that they be allowed reasonable compensation for the
improvements they had made. However, in the treaty no mention was made
of a military reservation, the title to the land around the fort being
allowed to rest upon Pike's treaty of 1805.[518]

But to Major J. Plympton, who became the commanding officer at Fort
Snelling during the summer of 1837, the presence of these people
was undesirable, and so in a letter written to the Adjutant-General he
called attention to the settlement and complained of the difficulty of
obtaining fuel for the garrison when the squatters were also engaged in
the same task. In his reply on November 17, 1837, the Adjutant-General
directed that a reservation be marked off--the extent of Pike's purchase
being indefinite.[519]

On March 26, 1838, Major Plympton sent a map of the territory which he
chose to have considered as a military reservation. This reservation,
contrary to the expectations of many, included land on the east side of
the Mississippi. Thus there were many who thought that they had been
using their legal rights of preemption when in reality they were only
squatters. Order No. 65 issued at the post on July 26, 1838, forbade the
erection of any buildings or fences upon the reservation, and prohibited
the cutting of timber except for public use.[520] During this same time
there seems to have been, on the part of those living on the west bank
of the Mississippi, a movement to the east side. Mrs. Abraham Perry came
to Agent Taliaferro on October 18, 1838, and complained that the Indians
had killed three of her cattle "just below the stone cave"--that is,
Fountain Cave which was on the east bank of the river.[521] Yet her
husband was among those who had signed the petition of August 16, 1837,
as residents on the west side.

Within these lands were also a number of shacks along the river
bank a few miles below Fort Snelling. Here whiskey was clandestinely
transferred from the boats before they proceeded upstream. During the
winter of 1839 the presence of these resorts had a deteriorating effect
upon the garrison. Surgeon Emerson wrote to the Surgeon General of the
United States on April 23, 1839: "Since the middle of winter we have
been completely inundated with ardent spirits, and consequently the most
beastly scenes of intoxication among the soldiers of this garrison and
the Indians in its vicinity, which no doubt will add many cases to our
sick-list.... I feel grieved to witness suc