site of the old fort.
The picture of Snelling, showing the
north, east, and south bastions, and
nearly three sides of the wall, was
taken from Pike's Island thirty odd
years ago, when the defenses were
still extant and In pretty good repair.
For the photographs from which the
reproductions are made of the south
bastion, interior of old fort, bird's eye
view of new fort, barracks and admin
istration building, and tallest men of
the companies and band of Third infan
try, I am indebted to the courtesy of
Messrs. Haas Bros.
Before leaving the old post, and pro
ceeding to a brief description of the
new one, I want to make a plea for
the restoration of this Interesting his
torical landmark, the cradle of civiliza
tion In Minnesota. The old defenses
could be restored at small expense, a
few ancient cannon mounted and the
buildings utilized as a museum of the
historical society.
The new post is in part a creation
of Brig. Gen. Alfred Terry, who, while
in command of the department of Da
kota, in 1881, transferred his headquar
ters from St. Paul to Fort Snelling,
building fourteen modern houses for
himself and staff, twenty-two modern
structures for his clerical force, a large
administration building, and quarters
for the quartermaster's employes. The
administration building is three-fifths
of a mile southwest of the flag staff
of the old post, and the line of brick
officers' quarters (now nineteen in
number) stretch half a mile further In
the same direction.
Gen. Terry moved back to St. Paul
after a time, and the fine houses were
tenantless until the arrival of the Third
infantry in 1888. The following year
Gen. Thomas H. Ruger built the hand
some commodious barracks (four dou
ble sets) opposite the officers' quarters,
and subsequently added six houses to
the "commissioned line." The regi
ment joyously abandoned the misera
ble, antique wooden tenements near
the graveyard and moved into their
comfortable new homes. And old Fort
Snelling was evacuated as a station
for regular troops.
The present post Is Justly regarded
as one of the best and most desirable
stations in the country, and when the
Third is obliged by the exigencies of
the service to leave it, it will be with
profound regret and affectionate mem
ories of the Twin Cities.
In looking over the tangible mem
oranda of nearly seventeen years of ar-
the comfort an.l welfare of the Boldler,
and nowhere can the change be marked
more clearly than here at Fort Snell
ing. The dug-out was replaced by the
log-hut, the hut by the casemate, the
casemate by the frame building, and
the last by the great, modern brick
barracks where a regiment Is boused,
fed, lighted and warmed by modem
methods. Seven te< n years ago the en
listed man of the United States army
sl.-pt on a sack full of straw, Bupp >rted
by four oak boards, with the soft side
up. Today, he has a good spring bed,
a mattress, a pillow and sheets. Twen
ty years ago he was largely subsisted
upon the Inferior portions of the pig
and the sinewy Texas Steer, the sus
tenant but monotonous bean, and a
fossil known as hard tack, which lat
ter delicacy he occasionally soaked
in water more or less rich in alkalge,
fried It In the always plentiful bacon
grease, called It by an Injurious, in
sulting and unprintable name, and ate
It, with a three-toned iron fork, off of a
tin plate, haunted by the ever-present
fear that It would sit up with him In
the still watches of the night. Today
he has varied, abundant, well-cooked
food, including many luxuries, and
proper table accessories. Seventeen
years ago, on the frontier, he paid a
post-trader "two bids" (Montana for
a quarter) for a glass of bottled beer
or three-fingers of fluid extract of "bat
tle, murder and sudden death," and
any price the conscience of the trader
would allow him to charge for a cigar
that an all-wise Providence Intended
to be eaten with corned beef. Today
he can buy from a post exchange (a
general store, run by the government
on a co-operative plan), whose profits
come directly back to him, marly ev
erything he may need or want at a
slight advance on wholesale cost. In
general, comparing the condition of
the enlisted man today with his con
dition a decade and a half ago, he is
better clothed, shod, sheltered, lighted,
warmed, bedded, fed, disciplined, In
structed, amused and generally cared
for. He has a larger degree of per
sonal liberty, his rights as a citizen
and soldier are more carefully protect
ed) he Is treated with far greater cour
tesy and consideration by those in au
thority over him (the officer that talks
to his men in the tones of a teamster
profanely addressing an opinionated
army mule being, happily, much rarer
than formerly), and, as a natural re
sult of Improved environment, he la,
physically, mentally and morally a
better man and soldier. There is, by
the way, a very general misapprehen
sion in the community about the Amer
ican soldier, his pay, his duties and the
class from which he is drawn. The
period of enlistment Is three years.
with a liberal clause In the contract
enabling a soldier to buy his discharge,
If, after a reasonable period, the ser
vice prove distasteful to him. The
recruit la subjected to a very rigid ex
amination, and unless almost physic
ally perfect Is rejected. His antece
dent history Is examined into, and he
is required to show a certificate of
character from some well-known per
son at his home. • .
The new post of Fort Snelling, with
its handsome modern barracks arid of
ficers' quarters, its beautiful lawns and
trees and its fine roads, should be a
source of pride to the two cities, for
there are few military establishments
in this country to compare with it.
The present garrison, the Third in
fantry, is the oldest regiment In the
United States service, having been or
ganized Sept. 4, 1702, by direction of
the president, under section '.',, th>- act
of March 3, 1792, a.s the infantry of the
Third Sub-Legion, and on New 1, 1795,
under the act of May 30. 1796, it was
designated as the Third regiment of in
fantry. Since its organization tbe regi
ment has taken part in over seventy
battles and engagements, and its flag
is covered with the names of actions
of the war of 1812, of the Mexican war
and of the great rebellion. It has had
Its fair share of the hardships and
exile of the remote frontier, and has
earned its right to enjoy its present
beautiful station and be for awhile a
friendly, suburban neighbor of the
great Twin Cities of the Northwest.
—W. E: P. French,
Lieutenant Third Infantry.
Fort Snelling, Minn., May 3, 1896.
One "Who Knew.
Tid-Blts. ,JL
"I'm so happy." she cried. "Ever sine*
my engagement to Charlie, the whole wurl*
seems different. I do not seem to be in dull,
prosaic Eastbourne, but In—"
"Lapland," suggested the small brother.

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