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Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Special Publication on Historic Fort Snelling - 6/1/2016UNE 2016 • PREMIUM SECTION NORTHWEST PUBLICATIONS HISTORIC FORT SN ING Almost 200 years ago, a limestone stronghold arose on a bluff at the edge of America's northwestern frontier. Today, the fort still has many more stories to tell. ir + r r r HISTORIC FORT SNELLING TwinCities�,-com PIONEERPRESS PREMIUM SECTION JUNE 2016 NORTHWEST PUBLICATIONS Section editor Lauren Osborne Writers Nick Woltman, Andy Rathbun Copy Editor Maren Longbella hotographers Andy Rathbun, John Autey Map Nat Case RISTORIC FORT SNELLING is a Northwest Publication. Editorial and Sales offices. 10 River Park Plaza, Suite 700 St. Paul, MIN 55107 Questions: 651-222-1111 3rmation in this publication is carefully npiled to ensure accuracy. No ommendation regarding the quality of As and services is expressed or flied. Contents of this magazine are iyrighted by Northwest Publications in it entirety. 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TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: More stories to tell As Fort Snelling nears its bicentennial, the Minnesota Historical Society reworks programming to reflect a wider range of the site's history. 20-23 j Slavery at the tort Dred Scott and his wife weren't the only slaves at Fort Snelling. 26-33 1 A bloody war and a tragic aftermath The confinement of innocent Dakota at the fort after a deadly conflict stands as 'a dark moment' in state history. 4C -4-3 1 Aiding a secret war effort Even while many of their families were in internment camps, Japanese -American recruits trained at Fort Snelling. j More inside 16 1 Frontier's edge: The fort was built to protect the American fur trade. 24 1 The Civil War: 24,000 troops mustered through Fort Snelling. 34 1 Buffalo soldiers: An all -black Army regiment served at the fort for 5 years. N 1� r 36 1 World wars: The fort's role, plus the story of a beloved horse. 44 1 Hallowed ground: 16 little-known facts about Fort Snelling National Cemetery. On the cover "Fort Snelling, Upper Missis- sippi" by F. Jackson, 1857. (Image courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society) On Page 2 The Round Tower at Fort Snelling, the oldest standing structure in the state. (Photo by Andy Rathbun) TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 3 _xo-s 14 1 Premium Section June 2016 So man more • stories to tell BY JOHN AUTEY, PIONEER PRESS At '^+, �' '•.fir � TmAnCitieTcom St. Paul Pioneer Press 5 11 $-- Fort Snelling interpreter Peter Edwards fires a musket in April while talking with students from Hastings Middle School. 6 1 Premium Section June 2016 EN PIONEER PRESS: ANDY RATHBUN As Fort Snelling nears its bicentennial, the Minnesota Historical Society reworks programming to reflect a wider range of the site's history BY NICK WOLTMAN Not much has changed at Historic Fort Snelling in the past 40 years. The thousands of Minnesota schoolchildren who visit the fort on field trips each spring have many of the same experiences their parents' generation did. Operated since the 1970s by the Minnesota Historical Society as a living history museum, Fort Snelling is designed to transport visitors 200 years back in time, using costumed re -enactors to teach them about the outpost's early days on the American frontier. "It's a really limiting window into the history of the site," said Matt Cassady, a program development specialist for the Historical Society. "A big part of our pro- gramming for a long time has been trying to re-create the atmosphere of the early 1800s. That's a blip in the history of this place." The fort has many more stories to tell, added Cassady, who began working there as a re -enactor in 2008. The Historical Society hopes that by Fort Snelling's bicentennial in 2020, visi- tors will get a more complete picture of its complex past. The fort and its envi- rons have been the backdrop for many pivotal moments in Minnesota history some proud, others painful. Cassady, who serves on the Historical Society's 2020 initiative task force, said the group is working to develop new programming, which highlights episodes that are often overlooked. One of the places they've turned for help is the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, a New York -based nonprofit organization that represents 225 his- toric sites in 55 countries, including Fort Snelling. Sarah Pharaon, the coalition's training coordinator, has held two seminars with Fort Snelling and Historical Society staff members to prepare them to navigate difficult, often uncomfortable conversations about some of the site's chapters. "Is it easy to do? Not necessarily. There's a reason museums and historic sites have existed for so many years in the way they have," Pharaon said. "There are always stories that are more comfortable to share, that are easier to tell." SHARING HISTORIES While the fort's frontier days will remain part of its programming, that period will share the spotlight with several other histories. One group that has long been conspicuously absent from Fort Snelling's pro- gramming is the Native American community. Archaeological evidence suggests Native Americans have occupied the area around the fort for more than 10,000 years, and many Dakota trace the origin of their people to the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers — a sacred site called `Bdote" in the Dakota language. TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 7 0 PIONEER PRESS: ANDY RATHBUN Students from Byron Middle School in Byron, Minn., get a history lesson while in the Commandant's House at Fort Snelling in May. But it is also a site of tragedy for the Dakota people. After the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 — in which hundreds of innocent settlers died along with U.S. soldiers and Dakota warriors — blameless Dakota women, children and elderly men were imprisoned in a concentration camp in the river bottom. Many died there. "From a Dakota perspective, I've heard many people say that it's a place of genesis and genocide," Cassady said. Fort Snelling is also the site of Minnesota's first significant African-American population — as many as 20 slaves at a time lived at the fort between 1820 and 1858. Among them were Dred and Harriet Scott, whose unsuccessful bid for freedom ended with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that pushed the country toward civil war. It was also occupied by the all -black 25th Infantry of the U.S. Army — the famed Buffalo Soldiers — for a handful of years in the 1880s. During World War II, the U.S. Military Intelligence Service oper- ated a secret language school at the fort to teach Japanese Ameri- can soldiers to interrogate enemy prisoners and translate cap- tured documents. The school's graduates had a profound impact on the war effort and saved countless lives — all of this while many of their families 8 1 Premium Section June 2016 l PIONEER PRESS: ANDY RATHBUN Interpreter Rose James checks her phone while waiting in the employee break room at Fort Snelling in May. She was dressed as a working-class woman — "probably an enlisted soldier's wife," she said. Lower Post of Fort Snelling, as seen from the top of the fort's Round Tower. were locked away in internment camps in the western United States. 