The Story of Fort Snelling and Its State Park Page 4

RAMSEY COUNTY Colorful, Contentious- St. Paul’s 100-Year-Old Neighborhood Press A Publication of the Ramsey County Historical Society Page 13

Summer, 1993 Volume 28, Number 2

Birth, Death, Reincarnation The Story of Fort Snelling and Its State Park Page 4

Old Fort Snelling in 1844. This water color and gouache painting by John Casper Wild shows the fort a few years before Minnesota became a territory. The many pitfalls in the effort to save, restore and rebuild the fort and create Fort Snelling State Park are de­ scribed by an active participant, in the article beginning on page 4. Minnesota Historical Society photograph of the original paint­ ing, which is in its collection. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Executive Director PrisciUa.Famham Editor Virginia Brainard Kunz

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS William S. Fallon CONTENTS Chairman o f the Board Joanne Englund President 3 Letters John M. Lindley First Vice President 4 Birth, Death and Reincarnation— James Russell The Story of Fort Snelling and Its State Park Treasurer Samuel H. Morgan Sidney P. Abramson, Arthur Baumeister, Jr., Thomas Boyd, Marshall Hatfield, John 13 Colorful, Sometimes Contentious— Harens, Liz Johnson, Don Larson, Judge Margaret M. Marrinan, Dr. Thomas B. St. Paul’s 100-Year-Old Neighborhood Press Mega, Laurie Murphy, Richard T. Murphy, Sr., Eileen Roberts, Darrell Rooney, Mark Jane McClure Stein, Richard A. Wilhoit and Laurie Zenner. 20 Growing Up in St. Paul Albert Fuller and the Family Business EDITORIAL BOARD Liz Holum Johnson John M. Lindley, chairman; Thomas H. Boyd, Thomas C. Buckley, Charlton Dietz, 25 Books Thomas J. Kelley, Arthur McWatt, Laurie M. Murphy, Dr. Thomas B. Mega. The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death o f the First Minnesota Volunteers by Richard Moe

HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD Reviewed by Thomas H. Boyd Elmer L. Andersen, Coleman Bloomfield, Olivia I. Dodge, Charlton Dietz, William Publication of Ramsey County History is supported Finney, Clarence Frame, Otis Godfrey, Jr., in part by a gift from Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen Ronald Hachey, Reuel D. Harmon, Robert in memory of Henry H. Cowie, Jr., and by a contribution S. Hess, Ronald M. Hubbs, Fred T. from Reuel D. Harmon. Lanners, Jr., George Latimer, Lewis Lehr, David Marsden, Robert B. Mirick, Samuel H. Morgan, Marvin J. Pertzik, J. Jerome Plunkett, Peter S. Popovich, James Reagan, Rosalie E. Wahl, Donald D. Wozniak. A Message from the Editorial Board RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Commissioner Hal Norgard, chairman n the past several months the Editorial Board has received requests Commissioner Diane Ahrens to reprint articles published in back issues of Ramsey County His­ Commissioner John Finley I Commissioner Ruby Hunt to ry. This recognition of the editorial strength of our magazine is very Commissioner Warren Schaber gratifying to all members of the Ramsey County Historical Society. Commissioner Brenda Thomas Commissioner Richard Wedell The Editorial Board wants our readers to know that we respond promptly to these requests. We can sometimes provide additional co­ Terry Schütten, executive director, Ramsey County. pies of a particular issue when there is enough lead time involved in the request. The cost of reprinting or purchasing additional copies de­ Ramsey County History is published quarter­ pends on the nature of the request. ly by the Ramsey County Historical Society, 323 Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. While the Editorial Board wants to encourage a wide dissemination Paul, Minn. 55102. Printed in U.S.A. Copy­ of our editorial material, we also are obliged to remind our readers right, 1993, Ramsey County Historical that the magazine is copyrighted by the Society and under current Society. ISSN Number0485-9758. All rights copyright law cannot be photocopied and distributed without our per­ reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without mission. written permission from the publisher. The —Jo h n M . L in d le y , chairman, Editorial Board Society assumes no responsibility for statements made by contributors.

