The classic history of this frontier fort, now back in print!
In 1805 Colonel Josiah Snelling erected a stone fortress at the point where the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers merged, on territory secured by Lietenant Zebulon Pike in a treaty with the Siouz chief Little Crowe. Evan Jones describes the intriguing history of Fort Snelling, the Gibraltar of the West, its effect on the Native Americans of the region, and its role in the westward movement.
"A story of bitter and complex rivalries. . . . With massive towers and walls capping a limestone cliff, [Fort Snelling] defied attack. But it influenced movements and events hundreds of miles away. The Sioux opposed the Chippewa, the North West Company contended with the Hudson's Bay outfit, and Astor's American Fur Company fought them both. . . . This book unfolds a forty-year struggle in the wilderness." New York Times Book Review
"The author offers here a rollicking tale of high adventure and low shenanigans in and around Fort Snelling. As much the story of the Indians of the region as of the hardy Americans (famous and infamous) who walked inside this fort's impressive walls, Citadel relays its message of courage and chicanery with a minimum of 'undying prose' but a maximum of straightforward and incisive storytelling." Library Journal
A biography of Evan Jones appears at right.