ments caused by whiskey, we had war parties, scalp dances, medicine feasts, and raw fish dances, which were frequent throughout the summer. White settlers commenced to make their claims at Red Wing in 1852. The Indians were all removed the following year, and my work for their benefit ceased. HISTORY OF FORT RIPLEY, 1849 TO 1859, BASED BY REV. GEORGE C. TANNER. On the 15th of October, 1851, the Rev. Solon W. Manney, rector of St. James' Episcopal Church, Milwaukee, received a letter from Capt. J. B. S. Todd, at that time in command at Fort Ripley, informing him that the Council of Administration at that post had nominated him to the Secretary of War as their chaplain. The official notice of his appointment at Washington reached him on the 29th, and a few days later, having resigned his parish, he set out for his new field of labor. JOURNEY FROM MILWAUKEE TO FORT RIPLEY. In 1851 the journey from Milwaukee to the Mississippi was by stage. At Galena he was met by Captain (now General) N. J. T. Dana. The day following his arrival he took passage with his family on the steamboat "Uncle Toby," bound for St. Peter's, as Mendota at the mouth of the Minnesota river was then designated. Leaving Galena on the 15th of November, he notes as settlements along the Mississippi, Dubuque, Buena Vista, Cassville, Prairie La Porte, Clayton City, McGregor, Prairie du Chien, Columbus, Lansing, and La Crosse. The first settlement above La Crosse in 1851, unless we except a trading house or two, was Point Douglas, where he arrived late in the afternoon of November 18th. "Here the boat left us," he writes, "refus *Read at the monthly meeting of the Executive Council, March 12, 1900. A copy of this Diary, made from the original by permission of Rev. Dr. Manney's daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Tenney, has been presented by the author of this paper to the Historical Society's Library. 1 ing to proceed farther. We secured a lumber wagon to take us to St. Paul. Arrived at St. Paul at 5 p.m. Called at the Mission; took tea with the brethren" [Rev. James Lloyd Breck and his associates]. Stopping as a guest at the Central House, he was delayed in St. Paul for several days, on account of the danger in crossing the river. It was not till the 3rd of December that he was able to resume his journey up the river. At length, on the afternoon of the 7th, he reached the Fort, where he was cordially received by Captain Todd, who came to meet him a few miles from the post, and invited him and his family to his own quar ters. EARLY LIFE OF DR. MANNEY. As the first Chaplain at Fort Ripley was one of the Territorial Pioneers of Minnesota and passed the rest of his days in this new Commonwealth, a short account of his early life will not be out of place. Solon W. Manney was born at Hyde Park, N. Y., near Poughkeepsie, in the year 1813. His early life was passed at the latter place amid influences savoring of an ancestry which has given us not a few eminent names. His ancestors were of the Huguenot faith. His father was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, and his mother was of Quaker descent. Through the influence of his young associates, he was drawn towards the Episcopal Church, and was baptized into this faith by Dr. Whittingham, afterwards the learned Bishop of Maryland. Through his influence young Manney was led to prepare for the sacred ministry and became his pupil in the General Theological Seminary in New York City. He graduated with honor in 1837, in a class which gave us several well known clergy. His commencement thesis was a criticism on "Edwards on the Will;" but his propositions were so far in advance of the thought of that day, that the professor in charge of that department, while commending the production, would not allow it to be delivered. He was ordained by Bishop B. T. Onderdonk, and for two years was rector of the Church, of the Nativity in New York City. Fired with zeal for work in the new West, enkindled by Bishop Kemper at his visits to the East, he came out to Indiana |