Historic Fort Snelling #2 Memorial

My husband and I went to Historical Fort Snelling on Memorial Day weekend. It was a very thought provoking day for me!!! ;) I remember going to Historical Fort Snelling as a kid on school trips, it wasn't as cool as a kid and I didn't appreciate it as much. Now it's cool, okay I now appreciate it more than I did as a kid!!! ;)

We were there almost all day long, got sun burned (well worth it) and had a very enjoyable day!!!

So okay I will tell you a little bit about Historic Fort Snelling. It was the development for the U.S. Northwest that was once an American symbol of ambition in the wilderness. The United States had gained control over the upper Mississippi during the Revolutionary War with Great Britain and then later the Louisiana Purchase from France. The territory was inhabited by fur traders and Indians that were still loyal to the British. 

The government after the war of 1812 took physical possession of the Northwestern frontier by establishing an Indian chain of agencies from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River.  Also there were wilderness outposts along the river that would not allow for non-citizens commercial use of the American rivers.

By 1812 the 5th regiment of infantry arrived at the junction of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers to build the northwest link chain of the forts and agencies. 

And Colonel Josiah Snelling’s officers and soldiers permanently changed the landscape. They made roads, built a gristmill and sawmill at St. Anthony Falls, planted several hundreds of acres of vegetables, wheat and corn. They cut hay for their livestock, chopped down trees for fires and they were the first to record weather conditions in the area.

Also the Historic Fort Snelling does reenactments that shows what it was like back in the 1820s when Josiah Snelling was in charge of Fort Snelling.

We also went to the small church on the grounds. It was cool we got to meet the man who saved the church from being torn down and having a highway put through it. He collected about 1,000 signature just minuets before they were going to tear the church down. And since they had the signatures they decided to keep it preserved it, they built the highway around it. He was a WWII Vet. They also still hold church meeting there every Sunday morning at 11:00 am. 

http://www.mnhs.org/places/sites/hfs/history.html