The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-10-14
Where Fort Abercrombie ought to have
been Located

ny lue ARMY appropriation Bill passed
in the spring Of 1857, Congress placed at
the disposal of the Secretary of War the
sum of twenty thousand dollars for the
construction of barracks and quarters at a
military post, to be established in the nor tn
ern part of the Territory of Minnesota, for
the protection of settlements on the Red
River of the North" This sum included
former appropriation of five thousand dol
lars, which had been extorted by the exer-
lions OF Mr.. RICE, from the parsimony of
Congress, some two years before, "for the
erection of a military post on or near Penn
bina River" which the War Department,
however, decided, for reasons of it's own, to
build.
The location of this twenty thousand dol
lar institution was ordered to be made
''urder the direction of the Secretary of
War, the location to be made at such point
as he shall deem best adapted for the pro-
lection of said settlements" The Secretary
OF War has had hard time of it, in his at
tempts to discharge this high military re.
sponsibiity. He has had employed, we
believe, not less than four military Commits
sloners IN the vain endeavor to fix a satis-
factory location for the Fort; besides having
mad the advantage of the previous volumi-
nous reports OF Col. SUMNER in 1874. of
Major WOOD and Capt Pope in 1849. and
OF Col. SMITH in 1856, upon this, or mainly
upon this, very subject. Three Or four times
has the location of the Fort been finally set.
tied, and as often Immediately unsettled.
Fort Abercrombie, in accordance with the
recommendation of several officers, and re-
peated memorials of our own Legislature
was selected, and in course of construction;
then the work was stopped almost as soon
as begun, IN consequence of some doubts in
the mind of the War Department; then. as
the Secretary recovered from his mental con-
fusion, the work went on again, and was
again suspended alternate companies of the
troops, in the meantime, marching backward
and forward from Ripley or RidgIey to
AbercrOmbie and from Abercrombie to
Ripley or Ridgley again, following eoui-
vocal orders from post to post, only to meet
counter orders at the latest destination, till
officers and soldiers and settlers. and every
body having the remotest connection with
the matter, have been driven to the verge of
distraction and months after the last dollar
has been expended in collection of useless
huts at Grahams Point, the defenceess
people of the Red River frontier are clam
orlng to know where the Fort is going to be,
or If there is going to be any fort at all.
Fort Abercrombie, or the temporary bar
racks called by that name, which had been
once or twice abandoned before, was recent
ly abandoned again, guard of some twenty
men only being left under a lieutenant. to
occupy the buildings, with provisions enough
to last them till the first of this month and
the probability is, that by this time there is
not solder there: in which case, it is not
unlikely, that when the Ripley bluecoats are
ordered to Abercrombie again, as they may
reasonably expect to be in a week or two,
they will find their old quarters heap of
ashes
In the meantime, the last of the military
commissions sent out to fix the location of
this most unf1able of institutions, has re.
turned, having examined a good deal of
country that had been thoroughly examined
before. Among the situations which have
put in urgent claims for military de-
fence against the depredations of Indians,
Col. WAIT examined number of points on
Otter Tail Lake and Detroit Lake, in that
neighborhood, as also the banks of the Red
River below Abercrombie, as far down as
the mouth of the Shayenne The main OBJ
lection which has been urged to Fort Aber-
cromble by the partizans of other situations
is that the Red River valley thereabouts is
liable to overflow, which at some periods
will cut off the Fort from its land communi-
cations entirely. 1t was even officially
reported at one time to the Secretary OF
War that Abercrombie itself was under
water-a pardonable case of metonune,
however, in which the wooded bottom ada
cent to the Fort was put for the Fort itself
A still further objection to the Fort by the
advocates of other situations, is that it hes
so far west of the warpaths of Chippewas or
Sioux, making incursions into each others
territories, as to be entirely unavailable for
the protection of settlers whom they pillage
or brighten in their way. And for this pur-
pose the Otter Tail district, as the chief
theatre Of Indian rencontres, has been
strongly urged as candidate for the drb-
blings of the appropriation. What couclu-
sion Col. WAIT came to upon the matter, no
one knows, although it is supposed by some
officers with whom we have conversed, that
the present location will be confirmed, as
Fort Ripley will probably be considered as
sufficient protection for the Otter Tail Lake
district, while Fort Abercrombie is at least
as good military position as any one of
the town sites on this portion of the Red
River.