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Minnesota River Valley, the various historical sites and markers shift compassion and emotions
of the population who inhabit the region. Blue Earth County, specifically Mankato, not only
remember the Dakota executed in the city limits, but also those white settlers who participated in
the attacks at New Ulm, Redwood Ferry, Birch Coolie, and other sites that bore the brunt of
battle.12 Staying relatively close to the centralized area of Mankato and New Ulm, Fort Ridgely
offers the public a chance to experience a battlefield vital to the conflict.

Fort Ridgeley, though not intact to display the physical scars from battle, provides a
sense of the vicious fighting that took place in late August 1862. There are no palisades,
Chevaux de Frizes, abatis, or redoubts, which are common physical and fabricated aspects of
mid-nineteenth century defensive fortifications.13As these physical aspects of the fort have never
existed, the modern population 155 years after the conflict still occupy this hallowed ground.
Fort Ridgely provides a recreational resource through the existence of the state park which
inhabits the historical site. The land which surrounds Fort Ridgely has also transformed in
purpose as a historical relic and commemorative site to a recreation area. Locals camp, fish,
hunt, golf, and remember the battles that occurred on August 19 and 23, 1862.14 In the twenty-
first century, Fort Ridgely allows visitors to see the original outline of the fort, ruins of the
various barracks, and even the trenches dug for latrines. Although there is only one complete
building standing, the display of the defensive weakness of the fort offers the public an
understanding of the struggle that United States soldiers experienced during the fight.

12Carley, The Dakota War, vii.
13 David C. Chuber, Field Fortifications during the American Civil War: A Tactical Problem
(United States Army: Fort Leavenworth Press, 1996), 59-62.
14 Fort Ridgely State Park, Fort Ridgely Plaque (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 2012).