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.