AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 27 
Gregor, Pike selected the site of a military post, which, 
however, was never occupied as such. 
On September 21st, the mouth of the St. Peters is 
reached, and after some time spent in that vicinity, nego- 
tiating with the Indian tribes, and securing the site for a 
military post, since known as “Fort Snelling,” he com- 
mences the arduous trip above the Falls of St. Anthony, 
encountering all the vicissitudes of a winter campaign in 
that inclement region, the details of which would occupy 
too much time. Suffice it to say, that the supposed source 
of the Mississippi was reached, its course mapped out, and 
the character of the extensive lakes and marshes of this 
district fully made known. Pike’s return voyage was com- 
pleted on the 30th of April, 1806, after an absence of nearly 
nine months. 
Not many years succeeding Pike’s expedition occurred 
the second war with England, generally known as “The 
war of 1812.” Among other causes leading to this renewed 
hostility between the two countries was a most flagrant in- 
terference by British traders with the Indian tribes of the 
northwest, then under the jurisdiction of the United States. 
In fact, not only the English fur traders, whose business was 
likely to be curtailed by the active competition of American 
citizens, but the British frontier military authorities used all 
their influence to promote hostility between the various In- 
dian tribes and the enterprising settlers then pushing their 
way into the inviting northwestern country. Nor was this 
interference confined to misrepresentation of the character 
and designs of the United States government, but to the 
actual furnishing of arms, ummunition, and supplies for 
prosecuting their murderous attacks on the feeble settle- 
ments of the west. Thus the Indian rifle, whose startling 
peals woke the forest solitudes, bringing dismay and death 
to many a hardy frontiersman, and the tomahawk, crushing 
through the brain of defenceless victims, were manufactured 
eae eer eerste ner 
