Steele had been unable to pay the entire $90,000, and as he
claimed rent at the rate of $2000 a month for the time it had been used
by the government, the matter was again taken up. It was finally
adjusted in an agreement whereby Mr. Steele retained the greater part of
the land, and the government kept the buildings and 1521.20 acres
surrounding the fort. Later some of the land was re-purchased from Mr.
Steele.[144]

The history of Old Fort Snelling closes with the removal of the troops
in 1858. The story of its use during the Civil War, of the part it
played during the Sioux massacre of 1862, of its influence throughout
the West during the years when the headquarters of the Department of
Dakota were located within its walls, of the Officers' Training
Camp established during the summer of 1917, lies outside the scope of
this volume. The life of the new Fort Snelling revives the traditions of
patriotism, loyalty, and sacrifice, which have centered about the post
since that day in August, 1819, which witnessed its beginning.

IV

LORDS OF THE NORTH

An old settler, speaking of the expulsion of the squatters on the
military reservation remarked: "At that time, and both before and since,
the commanding officers of the fort were the lords of the north. They
ruled supreme. The citizens in the neighborhood of the fort were liable
at any time to be thrust into the guard-house. While the chief of the
fort was the king, the subordinate officers were the princes, and
persons have been deprived of their liberty and imprisoned by those
tyrants for the most trivial wrong, or some imaginary offense."[145]
This statement is doubtless rather extreme; but the fact remains that
the fort was the only agency of government in the region, and so the
commanding officer was indeed the supreme ruler in so far as he directed
the policy and activities of the post.

Interest in Old Fort Snelling is not primarily in the logs and stones
which made up its building, but in the men and women who lived within
its walls. Many were the lives influenced by a residence in its
barracks. Characters were formed by the stern rigors of frontier
service. Far from busy cities, in the tiresome routine of army life, men
were being trained who were to be leaders in the political and
military life of the Nation. Others never rose to a higher position; but
they command attention because in their faithful performance of daily
duties, year after year, they w