2020 VISION Over the past several years, the Historical Society has worked bits and pieces of these stories into its programming. A short orientation film shown at the visitor center now gives guests a taste of the fort's larger history. Fort employees still wear period garb to keep up the look and feel of the frontier era,.but they no longer portray characters from the early 1800s, which prevented them from answering visitor questions that fell outside the time period they 'lived in." They are now able to speak to a wider range of the fort's history. "That was when I saw the first shift in visitor expectations," Cassady said. "It allowed the staff to talk about the bigger pic- ture." The Historical Society's plans for its 2020 bicentennial would move the site further in that direction. PIONEER PRESS: ANDY RATHBUN In addition to expanded programming, these plans call for a new three-story visitor center in one of two 112 -year-old bar- racks buildings adjacent to the historic fort. This facility would include permanent or rotating exhibits addressing the full spectrum of the fort's history. The new visitor center would include venues for community groups to hold lectures, film screenings and other events related to the site. It would also house the fort's museum store, meeting rooms and staff offices. The current visitor center would be razed. While the fort is now open seasonally for about seven months of the year, the new facility would allow it to remain open year- round. A former ordnance warehouse next door would serve as an orientation center and would likely include a cafe. "The new site will more actively explore that wider range of history," Cassady said. "Over the next few years, we're going to be phasing in different elements, so that by 2020, the experi- ence you have here will be different than anything you've ever seen." TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 9 Federal Building Fort Snelling Light Rail Station 4%, Stables Cavalry Drill Hall —Boy C Scouts, 7 rwp an 4f)Quartermasters Stables--, Veterans YVj,)eelwright Administration Shop apartments 4$6 Civilian Conservation Quartermaster's 0 Storp.s Warehouse* f Warehouse & Gas Station Bakery, Commissary Quartermaster's offices 11 411 �6 Minneapolis -St Paul International Airport TO I Premium Section June 20116 Non-Commis'sioned Officers' Quarters Fort Snelling. Golf Course Neiman Sports Complex - Historic Fort Snelling Visitors Center 'e I " ca " I—q= Warehouse ,\10 Gytnnasium 44 Medical Hospital BDaertachkmsracent Hospital Steward's T Morgue Quarters Band Barracks * Administration Building Bachelor IV. Officers' 9#10 0,w? Quarters Golf Clubhouse Officers, Quarters 4' .?I t fBarracks I Guardhouse *Fire Station 41T,elephonO., AExchan,4 I i Ovi'lian Employees' Quarters ti Post Bakery L 1 Historic use Current use Historic Structure Unoccupied Historic Structure Currently occupied Other Structure 1 0 -foot elevation contours TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 11 f . lv {�' �, 4 'P � J✓f 14 � wry, •e 1 �. '� / �y �'► '� L " . -�� `'�j �, � 4 l�'�r. . ' ,4 • Lam.. _ �' rry Peterson, site manager for the Upper Post, shines a light down a dark hallway in one of the barracks buildings in May. The fort's Upper Post is about to undergo a revitalization BY NICK WOLTMAN Also due for a revitalization is Fort Snelling's Upper Post — the buildings south of Minnesota 55. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which manages the Upper Post, accepted a proposal from Plymouth - based developer Dominium last year to turn 26 of its buildings into affordable housing. The $100 million project will likely yield roughly 176 units, said Russ Condas, a development associate at Dominium. "It's a unique opportunity for Dominium to be involved with such a historic piece of property," Condas said. "The people living there will be working families. Right in that immediate area, you've got the Mall of America, the airport, the veterans hospital — a lot of good jobs there." - The historic buildings targeted for redevelopment date from about 1880 to 1940 and are primarily located along Taylor and Leavenworth avenues, across Minnesota 55 from Historic Fort Snelling. Many have been vacant for decades. Construction could begin as soon as the second quarter of 2017. The project will be largely financed through state and federal historic tax credits and federal low-income housing tax cred- its. Dominium also converted the Schmidt Brewery in St. Paul into artist lofts in 2014 and is now doing the same with the Pillsbury A Mill in Minneapolis. TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 13 k `Center of our universe' To the Dakota, the area was tvhome for thousands of years — until Fort Snelling was built 44W Ile, ,LPremiurn Secdon June 2016 91 All- CK WOLTMAN confluence of the Minnesota and Missis- ivers is sacred to the Dakota. taeological evidence suggests Native [cans have inhabited this area for at least years, and many Dakota believe their originated at the confluence, which they Idote." Lt's our creation story," said Ramona Kitto y, a member of the Santee Sioux Nation. ,s we come from that place. It's the center universe." generations, Dakota women traveled to tote area to give birth. At the end of their many were brought back to that same D be buried in mounds, many of which still Dakota leaders used the site as a meeting for hundreds of years. Laeological excavations of the area in and 0 4* around Fort Snelling uncovered the remains of fire hearths, projectile points and other mdica- tions of human habitation dating from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, said Pat Emerson, director of archaeology at the fort. The area was excavated between the 1950s and 1970s, but the archaeologists involved were concerned only with the site's frontier days, paying little attention to any prehistoric arti- facts they uncovered. "It kind of gives us a glimpse of what was going on, but there are a lot of questions that we really can't answer," Emerson said. She believes there's much more to be learned from future digs at the site. The little we do know about the early inhabit- ants of the area suggests they were unlikely to Q+-.7 place n"a non .7 m year nr-vnir] "In terms of subsi and gathering socle The Minnesota River ne; confluence with the Ms painting by Seth Eastnia THE MINNES9 resource base," Emerson said. "They were prob- ably moving substantial distances to utilize dif- ferent resources at different times of year" This is how the Dakota were living when the first Europeans arrived in the area. 40 "Me French came first, followed after 1760 by the British.... For the most part, the early Euro- pean traders did little to disturb the native world, not wanting to change the Indians or their ways," according to Gary Clayton Ander- son, author of "Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux." "Only after the United States Army moved up the Mississippi and established Fort Snelling at the mouth of the Minnesota River in 1819 did it seem apparent that a new era has began to the Dakota people." — -zAw TwInCities.corn St. Paul Pioneer Press 11'S 4~ 4� a �M1��'��� n�r� � �, l wp'�;.i►�•v�., J��yt:����, ryr p¢ �'� "9, �' f , -�.,5� Y - � . -.. • y fir*•. ��4 ..,. rf� ', v• \ ,i.-�', ger� 1+ fi�� �'y3�f} .���yJ•I�*;y, �1 ��y�. V �F; MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY r "Fort Snelling," from "Das Mustr rte Mississippithal," Henry f- y, Lewis, Dusseldorf, circa 1858. I 41 ��. ft46 ; 101 { ' f' =-.7F � •`_ 8 'fir- � . � `�.yy ,: SPG` �}. ''t+�-d tla.,' Y•` N� 4�.I.�r �- � n ^�•y �' � _ lil�'�f'; �n 'a..r 1� I w ` .a r . n -:..�'^ t r;,w. C9'�k r*� ,7 y �v.: 4�^.rr4ly t - -ti,"�' 1°'�'+•+i- , M ,r= 1..` 9 a •4. `Y •.1�Jk; � �r! ", -sr y.. ^r � 1 ^� � `� ,'.4:,.11, i ?d. F �.i.-.I `..��I,, ,a n , Y� rh - t7winCities_com St :?atji Po-.1m.-ef Pr 17 - a AL_ . '.rr',_ •Alit` "Fy,� R?'T]r.M'N.':s '"� R`-i.L 4 Sq Fort Snelling was built to protect the vital -fur trade and convey the strength of the U.S. — on what was then the northwestern edge of the American frontier. MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Oil portrait of Col. Josiah Snelling, circa 1818. 