 Fort Snelling was the first major U.S. military presence in the state . The land for the fort , at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers , was acquired in 1805 by Zebulon Pike . When concerns mounted about the fur trade in the area , construction of the fort began in 1819 . Construction was completed in 1825 , and Colonel Josiah Snelling and his officers and soldiers left their imprint on the area . One of the missions of the fort was to mediate disputes between the Ojibwe and the Dakota tribes . Lawrence Taliaferro was an agent of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs . He spent 20 years at the site , finally resigning in 1839 . 