2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Books, Etc.

The Last Full Measure: The returned from northern Minnesota to find bellious assaults now made upon them.” a marvelous book to feed my new in­ However, the excitement of enlisting Life and Death of the First terest. was followed by months of tedious drill­ Minnesota Volunteers Richard Moe, now president of the ing and waiting. The state had little or no National Trust for Historic Preservation, Richard Moe funds to outfit and supply the First Min­ has written of the common men who did Henry Holt & Company, 1993 nesota Volunteers. Further, the men who uncommon things in The Last Full M ea­ made up the First Minnesota were not sure: The Life and Death o f the First Min­ Reviewed by Thomas H. Boyd professional soldiers and had little or no nesota Volunteers. Moe’s book is made experience in the military. up primarily of first person accounts con­ n a snowy day several months ago, The First Minnesota Volunteers’ limi­ tained in letters, diaries, and newspaper I had the pleasure of traveling to tations as a military force were dramati­ O articles that he has strung together with Grand Marais to attend a hearing. The cally exemplified by the dearth of an unobtrusive narrative style. He has Cook County courthouse is an understat­ qualified officers. In general, men done a marvelous job of telling the story ed building both inside and outside. The achieved rank through political skill rath­ of the men who made up the First Min­ judge, who wore a blue robe, and his staff er than military acumen. This situation nesota Volunteers. were friendly and direct. The courtroom was addressed when, after months of Moe writes of the excitement and en­ was austere-the judge’s bench was little waiting, the First Minnesota Volunteers thusiasm that characterized enlistment in more than a desk and the jury box was traveled east to Washington, D.C., the early days of the Civil War. After made up of a dozen chairs moved to one where General George McClellan had Governor Alexander Ramsey had seized side of the room. The only ornamental created a board to evaluate and remove for Minnesota the distinction of being the aspect of the courtroom was a small por­ incompetent officers from responsible first state to tender volunteer troops to trait that hung high on the wall behind the positions. preserve the Union, a “war meeting” was judge. Before they met the enemy, the First held on April 25,1861, in the courthouse After the hearing concluded, the Minnesota Volunteers met the weather. at Red Wing. The meeting consisted of judge was kind enough to identify the ‘The mud disrupted everything, includ­ rousing patriotic speeches and the draft­ man in the portrait as Colonel William ing daily drilling and it quickly got on ing of patriotic resolutions. Colvill. He explained that Colonel Col- everyone’s nerves. . . . The only relief vill was originally from southern Min­ When the speeches were finished and the came when temperatures were cold nesota and had been one of the command­ resolutions adopted, the presiding officer enough to freeze it solid.” ing officers who led the First Minnesota issued a call for volunteers. At least two The weather eventually became the Volunteers in repelling the Confederate men in the audience, Edward Welch and least of the soldiers’ worries. Soon Army at Gettysburg in July, 1863, 130 William Colvill, believed that great honor enough, the First Minnesotans were years ago. He further explained the enor­ would attach to the first man to sign up, transformed from the greenest of enlisted mous losses sustained by the First Min­ and they both sprang from their seats and men to battle hardened veterans. With nesota on Cemetery Ridge and in Pick­ leapt over chairs in a race to the front of the battle came casualties. One of the wound­ ett’s Charge. Colonel Colvill survived room. Welch appeared to be the winner ed at the Battle of Glendale was then Cap­ and, following the end of the Civil War, until he fell bounding over the last chair, tain William Colvill: he located in Cook County where he was making a valiant effort to reach for the pen a successful businessman and communi­ on his way to the floor. Colvill got to it He took a bullet through his left breast but ty leader for many years. first, however, calmly telling Welch, “you didn’t tell his comrades. [William] The story of Colonel Colvill-a non­ are next Ed.” More than fifty men fol­ Lochren had nothing but admiration for military man who had served so valiantly lowed them to the front of the hall, accord­ the taciturn officer: “With that imperturba­ and then, when his service was done, had ing to one account, “pledging their lives, bility for which he was distinguished, he returned to civilian life-fired my admi­ their fortunes and their sacred honor in up­ gave no sign of being hurt, and turned over ration and imagination. To my delight, I holding the stars and stripes against the re­ his command to his Lieutenant, as if for a

