A Regiment with a Reputation: The First Minnesota Remembered

The dates of July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd have great significance for our nation for it was on these dates in 1863 that the greatest battle in the western hemisphere took place – a battle and a war that would forever change the nation, the way we think about country, race, and the essence of democracy.

It was a time before corporations and when the media still had independence and most Americans still had rootage in the land.

Out of this great battle came Lincolns Gettysburg address that historians now see as the speech that re-made America. The war settled unresolved issues from the revolution.

I am not hawkish nor a war monger and feel that most of our wars are unjust but WWII and the Civil War were arguably inevitable. The Civil War and its specifics are becoming more and more remote from our American experience and maybe this story is timely if only to rekindle why so many men lost their lives – not for oil, riches, land or power but to free men from slavery – for what could be more noble?



A Regiment with a Reputation: The First Minnesota Remembered


During our states centennial year, 1958, I was in 5th grade and received heavier than normal exposure to our state history. I can recall learning about Minnesota Men at Gettysburg, during the Civil War, who exhibited extraordinary courage in saving the day for the Union. But to any more than that, all I can remember was that this group of Minnesota Men had made some kind of last stand and exhibited a large degree of bravery.

It wasn’t until approximately 20 years ago when the Ken Burns documentary, “The Civil War,” aired on PBS, that my real interest in the “1st Minnesota Volunteers” and Civil War history began.

In April of 2000, my wife and I visited Gettysburg National Military Park and National Cemetery. We were so moved by our experience at Gettysburg that we returned again in the spring of 2001 and did a Civil War battlefield tour, Beginning at Appomattox and ending at Gettysburg, visiting 12 major battlefields.

Our first visit to Gettysburg was a similar experience to many others who have visited this “hallowed ground.” When one enters Gettysburg, there is an unmistakable feeling of reverence. I am not alone in this sensation. You will get this same response from others. The overwhelming feeling of what happened here tells one that this is indeed sacred ground. Up to that period in world history there had been no war like the American Civil War. This was going to be a different kind of war. Brother vs. brother - freedom vs. slavery - states rights vs. union. The Civil War marked an epochal change in world history. One faction of our country was experiencing the industrial revolution while the other was languishing in an aristocratic planter’s existence with slave labor. The very essence of American Ideals was being tested. Were all men really created equal? Were we going to be a “United States,” or a land of country states, like Europe?

On our first visit to Gettysburg, we enlisted a licensed battlefield guide to drive us around this huge battlefield in order to get a feel for the lay of the land. The tour lasted about 3 hours and near the completion of his services and knowing that we were Minnesotans, the guide stopped at the Minnesota Monument on Cemetery Ridge. I’m generally not too emotional about such things, but as my wife and I approached the “First Minnesota Monument,” and read the inscription describing the deeds done that day by 262 men from our state, I am not ashamed to admit that tears swelled in my eyes. On our return trip in 2001, we learned more about this famed group of fighting men and experienced the zeal and passion exhibited by park historians as they teach and lecture about the “First Minnesota.” I thought that it’s rather a shame that we here in our state know so little about this regiment, while in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania they are renowned and revered as heroes. I decided that when we returned home I would attempt to renew awareness in the deeds of the First Minnesota. What this group of Minnesota men sacrificed at Gettysburg should not be forgotten. I think it was the words of Winston Churchill, who said “never have so many, owed so much, to so few.” In my opinion, never could these words be more appropriately applied than to the First Minnesota.

