Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Primed To Fire: An Archaeological Study Of The Percussion Caps At Historic Fort Snelling (21he99), Spencer Fehr

Culminating Projects in Cultural Resource Management

The goal in undertaking this thesis project was to examine percussion caps recovered from Historic Fort Snelling to try and better understand weapon utilization, their association with structures and activity areas at the fort, and potential availability. Located at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers near St. Paul, Minnesota the fort was built in the early 1800s to assert the United States’ political and economic objectives in the region. Over its tenure the fort has had a long history of service, with mission objectives constantly changing over the years. The fort was key to the foundation of Minnesota …