on Chief Poweshiek and his men the
necessity of their returning and the advisability of their doing it
peaceably.[115]

During the month of July the Indians started upon their journey. For
several days they encamped near Fort Des Moines, and on July 16th
seventy of the warriors, armed and painted, paraded on horseback through
the streets of the town to the public square where for an hour they
danced for the amusement of the two or three hundred interested
spectators in the frontier town.[116]

These events made necessary a change in the plans of the troops. Company
E of the Sixth Infantry remained at their camp on the Iowa River for
some time, but upon the last day of July set out under the command of
Major Woods for a site on the Des Moines River which had been chosen by
the War Department as the location of a new military post. On August 23,
1850, the troops arrived at the designated place and began the erection
of a fort which they named Fort Clarke in honor of Colonel Clarke
the commanding officer of the Sixth Infantry. The name, however, was
soon changed to Fort Dodge.

The company of dragoons was occupied during August and September in
making a tour of the western part of the State of Iowa, and it was not
until October that the cavalry company and the other infantry company
returned to their station at Fort Snelling.[117]

Occupation for the company of dragoons was furnished during the next
summer when Governor Ramsey was sent to Pembina to draw up a treaty with
the Pillager band of Chippewa Indians. On August 18, 1851, the party set
out from Fort Snelling. Besides the Governor and a number of gentlemen
who accompanied him, the party consisted of twenty-five dragoons, and
eight French-Canadian and half-breed drivers who had charge of six
baggage wagons and several light Red River carts. The march was very
difficult and the dragoons were kept busy repairing the roads over the
swamp lands and dragging with ropes the heavy wagons over the quickly
made causeways. The treaty which was made after this difficult journey
was not ratified by the Senate.[118]

The wonderful expansion of the Nation, which occurred in the latter half
of the fifth decade of the century, turned all eyes toward the fertile
valleys and the mountains of fabulous wealth on the Pacific Coast. Even
before the acquisition of this territory some visionary minds had
pictured it bound to the United States, if not by political ties, at
least by bond