Meeker County Museum at the G.A.R. Hall

Guarding the Northwest Frontier: The Civil War in Minnesota 1862-1865

Presented by Mike Penrod

 

In reaction to the US Dakota War the United States Army deployed sizable forces to Minnesota, built and maintained a line of forts and fortified camps, and engaged in extensive peacekeeping activities beginning in the late fall of 1862 and ending in 1865.  All this while prosecuting a major war. These activities had 3 objectives; 1. Convince the Dakota the US had the power to punish them severely if violence erupted again; 2. Convince the white residents of Minnesota the US had the power to protect them from the Dakota; 3. Convince European powers, primarily the British, that the  US had the power to protect its far flung borders while prosecuting the Civil War.