Citadel in the Wilderness: The Story of Fort Snelling and the Northwest Frontier

The lively history of this frontier fort.

History/Regional

The lively history of this frontier fort, now back in print

In 1824 Colonel Josiah Snelling erected a stone fortress at the point where the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers merged, on territory secured by Lieutenant Zebulon Pike in a treaty with the Sioux chief Little Crow. 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

Evan Jones (1915-1996) was born in Le Sueur, Minnesota. A writer of American history and cookbooks, he is the author of The Minnesota (also published in paperback by University of Minnesota Press), Trappers and Mountain Men, Epicurean Delight: The Life and Times of James Beard, and The L. L. Bean Book of New New England Cookery.

ISBN 0-8166-3879-9 Paper 10.95 $14.95

256 Pages 23 black-and-white photos 5 3/8 x 8 1/2 May

Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Series

Translation Inquiries: Penguin Putnam, Inc.