The History of Minnesota HIST 1450

DCTC HIST 1450 Test #2 Study Guide

The First Minnesota

Fought in the east; accomplishments at Gettysburg; sent home with honor; arrived in St Paul February 15, 1864

Little Crow

Argues for restraint, but agrees to lead the Dakota

Lower Sioux Agency

Attacked Aug 18, 1862; Traders and clerks killed; Dakota loot stores; Survivors flee; attempt to get to Fort Ridgely

Sarah Wakefield

Urged Chaska to surrender; fought to save Chaska’s life, but failed; Wrote Six Weeks in Sioux Teepees, blaming US government for war

Hans Mattson

Moved to Goodhue County in 1850s; Employed by MN Bureau of Immigration and RRs to sell MN; Published articles, traveled in US and Scandinavia

Homestead Act (in MN)

Made government lands available for farms; File a claim for 160 acres; live on land for 5 years; Under the Homestead Act, 62,000 claims filed in MN by 1880

Oren Gregg

Led transition from wheat to dairy in MN; Encouraged year-round milk production; Father of Winter Dairying

Wendelin Grimm

Moved to Carver County, MN from Germany 1857; Experiments with “everlasting clover” (alfalfa) and develops a MN friendly variety; Alfalfa becomes one of MN’s key forage crops

Bonanza Farm

Gigantic farms in the Red River Valley; grew no. 1 Hard Wheat and shipped internationally; at least 30 bonanza farms in MN; gone by 1920s

Marine on St. Croix

First sawmill in MN built by Orange Walker and L. S. Judd (1839)

Hinckley Fire

Dry summer and logging waste cause forest fires; killed 197; laws to preserve forests and protect against fires

Christopher Columbus Andrews

Learned about conservation while ambassador to Sweden (1870-1877); Advocated fire prevention and forestry research; State forester (1895-1911); State Forest named after him

Soudan Mine

Stuntz, Stone, Tower, Tower Jr., and others form MN Iron Company (1882); Most ore below ground so quickly moved to traditional mining; RR and docks built; 300k tons of iron shipped in 2nd full season

Lewis Merritt

Have been on the range for years with sons; First to find iron on Mesabi; Tried to develop the business, but efforts hurt by national depression; Soon taken over by Rockefeller

Mesabi Iron Range Strike (1916)

Joe Greeni walks off job frustrated with pay; convince others to join him; 8000 walking out; Frustrated about low pay and terrible working conditions; Miners present demands and get rejected; Striker John Alar killed

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Involved in lobor movement at early age(16); IWW organizer from 1907; leader of strikes after IWW organizers in MN jailed; Most visible woman in the strike; Agitated for wokers’ rights for decades

Cadwallader Washburn

Wisconsin politician who invested in MN; Constructed huge mill that was initially unprofitable due to spring wheat issues

MN Bureau of Labor

Initially the State Board of Labor Statistics; est 1887; Collected information on workers and working conditions to find problems; Expanded and renamed under leadership of LeGrand Powers; Groundwork for later labor legislation

The Grange

Founded by Oliver Kelly (1867); MN State Grange organized in 1869; By end of 1870, 50 active granges in the state; Membership peaked in 1874

Ignatius Donnelly

Pennsylvania lawyer who moved to MN in 1850s; Failed land speculator turned politician; Lt. Governor, US House of Representatives; Lectured around state on behalf of Grange

The Populist Party

Formed by Alliance members in 1892; Platform included silver coinage, income tax, public ownership of railroads and utilities; Influenced MN legislation; Challenged by the depression of the 1890s

13th Minnesota

MN raised several units to fight, but only the 13th saw action; Arrived in Philippines on July 31, 1898; Led attack on Spanish troops in Manila; 23 casualties; Fought in Philippine War (1898-1902); Returned to MN late summer 1899

Charles N. Hewitt

Civil War doctor who moved to Red Wing in 1866; Instrumental in the formation of the State Board of Health; Advocated laws to protect MN people from disease, guarantee safe food, and improve sanitation

The Doctors Mayo

Country doctor who kept up with internation medical advances; With the Sisters of St. Francis, built St Mary’s Hospital; start of Mayo Clinic; Like their father, never ended their medical education; Encouraged research and publication; Became affiliated with the U of M

Hastings Hornell Hart

Secretary of the State Board of Corrections and Charities; Investigated jails, poorhouses and other institutions; Instrumental in getting laws passed to improve facilities around the state

The Dawes Act (in MN)

An attempt to break up reservations and force Native Americans to adopt white ways; Ojibwe lost most of their lands and ended up in extreme poverty; Red Lake Reservation Ojibwe refused to comply and managed to keep reservation together (Exception)

Minnesota prewar neutrality

Did not take Archduke’s murder seriously; war was a surprise; Shocked Minnesotans tried to remain neutral; German atrocities in Belgium horrified Minnesotans; Prepare for (or against?) war; Military buildup begins in 1915

A Divided MN *Extra*

Twin Cities bankers and businessmen fight with the British and French; German Americans stay neutral; Almost all MN Congressmen promote neutrality; Before the fighting began, very hard to get pro-war majority in MN

151st Field Artillery

Commander: Col. George E. Leach; “most distinctively Minnesotan unit”; Successful record against the Germans at Lorraine, the Marne River, Chateau Thierry, and Meuse-Argonne; Pride of the state!

Minnesota Commission of Public Safety

Est April 14, 1917 in part because of prewar neutrality sentiments; “All things necessary and proper” for the war effort; Dictatorial authority!; New Ulm citizens seen as traitors because they didn’t want to send sons to fight in war; Home Guard formed to silence pro-German sentiments

IWW

Industrial Workers of the World

Progressivism

Reformers trying to solve the problems of modern, urban-industrial society; Not unified or organized; A massive movement, experience by a huge segment of the American population