18 1 Premium Section June 2016 BY NICK WOLTMAN Although no important battles were ever fought at Fort Snelling — its guns were never fired in anger nor was it ever fired upon — it was nonetheless important to the early history of what would become Minnesota. While beaver populations in the east- ern United States had declined sharply by the early 1800s, the market for their hides in Europe had not. The fur trade began pushing westward to meet demand. To keep this vital economic engine running smoothly, the fledgling U.S. government in 1819 sent Lt. Col. Henry Leavenworth and the 5th Infantry to establish a military outpost on the northwestern edge of the frontier. The fort's garrison would be tasked with intercepting any hostile British venturing south from Canada, and maintaining friendly relations with local Native American populations, who did the .bulk of the trapping that supported the fur industry. "It was built here for the express pur- pose of protecting the fur trade," said Matt Cassady, program development specialist at Fort Snelling. "It was meant to convey the authority and strength of the United States." When Leavenworth and his men arrived at the confluence of the Missis- sippi and Minnesota rivers in late August 1819, Leavenworth selected a mosquito -infested marsh near what is now Mendota on which to build Can- tonment New Hope — an ironic name, as it turned out. During the winter that followed, more than 30 of his men died of scurvy and dysentery, likely brought on by spoiled food supplies and poor drinking water, according to Steve Hall's 1987 book MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Irt Snelling viewed from the ferry crossing on the east bank of the Mississippi River. This photograph was made in 1867 by !njamin Franklin Upton. "Fort Snelling: Colossus of the Wilderness." When the weather warmed, Leavenworth wisely relocated his men to Camp Coldwater near a natural spring on the west- ern bank of the Mississippi, and began construction of a more permanent fortification atop the high bluff overlooking the confluence. After months of begging his superiors for a new assignment, Leavenworth was replaced by Col. Josiah Snelling, who arrived at Camp Coldwater in September 1820. An aristocratic New Englander, Snelling had distinguished himself as an effective military leader during the War of 1812. Under his direction, the men of the 5fth Infantry built an uncommonly substantial fort using limestone blocks quarried from the nearby bluffs. Most frontier forts at that time were simple wooden affairs. Snelling christened it Fort St. Anthony in 1821, after the falls eight miles upstream on the Mississippi. When the fort was completed in 1825, the military renamed it Fort Snelling in honor of the man who oversaw its construction. The diamond-shaped compound quickly became a hub of social, commercial and government life for traders, Native Americans and soldiers. TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 19 0 The rear of the officers' quarters, where it is believed slaves were housed for a period at Fort Snelling. 20 1 Premium Section June 2016 PIONEER PRESS: ANDY RATHBUN Slavery at Fort Snelling Dred Scott and his wife, Harriet, weren't the only slaves at Fort Snelling, but the couple sued for freedom — and became famous for it. BY NICK WOLTMAN In 1846, an enslaved African-American couple, who met and married at Fort Snelling, sued the woman who owned them in Missouri. Dred and Harriet Scott argued that because they had lived for a time in what would become Minnesota, where slavery was illegal, their owner's title to them was invalid. The U.S. Supreme Court's inflammato- ry judgment more than a decade later — that the Scotts were property rather than citizens and therefore had no right to file a lawsuit — helped propel the United States to civil war and ultimately to abol- ish slavery. Although the Scotts are the most well- known slaves to reside at Fort Snelling, they were far from the only ones. Slavery was a fact of life at the fort, from soon after it was established until the _date 1850s. At any given time, as many as 20 slaves could be found living at the fort during the first half of the nineteenth century, says Walt Bachman, a historian who has researched slavery at early American military installations. "In the vicinity of Fort Snelling and throughout southern Minnesota, slavery was the prevailing status for blacks at the time, and many of the region's lead- ing citizens were slaveholders," Bach- man writes in his 2013 book "Northern Slave, Black Dakota" Six months before the construction of Fort Snelling began, Congress passed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which out- lawed slavery in northern U.S. territory west of the Mississippi River, including the site of the fort. But the law was not strictly enforced, especially at a frontier outpost like Fort Snelling. Slaves had been kept in what is now Minnesota for decades, many of them forced to work in the fur trade. VOUCHERS Much of what is known about the slaves who lived at Fort Snelling is a result of pay vouchers filed by the Army officers who owned them. The U.S. military compensated officers for servants they kept — the higher their rank, the more servants they were allowed to claim compensation for. If the servant was a free person, this subsidy would pay his or her wage. If the servant was a slave, the officer likely pocketed the money, Bachman said. Depending on their rank and salary, offi- cers who kept slaves could expect any- where from a 15 percent to 30 percent bump in pay. "The effect (of this policy) was that the Army subsidized slavery," said Matt Cas- sady, program development specialist at Fort Snelling. Officers recorded their servant's name, his or her height, hair color and eye color on their monthly pay vouchers, offering only a glimpse of the human being behind them. Occasionally, they would even note TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 21 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Dred Scott and Harriet Robinson Scott. on the voucher that their servant was a slave, openly defying the law. Under Col. Josiah Snelling, who kept a pair of slaves during his last two years as com- mandant, slave ownership among officers at the fort appears to have been the exception, rather than the rule. Only eight officers of Snelling's 5th Infan- try declared slaves on their pay vouchers, Bachman's research shows. This would change dramatically when Lt. Col. Zachary Taylor replaced Snelling in 1828. Born in Kentucky, Taylor had been a slave owner all his life. And a majority of the offi- cers in his 1st Infantry were Southerners, too. Of the 38 who served under Taylor, 33 officers owned slaves, according to Bach - man's research. Taylor would go on to be the last U.S. president to keep slaves at the White House. A slave named Jane, who served Taylor as president, also lived with him at Fort Snel- ling. If an officer did not own a slave but still wanted to claim servant pay, he could rent one from the U.S. government's Indian agent, stationed just outside the fort. Lawrence Taliaferro, who represented the government in its dealings with the Dakota, owned dozens of slaves in his native Virgin- ia. He kept anywhere from two to five slaves at his home near the fort at any given time. DAILY LIFE Little is known about the daily lives of the slaves kept at Fort Snelling. Nearly all were illiterate, so they left no written record, and they are rarely mentioned in early accounts of life at the fort. By and large, they were domestic slaves, A path out of slavery BY NICK WOLTMAN One of St. Paul's earliest citizens came to this area as the slave of a civilian employee at Fort Snelling. Born into slavery in 1799, James Thomp- son was brought to the fort in 1827 as the property of John Culbertson. After being sold to an Army officer assigned to the fort in 1839, Thompson was purchased by the Rev. Alfred Brunson, who freed him and hired him as a Dakota interpreter. 