Before I begin to tell you who and what they did, let me give a very brief background on what had happened thus far as it relates to the War and the “First.” This will give you a better understanding as to the timeliness and the importance to what the First Minnesota did: The First Minnesota Volunteers was the first regiment raised in the Civil War. In 1861 Minnesota had only been a state for only 3 years and the present governor, Alexander Ramsey personally knew Lincoln and the then secretary of war, Simon Cameron. Governor Ramsey, being in Washington at the time of Fort Sumter’s shelling, immediately pledged a regiment to the Union effort. The call went out and 1000 Minnesota men from all over the state quickly volunteered. Most of the men were back-woodsmen, loggers, farmers, pioneers, and rivermen. Many were recent immigrants to the country. It’s not surprising that a large portion were Scandinavians and Germans. What many modern day Americans don’t realize, was the prodigious letter writing done by these veterans. Diaries were common place and many regularly kept there hometown newspapers up to speed with the status of things on the front. The First Minnesota was no exception. There is a plethora of diaries and letters from the “First,” describing the food, marches, the heat, their Officers, the battles, prison camps, the life and deaths of their fellow comrades, and their feelings and convictions in the struggle against succession. They clearly understood what the war was about. Many, being recent immigrants to the country, had a new and keen sense of patriotism and did not want to see this country move in the direction that Europe had. Slavery was not a prime motivating factor, as it was distant and unknown to Minnesotans. Slavery was not something they had experienced, but seeing it in Virginia, they wrote about how they believed it to be wrong and must be destroyed.


The Minnesotans were considered larger than the average Civil War soldier. The average age of a Civil War soldier was 25. The average age of the Minnesota men was 26 years and 8 months. The population in Minnesota in 1861 was 200,000 and that figure was double as to what it was a decade prior. The going price for government land was $1.25 an acre. Most of the population then shunned cities and towns and lived in log or sod homes. When I say that these boys were backwoodsmen, that’s not an exaggeration.

The First Minnesota was mustered into service on April 30th, 1861. They were somewhat unusual from most volunteer regiments as that they came from all over the state, where as most other Civil War units came from individual communities. The Minnesotans were trained at Fort Snelling and were somewhat unique in that they were trained by Army regulars; in the old army way, that is you stick together always! And you never run. They were issued Springfield rifled muskets, considered a good weapon for its day. Their first uniform issue was black pants, bright red shirts, and wide brimmed black hats. This would change after “Bull Run.” Before “Bull Run,” some Union troops wore gray and some Confederate troops wore blue; obviously causing great confusion. Both armies had a lot to learn.

The Civil War in the eastern theatre lasted 4 years exactly to the day; April 12, 1861 to Lee’s official surrender ceremony at Appomattox Court House, Apri112, 1865. As many Americans died in the Civil War as all the other wars this country has fought combined, (620,000 fatalities); More than the Revolution, Mexican-American War, Spanish-American War, WW I, WW II, Korean War, Vietnam, and Desert Storm.

Casualty rates in Civil War battles were normally 30% or higher. In World War II, 5 to 10 % casualties were considered blood baths. Civil War weaponry had advanced beyond the Napoleonic warfare tactics used at that time. The Civil Wars rifled muskets capable of 300 yard accuracy was devastating to men in formations accustomed to approaching lines equipped with smooth bore muskets with accuracy of only 50 yards on average. Bayonet use in the Civil War was rare. The Civil War saw the development of the first “iron-clad” battleship, the first submarine, and the first land and water mines (called torpedoes then.) Trench warfare used so effectively WW I was developed to perfection by Confederate General James Longstreet during the Civil War. The American Civil War rendered the weaponry, equipment, and tactics of the era, obsolete for every nation on earth.

At the 3 day battle of Gettysburg, the greatest battle ever fought on American soil, there were 51,000 casualties. At Antietam, a one day affair, there were over 23,000 casualties. More Americans died at Antietam on September 17th, 1862 than on any other day in our history!

The First Minnesota first distinguished themselves at the Union defeat of Bull Run or Manassas as the Rebels call it, by not turning tail and running. They were one of the few Union outfits to hold together under intense fire and performed the rear-guard in the messy Union retreat. Their action at Bull Run was critical in giving enough stiff resistance by the Union forces to keep the Rebels from routing Union forces all the way to Washington. They suffered the greatest loss at Bull Run of any Union regiment. This would be their christening under fire, as they would prove themselves again and again in nearly every major engagement in the eastern theatre, including the Peninsula Campaign, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and finally Gettysburg, were they would forever be enshrined into national glory.

Repeatedly the “First” was decorated for its valor and coolness under fire. One important note of interest is an occurrence to the First Minnesota at Fredericksburg. At Fredericksburg the Union (or “Army of the Potomac” as it was called,) was poorly led, as it was so much during the first half of the war. The troops in blue were repeatedly order to assault Maryes Heights, an open plain that proceeded up a slope to a fortified stone wall behind which were 4 ranks of confederate riflemen. It was a horrible slaughter of Union forces. Thousands of brave Union troops fell as wave after wave tried to take the unassailable position behind the stone wall. It was a terrific blunder by the Union command. Nothing was gained and thousands of men lost their lives in a suicidal assault.

