Fort Totten State Historic Site

Fort Totten was built in 1867 as a military post in North Dakota. The fort was created to protect the Totten Trail and the Totten Indian Reservation. The Totten Indian Reservation is made up of Sioux Bands(Sisseton, Wahpeton, and the Cut-Head bands of Yanktonais) who were protected under the Treaty of 1867 which relocate Native Americans to reservations to protect . Fort Totten at first did not have any Indians living around their area until Fort Totten let Sioux Indians enter inside their military post for food. This interaction between them led to Sioux Indians to live near the fort and eventually create the Totten Indian Reservation.

Furthermore, Fort Totten was decommissioned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1890. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is significant because they are responsible for maintaining many reservation systems in America from 1890 to the present time. Especially on Fort Totten because the fort changed into an Indian boarding school, health facility, and reservation. The boarding school was founded by Fort Totten Indian Agency and the Catholic Mission created the structure of what students would be taught in the school. Also, the school was established in 1874 until it was burned down in 1874. However, the school was rebuilt in 1885 and Fort Totten continued to be a school until 1926 when the school was burned down again. After the school was burned down, the fort changed into a health facility. Though the health facility was mostly known for treating Native Americans who had tuberculosis between 1935 and 1939. Thus, Fort Totten was known to be a tuberculosis preventorium, which is to prevent diseases to spread like tuberculosis.

Moreover, Fort Totten was not allowed to be operated anymore in 1959 because the Bureau of Indian Affairs wanted to preserve the history of the fort. Thus, became a historical site in 1960. Today, Fort Totten is now used for site seeing and learning about the history of the Native American reservation. Also, now have activities for anyone such as Native American dances, museums, and exhibits. Overall, Fort Totten is now a historical site that displays American and Native American history to the public.

"Fort Totten Historic Site", Fort Totten State Historic Site - State Historical Society of North Dakota. Accessed February 28th 2021. https://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/totten/.

-The source gives a general history of Fort Totten Historic Site and establishes the events within Fort Totten. This is significant because the article has all the events that created Fort Totten Historic Site.

Weiser, Kathy. Fort Totten, North Dakota - Protecting the Totten Trail, Legends of America. Accessed February 28th 2021. https://www.legendsofamerica.com/nd-forttotten/.

-This article is great because this has more details on the history. The history on the first source is brief and not detail-oriented, whereas this is because the article establishes the people and more reasons on to the changes on Fort Totten Historic Site.

Fort Totten Indian Agency (North Dakota), Family Search. May 11th 2017. Accessed March 28th 2021. Fort Totten Indian Agency (North Dakota) • FamilySearch.

-This site introducees the Indian Agency responsible for establishing the changes of Fort Totten.

Fort Totten Indian School (North Dakota), Family Search. Accessed March 28th 2021. https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Fort_Totten_Indian_School_(North_Dakota).

-This article illustrates the history of Fort Totten being a school.

History, Spirit Lake Nation. Accessed March 28th 2021. http://www.spiritlakenation.com/history/.

This website explains what Fort Totten was protecting the indiain reservation.