Fort Snelling

Fort Snelling (1820-1946) - A U.S. Army post in present day St. Paul, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Colonel Josiah Snelling began construction on the permanent fort in 1820 on the site of previous fortifications. It was completed and named after him in 1825. The fort was abandoned in 1857, but reactivated in 1861 as a state training center during the U.S. Civil War. Federal troops returned in 1866, making the post the headquarters of the vast Military Department of Dakota. Fort Snelling was home to 25,000 Union soldiers during the U.S. Civil War. Deactivated in 1946.

Fort Snelling in 1840s. Painting by Henry Lewis

Map of Minnesota/Wisconsin Forts 1820

Fort Snelling History

A U.S. Army post built out as an enclosed diamond with bastions at all four corners. The western bastion was a large, round stone tower and opposing it on the east was a semicircular bastion housing a gun battery facing the Mississippi River. The north bastion housed a gun battery in a five sided stone blockhouse and the south bastion also housed a gun battery but in a six sided stone blockhouse. The bastions were connected by a high stone wall with two entrances near the western end of the post. A central parade was surrounded by four long buildings that housed the single and married officers, the enlisted troops and a hospital. At the head of the parade, on the east side, was the commanding officer's quarters. The commissary and the shops were built into the south walls. Other support buildings including a school, a sutler's store and a gun shed were built in the western corner of the parade.

Located east of the fort was an American Fur Co. post and south of the fort was a Columbia Fur Co. post.

World War I (1917-1918)

The post was used as a recruitment and training depot during World War I.

World War II (1941-1945)

The post was used as a recruitment and training depot during World War II.

Current Status

Must See! On the old Fort Snelling site eleven buildings have been reconstructed around the parade and four of the original sixteen buildings remain. The most distinctive of the original structures is the large stone tower in the western corner. Site of the Minnesota Historical Society Museum.

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Location: Located at the junction of Minnesota Highways 5 and 55, one mile east of the Twin Cities International Airport, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Maps & Images Lat: 44.892774 Long: -93.180692 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: 700'

Sources:

• Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 438

Links:

• North American Forts - Fort Snelling
• Minnesota Historical Society
• Wikipedia - Fort Snelling

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