22 1 Premium Section June 2016 Thompson was a "stout, healthy" man, about 5 feet 6 inches and 200 pounds, accord ing to T.M. Newson's brief account of his life in `Biographical Sketches of Old Settlers." Once challenged to a fight over a pig by local ne'er-do-well Edward Phelan, Thomp- son "dodged his many kicks, when, all of a sudden he seized him by his nether extrem- ity and immediately the brute and bully was on the ground and Thompson pummeled him with his fists," Newson writes. Phelan conceded the fight and admitted to rather than agricultural. Their responsibili- ties likely included preparing and serving meals, washing clothes and other household chores and caring for livestock. But Bachman cautions against assuming their lives were any more comfortable than those of slaves who labored in Southern fields. Domestic slaves lived at the beck and call of their owners. "You're on call 24/7," said Nancy Cass, an interpreter at Fort Snelling who has researched slavery at the post. "Their time was not their own." Most lived in the cramped kitchens where they worked, either beneath the apartments of the officers' quarters or in the basement of the commandant's house, Cass said. The commandant's personal servant likely slept on the floor outside his owner's bedroom door, in case he was needed in the night. Many slaves suffered brutal punishment at the hands of their owners. Bachman has found accounts of slaves, inside and outside the fort's walls, who endured beatings and confinement. "Slavery was not a pretty picture in Min- nesota," he said. "No more than it was any- where else." Bachman knows of at least one example of a slave who was apparently beaten to death at Fort Snelling by the officer who owned her, and her body thrown into the Missis- sippi River. Her corpse was later discovered downstream at Pig's Eye Lake. Her owner was soon transferred to another post and never charged in her death. Although the lives of slaves at Fort Snel- ling were as transient as the officers who owned them, they likely formed social bonds among themselves, Bachman said. stealing the pig from Thompson. The two men became lifelong friends. Thompson even stood by Phelan after he was accused of committing the city's first murder. Thompson was also a respected member of Brunson's congregation, having supplied much of the lumber and labor for the con- struction of his First Methodist Church on Market Street. Married in St. Paul in 1848, Thompson and his wife had nine children. Thompson died in Nebraska in 1884. Vill ' to 1 COMMENCEMENT AAD W PttxA.3TON. TEFJt OF 8RR1tCV ii ON WHAT ACCOUNT. PAY—Fox myself P ypfirat event Cnut eoldi®) - I CLATWMG—For �pnvetc acrsatt (notkici) FbRAGF F'ox � horame - SUHSISTF.NCS—Far myenit � 1 k'ar t privaw "..at (na esddfer)p(„y �`�,, { S iI f DE80RIP(TIOK 9r SERVANT. 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M pay, nor d ecrr m6 x , forrace ax c1.tb1ng in kia in hon thea f, far may pan of tha Um, harem charpul that I aca ally owned, and kept in servwe, The hor— and private earl ants for -"- Il th tines charged d xh t Y aid a t dwi.g tha tem sa hargad ...y pat th awf kaep o amplay, as.. _.a [ars at,artra f ldiere Mnatho lits, that fko nx¢te d i, it -,.h, t d—ripti..af ta, that the wh.1a l anad charged for my A ff app i.t,..t, T lamlly and logatty ha —t, and that F w, i tha A at d nh, -dig ng afflecr, at the do6h, rattan pant charged lot; and that an offim within my k¢owledga, 7 no ar doe., lm n for -id nM ­i, i, f .any part at tl a p.,Iod hargd, that I ­W.Uy i. tt eammand F n company forth vrhole than barged; that Y o eat be n n tha pod n eco of any tafp'd ty far ¢ hE P 1 1 ,m D In i -d t w.xnpemai d¢ong the limn ad,] m charged: th t f th wh t, in b a at pay hargad, T n duty and had a ...,and -Mg to my la—t ra¢k agreeable to )aw and i that 1 ana tat in xr n with the U0.1 9tatc oany .—at hateoevar: that the )act p mat T race d r: as Loan Fnym "s $. t da Nra th ae? v f b law. a hnaaladR, that I t a c r "i"M f 'S9 x , ti � � � l Zt � 1{2 _ Paymasi,r in tha Army, 1f w - thlx ] „ Jay' of �.�.5 is Jf=', tb¢ sIa. a '3 E el l�ix Lx i mad r 1 nta; iuiog thra aman"t, mat t d of t t Ir,NFla fg'111 A� Er. CREDIT This document, dated Feb. 5,1850, lists debts incurred by Samuel Woods between Oct. l and Nov. 25,1849, while he led an expedi- tion to the Red River of the North. In the bottom left corner of the page, two servants, Charles and George, are described as having black complexions and black eyes. It is possible that Charles and George were slaves of Woods'. "There was likely some sense of community," he said. "It's likely there would've been friendships, there would've been romance." This is evidenced by the Scotts, who met and mar- ried at the fort. Dred Scott was brought to the fort in 1836 by the post surgeon, Dr. John Emerson, who had recently purchased him in St. Louis. Harriet Robinson was already living at the fort as the property of Talia- ferro, the Indian agent. It was Taliaferro himself who performed the cou- ple's marriage ceremony about 1837. Harriet gave birth to the couple's first child, Eliza, during their time at Fort Snelling. Emerson later purchased Harriet from Taliaferro. The Scotts lived at Fort Snelling until 1840, when Emerson was transferred to Florida. FREEDOM Although it was the Scotts who became famous for suing Emerson's widow for their freedom in 1846, at least two other Fort Snelling slaves had already filed similar suits — both of them success- ful. Two women who had been enslaved at Fort Snel- ling in the 1820s, identified only as Rachel and Courtney, each filed freedom suits in St. Louis in the 1830s. When a judgment was granted in Rachel's favor in 1836, Courtney's owner conceded her case, too. A handful of Fort Snelling slaves gained their free- dom in other ways. Some purchased their freedom with wages earned working side jobs, while others had their freedom purchased for them by local abo- litionists. Officers at Fort Snelling would continue to own slaves until the post was temporarily decommis- sioned by the Army in 1858. It was a war over slav- ery that caused the fort to be reactivated in 1861. Thousands of Minnesotans would be funneled through Fort Snelling on their way to fight for the Union in the Civil War. SOURCES: *"Northern Slave, Black Dakota: The Life and Times of Joseph Godfrey" by Walt Bachman. *"Old Fort Snelling" by Marcus L. Hansen •Slavery at Fort Snelling C1820s-1850s): www. historicfortsnel ling. org/history/slavery- fort-snelling TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 23 24,000 troops, 24,000 te goodbXes arful Enlistees from across Minnesota came to Fort Snelling to be trained and sent off to fight in the Civil War. Thousands never came back. BY NICK WOLTMAN When the newly formed Confederate States of America fired the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter in April 1861, Minnesota Gov. Alexander Ramsey happened to be in Washington, D.C. The morning after news of the attack reached the capital, Ramsey rushed over to the War Department to offer President Abraham Lincoln 1,000 fight- ing men from his 3 -year-old state, "thus earning Minnesota the distinction of being the first state to tender volunteer troops to preserve the Union," histo- rian Richard Moe writes in his book "The Last Full Measure." Enlistees from across the state converged on Fort Snelling that spring to be trained and outfitted. The majority were younger than 30, Moe writes. Most made their livings as farmers, but their ranks also included bankers, schoolteachers and lumbermen. The fort was the scene of many tearful goodbyes as they left behind parents, wives and sweethearts. By the war's end, more than 24,000 troops had been mustered through the fort, roughly 14 percent of Minnesota's entire population at the time. To make room for this sudden influx of men, the Army was forced to build sev- eral wooden barracks outside the fort's limestone walls. The state's 11 infantry regiments saw combat in many of the war's most pivotal battles. At Gettysburg, the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry suffered, by some counts, the highest casualty rate in a single battle of any Union regiment, turning back a determined Confederate charge on Cemetery Ridge. Had it succeeded, the charge may have turned the tide of the battle in favor of the Confederacy. Between combat and illness, the Civil War claimed the lives of more than 2,500 Minnesotans. 