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 25 few minutes absence, and no one knew he would be until he was tested in battle.” “Silently, without orders, and, almost that he was hurt until the next morning, The First Minnesotans’ next battle would from the start,” Lochren remembered, when he was heard from as having walked be at Gettysburg. “quick had changed to utmost speed”: to the field hospital at Malvern Hill.” “Morning came early for the First . . . for in utmost speed lay the only Minnesotans on 2 July, and if there was At Antietam, the soldiers of the First hope that any of us would pass through that any doubt about what die day would hold, Minnesota learned the horrors of battle storm of lead and strike the enemy. it was quickly dispelled. ’Roused at 3:00 were only outweighed by the horrors that “Charge!” shouted Colvill, as we neared A.M. & ordered to pack up & at 4:00 followed battle. One soldier wrote sever­ their first line; and with leveled bayonets, A . M. move towards the battlefield where al weeks after the battle: “We advanced at full speed, we rushed upon it; fortunate­ we arrive at 5-40 A.M .’ Isaac [Taylor] over the ground gained by Hooker, he ly, as it was slightly disordered in crossing wrote. ‘Order from Gen. [John] Gibbon had just been taken off the field wounded, a dry brook at die foot of a slope. The men read to us in which he says this is to be the and his men were exhausted. As we were never made who will stand against great battle of the war & that any soldier moved on the dead and wounded lay leveled bayonets coming with such leaving the ranks without leave will be thick, and fragments of regiments momentum and evident desperation. instantly put to death.’ ” cheered us as we passed. Our men and [The] first line broke in our front as we As die Batde of Gettysburg began, Secesh lay as they fell, many begging us reached it, and rushed back through the General Daniel Sickles, commander of for a drink of water, others telling us not second line, stopping the whole advance. the Union Third Corps who Moe to tread on them and it was difficult to We then poured in our first fire, and avail­ describes as “the North’s most successful march over the ground without stepping ing ourselves o f such shelter as the low political general,” demonstrated his lack on some man.” banks the dry brook afforded, held the en­ of military training and experience by ad­ Eventually, the battles fought by the tire force at bay for a considerable time. vancing from the ground he had been or­ First Minnesota turned their excitement dered to defend. On his own, General Only 150 men had made it the full dis­ and enthusiasm for the war to bitterness Sickles ordered his corps to move across tance from Cemetery Ridge to the swale, and cynicism, as demonstrated by a letter Cemetery Ridge to higher ground. Sick­ and their commander, Colonel Colvill, from one soldier quoted by Moe: les’ men soon were half a mile in front of had been seriously injured in the charge. That great and proud army which set out the other Union forces. Confederate However, the First Minnesotans had for the Confederate Capitol last spring brigades seized this opportunity to stopped the Confederate advance. Once with high hopes, finds itself, after a six breach the Union line. dusk fell, reinforcements arrived and the month campaign, back again upon the Moe writes: “[if] the Southerners kept Minnesotans were able to withdraw. Potomac at its place of starting. coming and managed to get over the The fighting continued the following . . . Much blood and treasure had been ridge, they would split the entire Union day for the remaining members of the expended and today, notwithstanding re­ line in two. It would then be in a position First Minnesota. When General George cent partial successes, the rebellion seems to create havoc by ‘rolling up’ the North­ Pickett led his desperate charge of as far from being crushed as ever. . . . ern forces on the ridge all the way to 15,000 men across the open field towards Cemetery Hill and perhaps beyond, to Cemetery Ridge, it appeared as though Several days after the battle of Chan- Culp’s Hill. It would be, in short, a Union its full force would hit the depleted First cellorsville, the First Minnesotans disaster of immense proportions. Not Minnesota. Moe writes: “[a]s the surviv­ received the disconcerting news that only the day would be lost but almost cer­ ing rebels hit the Union line near the General Sully was being transferred back tainly the battle as well. [General Robert clump of trees they had used as an aiming to Minnesota to prosecute the war against E.] Lee would have the victory he had point—the spot would soon become the Dakota, and his second in command, come north to seek.” known as the ‘high-water mark’ of the Colonel Morgan, had been forced to re­ The 262 members of the First Min­ rebellion—the First Minnesota and the sign due to illness. These events left Col- nesotans stood alone between the ad­ other regiments in [General] Harrow’s vill, who had since been promoted to vancing Confederate forces and the Un­ brigade received orders to leave their po­ colonel, in command of the First Min­ ion rear. When the men of the First Min­ sitions and charge headlong into the Con­ nesotans. Moe writes, “[ajlthough Col- nesota were given the orders to charge, federate flank.” vill’s performances at Bull Run and on the “[e]very man realized in an instant what “For two hours we had fought desper­ Peninsula had proved that he was per­ that order meant-death or wounds to us ately,” one soldier wrote a few weeks sonally brave, die Minnesotans were un­ all; the sacrifice of the regiment to gain a later. “Our muskets became so heated we sure of his leadership abilities. Colonels few minutes time and save the position, could no longer handle them. We of the First Minnesota were now judged and probably the battlefield-and every dropped them and picked up those of the by a new standard, that set by Sully, and man saw and accepted the necessity for wounded. Our cartridges gave out. We it was hard for a civilian like Colvill, no the sacrifice.” The First Minnesota began matter how courageous, to measure up. its advance. No one would know what kind of a leader Books to page 27