The man in charge of the First Minnesota at Fredericksburg was Colonel Alfred Sulley, it was Col. Sulley who kept the First Minnesota out of sight (and out of mind) from command and thus saved them from certain slaughter. He recognized the senselessness of what he was seeing and said to an aid, “I was not going to murder my men.” Little was he or the nation then to realize the importance of his decision to preserve the First Minnesota as a fighting unit.

Prior to Gettysburg, the Army of the Potomac had suffered a series of devastating loses at the hands of Robert E. Lee. Lee. After Lee’s brilliant victory at Chancellorsville, he felt that his Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was invincible. Lee felt that the quickest way to win the war was to invade the north, wage warfare on northern soil and destroy the Army of the Potomac, thus destroying the will of the northern people to continue with the war effort and proceed to Washington, hoping that the Federals would be ready to sue for peace and recognize the Confederacy. The Army of the Potomac had their backs to the wall. They were now going to have to fight and protect the “mother land.”

Lee’s mistake was underestimating the boys in blue. The Union troops knew they had not been given a fair chance, that they had been badly led. With good leadership, they knew they could fight as good as any southerner. Lincoln had placed a new general in command of the Army of the Potomac only days before Gettysburg, Gen. George Gordon Meade. A careful general, but a good one, who would not make the kind of mistakes his predecessors had made.

Gettysburg was a chance engagement. Neither Army knew the location of his foe. Lee had lost touch with his Calvary, which was responsible for being the eyes and ears of the army. Gettysburg was located at a point were numerous roads converged; a prosperous market town approximately 50 miles west of Washington. Some of Lee’s generals had heard that there was a cache of shoes in Gettysburg and many of his men were shoeless.

When the Armies met in Gettysburg, the South came in from the north and the North came in from the south. Thus the stage was set for one of the greatest battles ever fought in world history.

The great battle started on July 1st, 1863 and not all the Union forces had yet arrived at Gettysburg. The Union troops on hand were greatly out numbered at the start. The First Minnesota was near Uniontown, Maryland when the fighting began. They could hear the artillery and see the smoke. They knew that they would soon be part of a great battle. The first day turned into a rout for the Confederates as fleeing stragglers and demoralized Federals from the 11th corps were streaming by the “First” speaking of another Union disaster, the Minnesotans were seasoned veterans and not easily discouraged. At 9:00 PM the “First” arrived at the battlefield. At dawn on the 2nd, the First Minnesota was placed in reserve behind the Union line on Cemetery ridge about midway between the extreme Union right position and its left. The Union line formed the shape of a fish-hook over a mile in length. Facing this position to the west and north on Seminary Ridge was Lee’s army. The Unions 3rd Corps, commanded by Gen. Dan Sickles, positioned in front of the First Minnesota, pulled his Corps out of position without the acknowledgment of the commanding General Meade. He had advanced his Corps in a salient into a peach orchard, a wheatfield and a cluster of boulders known as the Devils Den. This left him vulnerable and exposed to flanking and enfilading fire. It also left a huge hole in the Federal line on Cemetery Ridge. The Confederates were quick to recognize this opening and react. Confederate brigades under Colonel David Lang and General Cadmus Wilcox were advancing quickly towards the gap in the Union line, with Sickle’s routed and fleeing Union 3rd Corps in their front. If the advancing Confederates were to reach the hole in the Union line, they’d flank the Union army and roll it up like a wet blanket. The situation was more than critical, the Civil War had reached the supreme moment for the Federals. If they were to lose the day, they’d lose the battle and most likely the war. What was there to prevent Lee from marching straight to Washington? The situation was desperate. The Union General in charge on Cemetery Ridge was General Winfield Scott Hancock and he frantically tried to rally the panic stricken, fleeing troops. He had Gibbons Division on its way from Cemetery Hill to plug the hole, but that was close to a half mile away. He desperately needed 5 minutes time until Gibbons men would arrive. Hancock then realized that the First Minnesota was on hand and in reserve. Hancock cried out to the Colonel of the First Minnesota, Colonel William Colvill; “My God, are these all the men we have here?” Hancock then ordered Colonel Colvill to charge the advancing Confederate lines and capture their colors. Hancock later said, “I had no alternative but to order the regiment in…in some way we needed 5 minutes or we were lost. It was fortunate that I found such a grand body of men as the 1st Minnesota. I knew that they must lose heavily and it pained me to give the order for them to advance, but I would have done it if I had known every man would be killed. It was a sacrifice that must be made. The superb gallantry of these men saved our line from being broken.”

