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

by Evan Jones

In 1805 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.

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2001

Reviews

[Tom Darrow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally published in 1966, this book demonstrates how far history research and writing has come since then. It is full of factual information about the comings and goings at the for throughout its history, but it is extremely dry and the research not very well documented. Additionally, the author uses terms that are not acceptable in the historical community (or elsewhere) now, such as calling Native Americans "redskins" and "scalpers".

I'm a history teacher who has done a lot of research into US fortifications, and even I found this book extremely hard to get through.

[Linda Kenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full of facts and references but not very entertaining reading.