Fort Ridgely

Fort Ridgely
Minnesota State Register of Historic Places
Fort Ridgely in 1862
Fort Ridgely is located in Minnesota
Fort Ridgely
Fort Ridgely is located in the United States
Fort Ridgely
LocationNicollet County, south of Fairfax, Minnesota
Coordinates44°27′3″N 94°43′54″W / 44.45083°N 94.73167°W / 44.45083; -94.73167
Built1853
Architectural styleunpallisaded frontier fort
NRHP reference No.70000304[1]
Added to NRHPDecember 02, 1970
1841 smoothbore 6-pounder. None of the Fort Ridgely artillery remain on site.
Lt. T. J. Sheehan commander C Company 5th Minnesota Infantry posted to Fort Ripley. He was sent to Fort Ridgley to assist administration duties at the Upper Sioux Agency for B Company. He assumed command of the fort after Ridgely's commander died at Redwood Ferry.
2nd Lt. Gere was at the Lower Sioux Agency when hostilities broke. He became senior officer of the garrison when the fort commander died. Lt. Sheenhan relieved him by rank upon his return to Fort Ridgely to aid the fort's defence. Lt. Gere would receive a Medal of Honor for later actions.
Fort Ridgely Defenders Medal awarded at the dedication of the Fort Ridgely monument in 1896. Big Eagle's quote: "Ti-Yo-Pa Na-Ta-Ka-Pi" or "They Kept the Door Shut" is above the Fort.

Fort Ridgely was a frontier United States Army outpost from 1851 to 1867, built 1853–1854 in Minnesota Territory. The Sioux called it Esa Tonka.[2] It was located overlooking the Minnesota River southwest of Fairfax, Minnesota. Half of the fort's land was part of the south reservation in the Minnesota river valley for the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute tribes. Fort Ridgely had no defensive wall, palisade, or guard towers. The Army referred to the fort as the "New Post on the Upper Minnesota" until it was named for two Maryland Army Officers named Ridgely (Randolph and Lott Henderson), who died during the Mexican–American War.[3] (Many sources also cite Captain Thomas P. Ridgely as a namesake, but he died at a residence in Baltimore.)[4]

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ "Lightening Blankets Story", Minnesota History Magazine, Vol. 38, Fall 1938, pp. 126–149 [1]
  3. ^ Upham, Warren (1920). Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 373.
  4. ^ Baltimore Sun, December 8, 1847, p. 2.