26 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY Books from page 26 rifled the boxes of the dead. Artillery men from the disabled pieces in our rear sprang forward, and seizing guns and cartridges of the wounded, fought by our side as in­ fantrymen. Many of the men became deaf, and did not recover their hearing for a day or two. It was a grand and terrible scene.” Seventy per cent of those actually engaged in the fighting—229 men—had fallen. In an engagement that resulted in the award­ ing of Medals of Honor to two of its mem­ bers, the First Minnesota forced Pickett’s division to fall back. Headquarters building, Fort Snelling, 1900. Minnesota Historical Society photograph. General Winfield Scott Hancock, who had ordered the charge and was one of the few who had seen the First Minnesota car­ at the fort by a generous donation in his Park Association, after a period of years ry out its orders, later told Senator Morton memory. when its members felt they could say “mis­ Wilkinson of Minnesota that “[t]he superb During all these years of Association sion accomplished,” is undergoing rejuve­ gallantry of those men saved our line from efforts in the areas of acquisition and pro­ nation as it finds new challenges for its being broken. No soldiers, on any field, in tection, the Minnesota Division of Parks, members to meet. One of these is to secure this or any other country, ever displayed under the leadership of Judge Hella and the the late Tom Savage’s dream of a new park grander heroism.” direct supervision of a succession of park visitors’ center to be located below the fort Moe’s strength as the author of this managers, beginning with Clinton John­ and not far from the old steamboat landing. book is his willingness to let the primary son and continuing with Harold Raak and It would replace the relatively inaccessible source material speak for itself. He has others, has succeeded in creating a beauti­ and wholly inadequate temporary in­ done a marvelous job in culling out fas­ ful and enjoyable park out of what was terpretive center created out of the uncom­ cinating, moving, and highly descriptive literally and in substantial part a dump pleted Wilkus house on Pike Island. The passages from the diaries and letters of the back in 1962. Association’s members are today bending members of the First Minnesota. Moe’s Finally, it can fairly be said that neither their efforts to secure legislative funding narrative is original yet unobtrusive, and the unique early nineteenth century for­ for this very necessary feature for the park, provides the perfect balance between plac­ tress we see today, nor the continuum of which is to be named in honor of the As­ ing these excerpts in context and allowing parks along the Mississippi between the sociation’s founding president. the soldiers’ words to speak for them­ downtowns of our two cities and extending Another dream of at least some mem­ selves. These comments are particularly for miles up the Minnesota River and all bers of the Association is for it to be not just applicable with regard to the book’s chap­ coming together in Fort Snelling State a Fort Snelling Park Association but to be­ ter on the Battle of Gettysburg. I would Park, would have come to pass without the come a Fort Snelling Historic District As­ recommend this book to anyone who seeks strong, continuing, and cooperative dedi­ sociation, which would include the old vil­ to know more about Minnesotans who cation and effort of individuals in both the lage of Mendota. Such a project could fought in the Civil War and whose por­ public and private sectors. The dreams of make the historic Sibley House, along with traits may have ended up on our court­ those with vision, such as Wirth, Nichols, its adjoining Faribault House, Dupuis house walls. Hella and Fridley, were transformed into House and St. Peter’s Church, all an in­ reality by the support of a series of gover­ tegral part of the Fort Snelling Park and Thomas H. Boyd is a St. Paul attorney and nors, including Orville Freeman, Elmer Historic District, with perhaps a restored author of the article on Judge Walter B. L. Andersen, and Karl Rolvaag, by con­ ferry to connect the fort and Mendota Sanborn which appeared in a recent issue gressmen such as Humphrey, MacGregor, directly, as was the case back in the days o f Ramsey County History. and Frenzel, and above all by citizens such before the Mendota bridge was built. as Savage, Harmon, Black and Von Ber­ gen who carried on the work of preaching, Samuel H. Morgan, a retired St. Paul at­ Fort Snelling from page 12 lobbying, fundraising, and prodding, and torney, was one o f the prime movers in the who “stayed the course.” establishment o f Fort Snelling State Park. ship from this charming Axel Von Bergen While an article on history as this is He is a past president o f the Fort Snelling of aristocratic Swedish background. To­ must deal primarily with the past rather State Park Association and o f the Minneso­ day he can be remembered by all who de­ than the present or the future, it may not be ta Parks Foundation. scend the Von Bergen trail made possible amiss to report that the Fort Snelling State

RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY 27 I 11

HTM!?H 11 11 il II HTiTiTHT JDLJL'^^Jp JL 11 11 1 AMTS ™ 1 N Jl-Jr VILLAGER Published every other Thursday at the Commercial Press, 418 South Third Street, a Union Shop, Minneapolis, Minnesota, GE. 6644, by Elizabeth J. Haas and Bessie J. Jones, I Elmer A. Huset—Managing Editor

*^ § 1 1 ^ 41 Church news must reach us not later than Saturday; letters to the editor, social news and classified ads by 5 o’clock Monday. New Owners As new owners of “The Highland Villager,” we'wish to take this opportunity to thank the advertisers for their pa­ tience and the cooperation accorded us during the transition of ownership. It is our sincere desire, with your cooperation, to make “The Highland Villager” outstanding among papers of its kind. We welcome news items of interest to Highland Village residents. Mail your news items to the Highland Villager, 418 South Third Street, Minneapolis 15, Minnesota.

The masthead from the second issue of the Highland Villager, dated March 12, 1953. For the history of St. Paul’s colorful neighborhood newspapers, see the article beginning on page 13.

RAMSEY • COUNTY • HISTORICAL • SOCIETY

Published by the Ramsey County Historical Society 323 Landmark Center 75 West Fifth Street Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102