24 1 Premium Section June 2016 s 1 26 1 Premium Section we 2016 A Benjamin Franklin Upton photograph of the Dakota confined below Fort Snelling in 1862. MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PIONEER PRESS: ANDY RIO HWN An inscription, which translates to "honoring and remembering," stands at the memorial marking the camp where innocent Dakota were confined at Fort Snelling. After the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, which killed hundreds of innocent settlers as well as American soldiers and Dakota warriors, hundreds of innocent Dakota were rounded up and confined at Fort Snelling. Many did not survive. BY NICK WOLTMAN A four -mile -long caravan of Dakota — mostly women, children and elderly men — arrived at the Minnesota village of Henderson on Nov 11, 1862. Despite its military escort, the wagon train was attacked by an angry mob of white settlers. Some threw rocks at the Dakota; oth- ers poured boiling water on them. "I saw an enraged white woman rush up to one of the wagons and snatch a nursing babe from its mother's breast and dash it violently upon the ground," one onlooker recalled. The child later died. The U.S.-Dakota War had raged along the Minnesota frontier for six weeks that summer, leaving hundreds of innocent settlers dead. Some in Henderson that day likely knew families who were killed by Dakota warriors. MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY ft: "Apistoka, at Fort Snelling prison camp," otograph by Benjamin Franklin Upton, 1862. But the Dakota they brutalized had taken no part in the fighting. They were cleared of any wrongdoing by a U.S. military tribunal. Still, they were marched as prisoners to Fort Snelling, where they would spend the winter confined within a wooden stockade. As many as 300 of them would die there. Those who survived would be exiled to the Crow Creek Reservation in what is now South Dakota. "They were brought here to await expulsion. Effectively, this was the removal of the Dakota from Minnesota," said Matt Cas- sady, program development specialist at Fort Snelling. "It's a really dark moment in the history of the state and of this place." That moment is still very much alive for the descendants of those Dakota. Ramona Kitto Stately's great -great-grandmother had given birth to her fourth child the night before she and the other Dakota began their 150 -mile forced march to Fort Snelling. "For the Dakota, this is not something that happened a long time ago," Stately said. "The wounds are very fresh." TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 29 A Benjamin Franklin Upton photograph from April 1863 of Bishop Henry Whipple confirming Dakota at Fort Snelling. U.S.-DAKOTA WAR By 1862, a series of treaties with the U.S. government had pushed the Dakota onto a sliver of land along the Minnesota River. These treaties, designed by the government to make room for white settlers flooding into the state, promised the Dakota annual payments in gold. Unable to pursue their traditional subsistence pattern of moving throughout the year to seasonal villages to exploit different food sources, the Dakota became increasingly dependent on govern- ment annuities. Crop failures in fall 1861 left them with little to eat during the coming winter. By summer, they were beginning to starve. Their annuity payment, which was due at the end of June, did not arrive. On Aug. 17, 1862, four young Dakota men killed five white set- tlers near Acton while stealing eggs from their farm. Dakota leaders gathered that night to discuss how to handle this transgression. Some factions viewed it as an opportunity to wage 30 1 Premium Section June 2016 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY a long -overdue war against the U.S. government and its people. "We have no choice," a chief named Red Middle Voice told the group. "Our hands are already bloody." Hundreds of blameless settlers _would die in the six weeks of violence that followed — estimates range from 400 to 1,000, according to Minnesota historian Mary Lethert Wingerd. Only 50 or so were armed. More than 70 U.S. soldiers were killed. The death toll on the Dakota side was 75 to 100 warriors. It's likely that fewer than 1,000 of the state's 7,000 Dakota participated in the violence, Wingerd writes. Little Crow, the reluctant leader of the Dakota forces, fled west and avoided capture with about 200 of his men. Others scattered. Some 2,000 Dakota surrendered near what is now Montevideo to Col. Henry Sibley, who led U.S. forces against Little Crow. There Sibley convened a military tribunal to parse which of the Dakota in his custody took part in the killing. "Reading the records today buttresses the impression that the trials were a travesty of justice," writes Kenneth Carley in his 1961 book "The Dakota War of 1862." None of the accused Dakota was repre- sented by a lawyer. Many were declared guilty in less than five minutes. Of the nearly 400 men tried, 303 were con- victed and sentenced to hang. Most of their sentences would later be commuted by President Abraham Lincoln. The remainder of the surrendered Dakota — many of them the families of those con- victed — were absolved of any wrongdoing. Some were even known to have aided white settlers attacked during the war. But they would not be allowed to return to their reservation. During a special session of the Minnesota Legislature called to address the crisis, Gov. Alexander Ramsey advocated genocide. "The Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or, driven forever beyond the borders of the state," Ramsey said. The innocent Dakota would be held at Fort Snelling until the federal government decided their fate. CONCENTRATION CAMP On Nov 7, 1,658 Dakota began the march to Fort Snelling under the protection of about 300 soldiers led by Lt. Col. William Marshall. Anticipating trouble from angry whites along the way, Marshall issued a warning to settlers through the press. "I would risk my life for the protection of these helpless beings," he told a reporter. "I want the settlers in the valley, on the route we pass, to know that they are not the guilty Indians ... but friendly Indians, women and children." Despite his plea, the caravan was attacked several times before it reached the fort on Nov. 13. It is unknown how .many Dakota were killed during the journey, but by the time the first census of the captives was taken on Dec. 2, only 1,601 remained. Fort Snelling proved no less dangerous, writes historian Corinne Monjeau-Marz. Less than a week after their arrival, the Dakota had established a camp in the river bottom below the fort. One evening, a Dako- ta woman who was out gathering firewood alone was attacked and raped by a group of soldiers, St. Paul newspapers reported. Military leaders ordered a wooden stock- ade built in the river bottom, with the inten- tion of protecting the prisoners from white J il Dakota C-011 flirt Ccnce.r�trst n c lr'! Mer}®r r x he farnille,� -�pr$� Ogled e 3 Cfl d ;ne 'ir7ter of 78'_) -_ed Uring Hems oa rte �� rb rt S drr�J, ceps � as c d Wirer 0 fleC� �e1Ati Of Mb e� e by the 1J c4�2_ t� "bdh i^✓SYay�.