Three Score Years and Ten

Charlotte Ouisconsin Van Cleve (1819-1907) was the daughter of a U.S. Army officer, one of the first group of soldiers assigned to establish a fort in what was then known to whites as the Northwest. This was Fort Snelling, situated at the mouth of the St. Peter's [Minnesota] river in territory which eventually became the state of Minnesota. Van Cleve's book is a memoir of life spent with the military first as the daughter of a military officer, Major Nathan Clark, and later as the wife of another officer, Horatio Phillips Van Cleve, who served in the Union Army with the Second Minnesota Infantry and rose to the rank of General. Van Cleve's book emphasizes the early years of Fort Snelling. She recalls her childhood memories of life at the fort: the rudimentary schooling she received there, her encounters with Indians, the excitement of communications with the East, and all the rigors associated with frontier life. Van Cleve met her husband at Fort Winnebago, where he and her father were both stationed. Their assignments provided many opportunities to travel, and she visited St. Louis, Cincinnati, Kentucky, and Nashville.