In Minnesota at last...

After my second night in Bismarck, ND, I resumed my trip on I-94 into Minnesota. I noticed that I would be passing through Fergus Falls. That brought back memories of my first few weeks on my new job in Washington state, in 1966.

My first job for the company where I would work for 38 years, was to communicate with customers and potential customers, providing requested information about our products and their operation.

I was suspicious one day when I received a request for quote from the Otter Tail Power Company in Fergus Falls, MN.

Why was I suspicious?

Well, the 1960s featured the tv show, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and many episodes took place in the fictional Frostbite Falls, MN. Hmmm - Otter Tail, Fergus Falls...was this a practical joke hatched by my co-workers?

I quietly researched the company and the town in the company library (not so easy before the internet), and found that both the company and the city were real, so I answered the quote request without mentioning my suspicions to anyone.

Since I would be in Fergus Falls anyway, I decided to find the Otter Tail Power Company offices. I took this picture before resuming my trip.

Otter Tail Power Company

Sunday night in greater Minneapolis

I arrived at my campground, near Minneapolis in the evening on Sunday, July 22nd.

After setting up my trailer and finishing dinner, I took advantage of the WiFi service, offered by most campgrounds these days, to plan my visit to Jerome Mann's first duty station - Fort Snelling.

Imagine my dismay when I discovered that Monday was the one day of the week that the fort, now a State Park, was closed. As a result, I took no pictures and was left to rely on internet sites to provide some history.

It turns out that in the same year that the Lewis and Clark party was wintering at Ft. Mandan, Lt. Zebulon Pike (for whom Pike's Peak, CO would later be named) was tasked with exploring the Mississippi River and selecting sites for forts. The site selected near what is now Minneapolis would become Ft. Snelling in 1825.

 I learned this and more in the Expansionist Era pages offered by the Minnesota Historical Society.

Jerome's early life as a soldier

My great grandfather was in Company D of the 10th Infantry Regiment, and went through basic training at Carlisle Barracks near Harrisburg, PA before being deployed at Ft. Snelling.

This, from the history of the 10th Regiment.

August, 1855

• To facilitate the necessary military instruction, Companies A, B, D, G and K were placed under the supervision of Lieut.-Col. Smith, and C, F, H and I, under that of Major Canby.

September, 1855

• Preparations were commenced for the transfer of the regiment to its first regular station.
• Hardee's Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics were first used for instruction in the regiment. 

Note: You can view the contents of Hardee's book, as published in 1856, here.

October 13, 1855

• The Field, Staff, and A, B, C, D, F, G, H, I and K, left Carlisle Barracks near Harrisburg, PA.

October 17, 1855

• Regiment arrived at Galena, IL. Headquarters and A, C, D, I and K left by steamboat for Fort Snelling.

Judging by the distance between Carlisle Barracks and Galena, IL (805 miles), and considering that their travel only took 3 days,  I can only assume that the regiment moved by train to Galena for this deployment.

October 20, 1855

• Headquarters and A, C, D, I and K arrived Fort Snelling.

 Apparently, there were early problems with troops going AWOL and deserting the service.

This note appears in the Regiment history.

• Of the first five hundred men enlisted for the regiment, sixty-six were born in the New England States, one hundred and forty-nine in the Middle and Western States, and two hundred and eighty-five were foreign born. From this total enlisted, two hundred and seventy-five deserted before completing their enlistment.

Marksmanship was stressed in training, as noted in this description of the training regimen.

March, 1856

• A system of regimental instruction was instituted. Exercise in drill, target practice and marching was zealously kept up. It was impressed on the soldiers that their duties as "Light Infantrymen" required of them a complete knowledge of the use of the rifle, and especially deliberation and calmness in firing, that each shot might be effective. The ranges for target practice were two, three, four, five, six and seven hundred yards. Five shots were allowed at 200 yards, seven at 300, nine at 400, nine at 500, and ten each at 600 and 700 yards. The target used was a piece of white cotton, seven feet long and four feet wide, stretched on an iron frame. The bull's-eye was a circle eight inches in diameter, four feet from the ground and equidistant from the sides, painted black, with the exception of a small spot in the centre left unpainted to determine the centre accurately. Outside the bull's-eye were two black rings concentric with it, with radii of six and nine inches respectively. All shots were recorded and the men classified according to ability. Squads and individuals were practised, and the percentage of hits to misses governed the score, record in the cases of individuals being kept of bull's-eye hits.

I can't help wondering how Jerome might have scored in these exercises.

June, 1856

• Regimental headquarters and four companies, under Colonel Alexander, left Fort Snelling June 24th of this year, and arrived at Fort Ridgely June 30th, taking station there.

Company D must have been one of those that moved with headquarters to Fort Ridgely, because it was from there, in the following winter, that Jerome's company was called to investigate a massacre.

Fort Ridgely, and the Spirit Lake Massacre will be the subject of my next segment.