Named for Brevet Major General Joseph Gilbert Totten, Fort Totten protected overland transportation and communication routes from Minnesota to the Missouri River and Montana. A treaty on February 19, 1867, provided for a Sioux reservation near Devils Lake, and small groups of Sisseton, Wahpeton, and Cuthead Sioux quickly moved into the area. The military supplied provisions and protection until 1871, when the Indian population was large enough to allow an agency, and the fort then assisted the agency in the acculturation of native peoples. The original fort, built in 1867, consisted of crude log structures surrounded by a stockade of oak logs and stood 800 yards to the north. Work on the permanent post began in 1868, a year before Congress authorized funds on April 6, 1869, and this 1868-1871 development stands almost intact today. Outside the parade ground and surrounding square were stables, quartermaster storehouses, sinks, bath houses, and other service buildings. Fort Totten was an infantry garrison until 1873; afterward, two or three infantry companies and one or two cavalry companies manned the post until it closed. As residents of the Devils Lake Reservation became more self-sufficient, the military presence became unnecessary and even detrimental to Indian progress. The fort was abandoned in 1890, and Congress approved transfer of the facilities to the Department of Interior for use as an Indian School. In 1960, Fort Totten was turned over to the state for preservation as an historic site.