page_title: Fort Snelling
section_title: Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Snelling / History / Civil War
caption_attribution_description: Photograph of Little Six and Medicine Bottle swinging from the gallows at Fort Snelling. The Minnesota Massacre in August 1862 resulted in the deaths of more than 450 settlers living near the reservation. Many white settlers came to help "civilize" the Sioux and establish an Indian school. Although the government offered over a million dollars to the tribe for their land, white merchants preyed upon the trade good dependent Sioux by granting massive amounts of credit that they collected directly from the government. Tensions rose as many Sioux found themselves unable to provide for their families. One store attendant refused to take more credit and turned away starving women and children saying, "If they are hungry, they can eat grass" (Torrence, Time-Life The Old West Series, "The Minnesota Massacre: Sioux on the Warpath," p. 175). After the attack some survivors found the store owner dead with grass stuffed in his mouth. When the annual payment from the government failed to arrive on time, Wo-wi-na-pa, the son of Little Crow, and some other Dakota men led an attack against the white settlers. Among them was Little Six, the grandson of Shakopee and leader of the Mdewakanton band, and Medicine Bottle, the nephew of Chief Medicine Bottle. Little Six and Medicine Bottle fled to Canada after the massacre. In early December 1862, the military convicted 303 Sioux prisoners of murder and rape by military tribunals and sentenced them to death. Thirty-eight of the convicted hanged all at once, making it the largest hanging in American History. Medicine Bottle and Little Six evaded capture for almost two years until Major Edwin Hatch kidnapped them in January of 1864. They were put on trial with Wo-wi-na-pa and charged with war crimes. Wo-wi-na-pa managed to escape the noose, but Little Six and Medicine Bottle did not. They hanged at Fort Snelling in 1865.
context_page_description: Fort Saint Anthony was renamed Fort Snelling once its construction was completed in 1825. It is a former United States Army fortification that was designated a Military Reservation on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers. That designation placed fort lands outside territorial administration or jurisdiction. Over time the location was part of the Louisiana Purchase and was included in the Missouri Territory. When Missouri became a state in 1812 the land not included became an Unorganized Territory which included Minnesota west of the Mississippi. When the Wisconsin Territory was formed Minnesota and Fort Snelling were included in the new Territory. When Wisconsin gained statehood in 1848 the Minnesota Territory was formed. By an an
  Act of Congress the Military Reservation was reduced in size on 26 August 1852. It was again reduced on 4 Janurary 1871. Today, the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area a National Park Service unit, includes historic Fort Snelling as well as other portions of old fort lands as part of their operations.
context_section_description: During the American Civil War, Franklin Steele leased Fort Snelling back to the War Department for use as an induction station.  When Governor Ramsey offered President Lincoln 1000 troops to fight the south the volunteers he got were organized at Fort Snelling into a Regiment, the 1st Minnesota.  More than 24,000 recruits were trained there.  
  Minnesota units mustered in at Fort Snelling:
  1st Minnesota April 1861
  2nd Minnesota June-July 1861
  3rd Minnesota Oct-Nov 1861
  4th Minnesota Oct-Nov 1861
  5th Minnesota Mar-Apr 1862
  6th Minnesota Sep-Nov 1862
  7th Minnesota Aug-Oct 1862
  8th Minnesota Jun-Sep 1862
  9th Minnesota Aug-Oct 1862
  10th Minnesota Aug-Nov 1862
  11th Minnesota Aug-Sep 1864
  1st Minnesota Infantry Battalion Aug-Sep 1864
  1st Minnesota Sharpshooters Company Apr 1864
  2nd Minnesota Sharpshooters Company Jan 1862
  1st Minnesota Heavy Nov 1864
  1st Minnesota Light Artillery Battery Nov 1861
  2nd Minnesota Light Artillery Battery Mar 1862
  3rd Minnesota Light Artillery Battery Feb 1863
  1st Minnesota Cavalry Oct-Dec 1862
  2nd Minnesota Cavalry Regiment Dec 1863
  1st Minnesota Light Cavalry(Bracket's Battalion) Sep-Nov 1861
  Minnesota Independent Cavalry Battalion (Hatch's Battalion) Jul 1863
caption: Hanging of Little Six and Medicine Bottle November 11, 1865 Ft Snelling
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