Minnesota and Dacotah

Christopher Columbus Andrews (1829-1922), future Civil War general, diplomat, and state official, wrote these twenty-six letters on a trip to the Minnesota and Dakota [Dacotah] territory during the fall of 1856. He traveled by rail as far as Chicago and Dunleith (Jo Daviess County, Illinois), continuing by steamship to St. Paul, and making his way by stagecoach to Crow Wing and St. Cloud before returning east. Each letter describes the trip or discusses the territory's economic and institutional development, governance, and opportunities for pioneers, land speculators, and entrepreneurs. Andrews devotes considerable attention to the Minnesota bar and also takes an interest in such topics as farming, lumbering, railroads, waterways, the potential of Lake Superior and the Red River valley, and efforts to induce the Chippewa [Ojibwe] to adopt a way of life rooted in European cultural traditions. The letters anticipate the establishment of Dakota as a separate territory and review current proposals for demarcating its boundaries. Andrews also comments on slavery and the era's racial attitudes.