Fort Snelling

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Fort Snelling
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Minnesota State Register of Historic Places
Fort Snelling's round tower
Location	Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory, Minnesota
Nearest city	Bordering Minneapolis, St. Paul, Mendota and Mendota Heights.
Coordinates	44°53′34″N 93°10′50″W / 44.89278°N 93.18056°W / 44.89278; -93.18056
Built	1819
Architect	Colonel Josiah Snelling
Website	Historic Fort Snelling
NRHP reference No.	66000401
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	15 October 1966[1]
Designated NHL	19 December 1960[2]

Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint Anthony, but it was renamed Fort Snelling once its construction was completed in 1825.

Before the American Civil War, the U.S. Army supported slavery at the fort by allowing its soldiers to bring their personal enslaved people. These included African Americans Dred Scott and Harriet Robinson Scott, who lived at the fort in the 1830s. In the 1840s, the Scotts sued for their freedom, arguing that having lived in "free territory" made them free, leading to the landmark United States Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sandford.^[3] Slavery ended at the fort just before Minnesota statehood in 1858.

The fort served as the primary center for U.S. government forces during the Dakota War of 1862. It also was the site of the concentration camp^[4] where eastern Dakota and Ho-chunk non-combatants awaited riverboat transport in their forced removal from Minnesota when hostilities ceased. The fort served as a recruiting station during the Civil War, Spanish–American War, and both World Wars before being decommissioned a second time in 1946. It then fell into a state of disrepair until the lower post was restored to its original appearance in 1965. At that time, all that remained of the original lower post were the round and hexagonal towers. Many of the important buildings of the upper post remain today with some still in disrepair.

The historic fort is in the unorganized territory of Fort Snelling within Hennepin County, bordering Ramsey and Dakota counties.

There are now multiple government agencies that own portions of the former fort with the Minnesota Historical Society administering the Historic Fort Snelling site. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources administers Fort Snelling State Park at the bottom of the bluff. Fort Snelling once encompassed the park's land. It has been cited as a "National Treasure" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.^[5] The historic fort is in the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, a National Park Service unit.