�n M PIONEER PRESS: ANDY RATHBUN A marker memorializes the Dakota families who were imprisoned at what is now Fort . Snelling State Park during the winter of 1862-63. The marker can be found at the park's Thomas C. Savage Visitor Center. antagonists as much as it was to coniine them, according to Monjeau-Manz. Armed guards patrolled the stockade day and night, and no one was allowed in with- out a pass. The 3 -acre enclosure encompassed between 200 and 250 tipis behind its 14 -foot walls, according to Monjeau-Marz's research. The Dakota did have a few friends among Minnesota's white population. Local clergy made frequent visits to the stockade. Episcopalian Bishop Henry Whipple became an advocate for the prisoners, rais- ing money for their care and arranging for the release of several. The Rev. John Wil- liamson,.who had lived among the Dakota his entire life, would join them at the con- centration camp and remain with them for the rest of their ordeal. Local photographers turned out to cap- ture images of life in the camp. "The enclosure also had its share of gawk- ers, taunters, and those who came simply relieved to see the Dakota confined," Mon- jeau-Marz writes. Among them was pioneer educator Harri- et Bishop, who was disgusted to learn that the government was spending $1 a day per prisoner to maintain the camp, rather than putting those funds toward the care of white settlers victimized during the war. "The streets were receptacles of all the offal of the lodges, where barefooted women and children splashed around in the filthy snow slush," Bishop wrote of the camp after her visit. These conditions left the Dakota vulnera- ble to diseases like measles. Gabriel Renville, a half -Dakota man imprisoned at the camp, later recalled in a memoir that "we were so crowded and con- fined that an epidemic broke out among us and children were dying day and night." "Amid all this sickness and these great tribulations, it seemed doubtful at night whether a person would be alive in the morning," Renville added. The total number of deaths is likely between 100 and 300, Monjeau-Marz esti- mates. After the bodies of several dead Dakota were exhumed and mutilated by whites, the captives began burying the bodies of Ioved ones in the floors of their tipis, the Rev. Ste- phen Riggs later wrote. When spring came, it became necessary to move the camp to higher ground as the rising rivers flooded the stockade. The Dakota would spend the last two months of TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 31 their captivity at this new camp, about one mile southwest of Fort Snelling. In March 1863, the U.S. Senate voted to expel the Dakota from Min- nesota. The annuities due them from previous treaties would be paid to the white victims of the U.S.-Dakota War, Wingerd writes. EXPULSION AND AFTERMATH In early May 1863, the Army loaded the 1,318 captives who remained at the concentration camp onto a pair of riverboats to be exiled to the Dakota Territory. As they steamed past the levee at St. Paul, a crowd gathered along the river and pelted them with rocks, Wingerd writes. At St. Joseph, the Dakota were loaded onto a single overcrowded steamer for the final leg of their journey up the Missouri River. Many more would die before they reached their destination. A month after departing Fort Snel- ling, the survivors disembarked at the Crow Creek Reservation, a "drought -stricken wasteland," Wing- erd writes. They were soon joined by the Ho - Chunk (or Winnebago) of southern Minnesota, who were also exiled to Crow Creek despite having no part in the conflict between the whites and the Dakota. Cassady character- izes this as a naked land -grab by the state and federal governments. But the stockade at Fort Snelling would not remain empty for long. As the hundreds of Dakota who fled to the plains after the war were captured or surrendered between summer 1863 and spring 1864, the fort became a waypoint on their journey to Crow Creek. Included among them was the family of Little Crow, who remained at large until he was killed near Hutchinson for a $500 bounty offered by the state of Minnesota. Also brought to the Fort Snelling during this time were Shakopee and Medicine Bottle, two Dakota leaders who had been kidnapped in Canada and sentenced to death for their par- ticipation in the war. 32 1 Premium Section June 2016 r ' ._ f. MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Little Crow's wife and two children at the Fort Snelling prison compound, circa 1864, photo- graphed by Benjamin Franklin Upton. 11 V PIONEER PRESS: ANDY RATHBUN ie of many stakes in the ground at the Dakota memorial at Fort Snelling State Park. Each stake has two pieces of leather that have the names of o female heads -of -household who were imprisoned at the camp. They were hanged just outside the walls of the fort on Nov 11,1865..As they awaited exe- cution, the whistle of a steamboat coming upriver was heard in the distance. "As the white man comes in, the Indian goes out," Shakopee said. STILL A SOURCE OF SORROW The painful legacy of the concentration camp at Fort Snelling is still apparent today in Dakota communities. Many see the fort as a symbol of genocide and call for it to be torn down. Every two years, a group of Dakota re-cre- ates the forced march to the site of the con- centration camp. Each mile, the marchers stop and place a wooden stake into the ground. Tied to the stakes are two strips of leather, each bearing the name of a female head of household who was imprisoned at the camp. At the river bottom, they arrange the remain- ing stakes in a circle where the camp is believed to have been located. Kitto Stately said she would like to see a permanent exhibit at Fort Snelling to educate visitors about her ancestors' captivity, akin to the museum at Auschwitz-Birkenau. "I would like people to know exactly what happened there," Kitto Stately said. "I think Minnesota has hidden its history." SOURCES: •"The Dakota Internment at Fort Snelling, 1862- 1864" by Corinne L. Monjeau-Marz • "The Dakota War of 1862: Minnesota's Other Civil War" by Kenneth Carley •"North Country: The Making of Minnesota" by Mary Lethert Wingerd TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 33 Apt Af aw LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY The Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Snelling, circa 1883. The Buffalo Soldiers BY NICK WOLTMAN Four companies of the all -black U.S. 25th Infantry Regiment — the famed Buffalo Soldiers — and their headquarters band arrived at Fort Snelling by train in November 1882. Although the next five years "were destined to be the least eventful in the regiment's history," according to historian John Nankivell, it was nonetheless a remarkable period for the fort itself. The soldiers of the 25th Infantry represented the first significant African-American population to reside at the fort since it was home to as many as 20 slaves at a time in the decades before the Civil War. "At a time when there were very few jobs available to African-American men, joining the military was an opportunity for them to have a career," said Matt Cassady, program development specialist for the Minnesota Historical Society. Although many of the Buffalo Soldiers had been born into slavery, they lived and worked at Fort Snelling alongside the all -white 4th Light Artillery — unthinkable just two decades earlier. The 25th was transferred in spring 1888 to posts in Montana, where it took part in what were then known as the Indian Wars in the West. TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 35 H A world at war Fort Snelling served in WWI and WWII, as training school, hospital and `country club of the Army Maneuvers at Fort Snelling, circa 1918. 