Chapter VI
On December 22, 1819, the House of Representatives passed a resolution directing the Secretary of War, J. C. Calhoun, to prepare a system of martial law and field service. His report was communicated to the House on December 26, 1820, and was entitled Systems of Martial Law, and Field Service, and Police. It is composed of two parts, namely, General Regulations for the Army, and A System of Martial Law. It is from these regulations that the following sketch of the routine life at a military post is built up. The report is published in the American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. II, pp. 201–274. 226
Ingersoll’s A History of the War Department of the United States, pp. 205, 206. 227
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 119. 228
American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. II, p. 210. 229
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 95. 230
American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. II, p. 210. 231
American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. II, pp. 217, 218. 232
These account books are in the possession of the Minnesota Historical Society. 233
Bishop’s Floral Home; or, First Years of Minnesota, p. 161. 234
Taliaferro’s Diary, March 22, 1831; Post Returns, March, 1840, in the archives of the War Department, Washington, D. C. 235
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 97. 236
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 345. 237
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, pp. 336, 344. 238
American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. III, pp. 341, 342; Post Returns, September, 1828, in the archives of the War Department, Washington, D. C. 239
Taliaferro’s Diary, February 3, 1831. 240
This report is published in the American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. III, pp. 273–277. 241
American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. II, pp. 558, 706, Vol. III, p. 115. 242
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 345. 243
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. I, p. 476. 244
American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. III, pp. 341, 342. 245
American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. III, p. 277. 246
American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. II, p. 205; Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 101. 247
Eastman’s Dahcotah; or, Life and Legends of the Sioux around Fort Snelling, pp. 144, 145. 248
American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. II, p. 265. 249
Detroit Gazette, February 18, 1820. 250
Keating’s Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter’s River, Vol. I, p. 305. 251
The Minnesota Pioneer, July 15, 1852. 252
Executive Documents, 3rd Session, 40th Congress, Vol. VII, Document No. 9, p. 26; Post Returns, July, 1827, in the archives of the War Department, Washington, D. C. 253
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 340. 254
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VIII, p. 432. 255
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 115. 256
Joseph M. Street to Postmaster General Barry, April 27, 1831.—Street Papers, No. 15, Historical Department, Des Moines, Iowa. 257
Williams’s A History of the City of Saint Paul, p. 44. 258
Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1913, pp. 116, 117. 259
Taliaferro’s Diary, April 2, 5, 10, February 27, 1831. 260
Street to Clark, March 10, 1831.—William Clark Papers, Correspondence, 1830–1832, p. 132; Post Returns, March, 1830. See also Post Returns, December, 1829, December, 1830, in the archives of the War Department, Washington, D. C. 261
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 342. 262
Reports of Committees, 1st Session, 35th Congress, Vol. II, Report No. 351, p. 131. 263
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 342. 264
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 130. “Monsieur Tonson” was a very popular farce written by W. T. Moncrief in 1821. The French barber, Morbleu, is greatly troubled by a steady stream of visitors who come to make inquiries regarding a certain fictitious Mr. Thompson, hoping thereby to gain information regarding Adolphine de Courcy who has been traced to his door.—Walsh’s Heroes and Heroines of Fiction, p. 360. 265
Taliaferro’s Diary, January 20, February 22, 1831. 266
Snelling to Taliaferro, October 19, July 25, 1824.—Taliaferro Letters, Vol. I, Nos. 50, 56. 267
The Minnesota Pioneer, November 28, 1849. 268
Taliaferro’s Diary, February 10, 11, 24, 1831. 269
George F. Turner to H. H. Sibley, February 11, 1842.—Sibley Papers, 1840–1850. 270
Taliaferro to Street, March 30, 1831.—Street Papers, No. 12. 271
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. VI, p. 100. 272
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. II, p. 112. 273
Neill’s The History of Minnesota (Fourth Edition), p. 920. General Edmund P. Gaines inspected the post shortly afterwards and reported: “From a conversation with the colonel, I can have no doubt that he has erred in the course pursued by him in reference to some of those controversies, inasmuch as he has intimated to his officers his willingness to sanction, in certain cases, and even to participate in personal conflicts, contrary to the twenty-fifth article of war.”—American State Papers, Military Affairs, Vol. IV, p. 123. 274
Taliaferro’s Diary, March 27, 1831. 275