36 1 Premium Section June 2016. r MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Above: A soldier blows his bugle into large megaphone at Fort Snel- ling in 1941. Right: A soldier at the fort throws a pitch in a baseball game in 1943, while another umpires from behind the mound. BY NICK WOLTMAN Hundreds of thousands of soldiers passed through Fort Snel- ling on their way overseas during World War I and World War H. After a decade spent under threat of closure by a War Depart- ment determined to shutter underused military posts, the fort found new relevance in these turbulent times. When the United States entered the Great War in spring 1917, Fort Snelling served as an induction center and officer training school. The school turned out 2,500 officers by the time the war ended, according to the 1932 book "Minnesota in the War with Germany.,' Shortly before the armistice was signed in November 1918, the fort's focus shifted to caringfor the wounded with the opening of TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 37 U.S. General Hospital No. 29 at the Upper Post. During the lull in activity between the two world wars, the troops stationed at Fort Snelling entertained the public with horse shows, mock battles and sporting events at the post. These diversions, com- bined with the fort's polo grounds, 18 -hole golf course, movie theater and swimming pool, earned it a reputation as the "country club of the Army." After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt began beefing up the U.S. military in preparation for what would become World War H. Volunteers from across the Midwest began trick- ling into Fort Snelling for induction in late 1940, writes Dave Kenny in his 2005 book "Minnesota Goes to War." . That trickle quickly became a flood after Japa- nese airplanes bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, drawing the U.S. into the war. Fort Snelling's efficient reception center could pro- cess 800 inductees a day, an assembly line of physical exams, fingerprinting, out- fitting and swearing-in. Over the course of the war, 300,000 recruits were pro- cessed through the fort. But as the war drew to a close in 1945, the military began to trim its ranks. Fort Snelling fell victim to this downsizing and was decommissioned in Octo- ber 1946. 38 1 Premium Section June 2016 MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Soldiers at the fort practice maneuvers on skis and snowshoes in 1942. A soldier and his horse Lt. William Hazelrigg and Whiskey in about 1934. BY NICK WOLTMAN Whiskey and Lt. William Hazelrigg both arrived at Fort Snelling in 1921. Hazelrigg, a cavalry officer, and the chestnut brown horse, named For one of Prohibition's forbidden beverages, entertained the public at the many lighthearted events the fort held during the early 1920s, according to a 2009 article in "Minnesota History" by Marilyn Slo- vak. Whiskey's unwillingness to follow orders made him a poor fit for the Army, but Hazelrigg saw promise in him. The two quickly devel- oped a close bond as Hazeh~igg trained Whiskey into a first-rate polo and trick horse. The pair wowed crowds with inventive stunts, such as jumping wagons, people and other obstacles. When Whiskey tripped on the hindquarters of a mule during a jump in 1924, he landed on his back with Hazelrigg underneath. MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Whiskey was uninjured, but Hazelrigg was knocked unconscious. His first question when he came to was, "Is Whiskey hurt?" After Hazelrigg was transferred in 1926, he tried several times to buy Whiskey from the Army but was always rebuffed. He visited the fort several times over the next couple of decades for joyful reunions with his old friend, who always recognized him and greeted him affectionately. They saw each other for the last time in 1943. "The attachment between the two had not lessened with the pass- ing years," Slovak writes. "When Whiskey caught sight of his friend, he walked a few steps and then charged across the remaining dis- tance as fast as his ancient legs would carry him." The lone occupant of the fort's stables after the Army abandoned horses for automobiles, Whiskey died Jan. 1, 1944. His grave is marked by a white stone within a picket fence near the Historic Fort Snelling visitors center. TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 39 Aiding a secret war effort Even while many of their families were in internment camps, Japanese American recruits trained at Fort Snelling during World War II 40 1 Premium Section June 2016 y i ,xf MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY group photo of Japanese -American soldiers and officers of the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Fort Snelling during World War II. BY NICK WOLTMAN Joe Ohno graduated from high school in 1943, behind the barbed-wire fencing of an Idaho internment camp for Japa- nese Americans. The next day, he joined the same Army that had put him there. Ohno enrolled in the U.S.Military Intelligence Service Lan- guage School, a secret program that trained Japanese -Ameri- can soldiers at Fort Snelling to interrogate enemy prisoners and translate captured documents in the Pacific Theater dur- ing World War II. Maj. Gen. Charles Willoughby, who then served as head of military intelligence, estimated the work done by the school's 6,000 graduates shortened the war in the Pacific by two years and saved 1 million American lives. "At a time when their families were in concentration camps, this was a way to prove that they were as American as any- body else," said Matt Cassady, who oversees program develop- ment at Fort Snelling. But for Ohno, who died in 2002, enrolling in MISLS meant freedom, said his sister, Sally Sudo, who now lives in Bloom- ington. "It was not so much out of patriotism," Sudo said. "He knew it was a way out of the camp." BIRTH OF THE PROGRAM By the time Japanese airplanes bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the Military Intelligence Service Language School had been operating for more than a month in a converted airplane hangar at the Presidio in San Francisco, according to a short TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 41 history in the MISLS yearbook. A handful of prescient Army officers who had served in Japan noted the strained rela- tions between the two countries and recog- nized the need for such a program. The school's first 60 students were recruited from the ranks of existing military personnel. Nearly all were Japanese Americans. The attack on Pearl Harbor not only imbued the students with a new sense of purpose, but also set off a wave of anti-Japanese sentiment on the West Coast. By the time MISLS held its first graduation ceremony in spring 1942, it was clear to the school's leadership that it would have to be moved to a different part of the country. "There were a good many members of the general public in California at the time who were enormously antagonistic to all persons of Japanese ancestry, even those in the uniform of the United States Military Service," MISLS director John Aiso wrote in 1975. MISLS commandant Kai Rasmussen approached Minnesota Gov. Harold Stassen about moving the school to a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Savage on the southern outskirts of Minneapolis, Stassen approved. Rasmussen later said Minnesota "not only had room physically but also had room in the people's hearts" for the school. CAMP SAVAGE While MISLS was orchestrating its move to Minnesota, Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were rounded up and moved inland to prison camps under Executive Order 9066, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt had signed in the wake of Pearl Harbor. Ohno, Sudo and their family were among the 120,000 people forced to leave their homes and jobs and report to one of 10 prison camps in the interior of the country. Like Ohno and Sudo, two-thirds of those imprisoned had been born in the United States. "Because of their .ancestry, they were incar- cerated," Cassady said. "They were citizens." _These second -generation Japanese Ameri- cans were exactly who the military targeted for recruitment into the MISLS program, writes Masaharu Ano in a 1977 article in Min- nesota History magazine. This rubbed many of their families the wrong way. "Here we were, put in these prison camps," Sudo said. "Then all of the sudden, they're ask- ing these guys to serve." But many did. When MISLS began its first 42 1 Premium Section June 2016 PIONEER PRESS FILE Japanese -American translators at the Military Intelligence Service Language School in the 1940s. term at Camp Savage in June 1942, 200 stu- dents had enrolled. By the time Obno arrived at Camp Savage in late 1943, the school was outgrowing its facili- ties. It was relocated to Fort Snelling in August 1944. FORT SNELLING Classes at Fort Snelling were held in the spa- cious yellow -brick barracks along Taylor Ave- nue, an improvement over the cramped class- rooms at Camp Savage. Less luxurious was the "turkey farm," several rows of tar -paper huts occupied by new stu- dents and heated in the winter with potbelly stoves. The students' schedule was rigorous, Ano writes. They spent nine hours a day in the classroom, five days a week. Lights -out was at 11 p.m., but it wasn't uncommon to find stu- dents in the bathrooms, studying by flashlight. After examinations on Saturday mornings, the students' weekends were their own. They spent their leisure time on the post playing baseball and football or going to the movies at the post theater. On Saturday nights, they would often take the streetcar up to Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis. When Germany surrendered in May 1945, the U.S. turned its full attention to winning the war in the Pacific. Work at MISLS ramped up. In October 1945, the school's enrollment peaked at 1,836 students. Ohno graduated in 1944 and served in the Philippines until Japan surrendered in Sep- tember 1945, when he was sent to Japan to aid occupation forces. He remained there for two years, Sudo said. Over the course of the war, MISLS students translated 20 million pages of documents and interrogated thousands of prisoners. The school was folded into the Defense Lan- guage Institute in California when Fort Snel- ling was decommissioned in 1946. anslators at Fort Snelling celebrate on V -J Day in August 1945. LEGACY Following the end of WWII, many Japanese Americans who had graduated from MISLS returned to Minnesota with their families. The U.S. census found only 51 people of Japa- nese ancestry living in Minnesota in 1940. By 1950, that number had climbed to 1,049 people. Ohno's family was among them. Like many Japanese Americans during WWII, his father had lost his job when he was imprisoned. "My dad didn't want to go back to Seattle, so we were trying to decide where to go," Sudo said. "Three members of our family were already here." While he was a student at MISLS, Ohno had arranged for housing and employment in the Twin Cities for two of his nine siblings to get them out of the camp. Despite MISLS students' contributions to the U.S. war effort, few Americans were aware of them until the 1970s because the program had remained classified. As a member of the Twin Cities chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, Sudo has worked to raise awareness of the contributions MISLS students made to the war effort. Her group has worked with the Minnesota Histori- cal Society, which is developing programming related to WSLS as part of its 2020 revitaliza- tion. "I definitely hope the revitalization plan will include a permanent exhibit that shows the heroics of some of these guys," she said. MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY SOURCES: •"Loyal Linguists: Nisei of World War II learned Japanese in Minnesota" by Masaharu Ano •'John Aiso and the MIS: Japanese - American Soldiers in the Military Intelligence Service" by Tad Ichinokuchi •MISLS Album TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 43 47: At, IL 4r t 16 things you may not know about Fort Snelling National Cemetery PHOTOS AND STORY BY ANDY RATHBUN 1. Fort Snelling National Cemetery is the fourth -busiest national cemetery. The U.S. has 134 such cemeteries in 40 states. 2. The cemetery covers 436 acres; 342 of them are developed. At the current interment rates and types, the cemetery is expected to have space available through 2060. 3. After World War I, citizens in the Twin Cities petitioned for a national cemetery, and in 1937 Congress authorized land at Fort Snelling Military Reservation to be used for that purpose. 4. The remains of 680 military members who served from 1820 to 1939 and were buried at Fort Snelling were reinterred at the national cemetery shortly after it opened. They can be found in Section A, Block 23, and some have marble headstones that say, "Unknown." The oldest grave at the fort's old cemetery dates to 1826. 5. Fort Snelling National Cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places this year. 46 1 Premium Section June 2016 w Hockey coach John Mariucci is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Thomas Burnett, Jr., a passenger who intervened in the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. 6. The cemetery's visible American flags are lowered to half-staff 30 minutes before the first burial of the day and remain until 30 minutes after the last burial. The cemetery has about 20 burials on a typical day. 7. You might hear gunfire while walking among the gravestones. The cemetery is home to the first all -volunteer Memorial Rifle Squad in the National Cemetery Administration. It was formed in 1979 and can be heard firing three rifle volleys during services. 8. Fort Snelling National Cemetery's first burial was Capt. George Mallon on July 5,1939. Mallon won the Medal of Honor for heroism in World War I after he helped capture about 100 soldiers, 11 machine guns, four howitzers and an anti-aircraft gun. Mallon died in 1934 and was reinterred at the cemetery five years later. 9. Along with'Capt. George Mallon, seven other Medal of Honor winners are buried in the cemetery: Pfc. Richard E. Kraus, Pfc. James D. LaBelle, Machinist Mate 1st Class Oscar F. Nelson, Capt. Arlo Olson, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Pruden, 2nd Lt. Donald E. Rudolph Sr., and 1st Lt. Richard Keith Sorenson. Another recipient, Capt. Richard E. Fleming, is memorialized there. 10. Driving around the park, you'll find many of the roads are named for distinguished members .of the military who are buried or memorialized at the cemetery- 11. emetery. 11.Other notable people interred at the cemetery include Thomas Burnett Jr., a passenger who helped intervene in the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001; sportscaster Halsey Hall; hockey coach John Mariucci; and Charles Lindberg, who raised the first American flag at Iwo Jima, Japan, in World War II. 12. There are about 219,000 people interred at the cemetery. The total number of gravesites is fewer, about 169,000, as some of those interred share graves with spouses or children. 13. Burial in national cemeteries is available to members of the military who were not dishonorably discharged and have met a minimum active -duty service requirement. In some instances, members of the reserve components can be eligible, as well. Burial is also open to veterans' spouses and minor dependent children, and eligibility may extend to unmarried adult children with disabilities. 14. The marble headstones that dominate the cemetery weigh 240 pounds each and are a type of gravestone introduced in 1922 for World War I soldiers. Caretakers are in a constant battle with gravity and the elements to keep the stones properly aligned. 15. Emblems on the headstones were originally limited to the Latin cross or Star of David. After World War II, more emblems representing different belief systems were added. 16. A plastic grave marker has been tested at the cemetery since the 1990s as an alternative to the predominant marble headstone. See if you can spot it in Section Bl. TwinCities.com St. Paul Pioneer Press 1 47 11 .w - -7