There were 262 in that body of Minnesota men there on Cemetery Ridge. These men had become hard-core fighters. They knew how to position themselves best to kill men. And they knew what it was like to lose their fellow comrades. Every man knew what was being asked of him. They were being sacrificed in order to buy some time, that the balance of this war was now on there shoulders. They were going up against a force of 1,700 Confederates. Colonel Colvill stepped out in front of his men, whom had formed a straight line, shoulder to shoulder, facing the enemy, and called out, “who will join me,” all 262 responded “Yes!” A survivor later recalled the men “started down the slopes in a beautiful line” and quickened their pace as they progressed. What these men were doing at dusk on July 2nd was a bayonet charge into an overwhelming Confederate force. Fortunately for the Minnesotans, the Confederates were in some disorder, having cross Plum Creek and a split rail fence when the Minnesotans hit them. The larger Confederate force was stunned by the attack which halted their forward movement. After the bayonet attack the Minnesotans settled in to a musket fight. The overwhelming numbers of Confederates were beginning to encircle the “First,” raining a hail storm of lead upon them. Men were dropping like leafs, but the Minnesotans gave the Union not only the 5 minutes they needed but an additional 15. But those 15 minutes was an eternity to the men of the First.

Of the 262 men of the First Minnesota who made the charge, only 47 returned to Cemetery Ridge. The single greatest lose that any Union Regiment suffered in the Civil War. Many historians agree that their valor saved the day. “The regiment had stopped the enemy, and held back its mighty force and saved the position. But at what sacrifice! Nearly every officer was dead or lay weltering with bloody wounds, our gallant Colonel and every field officer among them. Of the 262 who made the charge, 215 lay upon the field, stricken down by Rebel bullets, 47 were still in line, and not a man was missing. The annals of war contain no parallel to this charge. In its desperate valor, complete execution, successful result, and in its sacrifice of men in proportion to the number engaged, authentic history has no record in which it can be compared.”

There were hundreds of examples of velour and courage at Gettysburg, but what the First Minnesota did here on the second day is unquestionably one of the finest acts of heroism in American history. Giving Hancock the time he needed until Gibbons division could arrive and drive the Confederates back. But the story doesn’t end here for the First Minnesota. Another day of fighting remained at Gettysburg and the First Minnesota would play another important and crucial part in contributing to victory.

On July 3rd, an eerie hush settled over the battlefield. It was a windless day of oppressive heat. The Army of the Potomac found themselves behind the stonewall fortifications along the length of Cemetery Ridge. The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was facing them in the trees on Seminary Ridge about a mile away. Some fighting took place in the pre-dawn hours that morning, but other than that, the 2 armies quietly faced one another for most of the day. The afternoon silence was finally broken by the most tremendous cannonade duel yet seen in the annals of human warfare. 160 Confederate artillery pieces open fire on the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. The bombardment lasted 2 hours. The Union Generals Hancock and Gibbons, walked back and forth unflinchingly, exposing themselves to Confederate shells in order to inspire their men. The Union halted their shelling early in order to deceive the Confederates in thinking they had exhausted their munitions and also to mislead them in thinking that Union guns had been knocked out. The Confederate shelling was not as effective as they had hoped. Most of the shells passed overhead into the rear of the Union forces. After the Confederate bombardment stopped, 15 thousand men in gray came out of the trees on Seminary Ridge and formed for an assault on Cemetery Ridge, what would forever be known as “Pickets Charge.”

The South suffered heavily as they progressed across the open fields towards Cemetery Ridge. The Union having preserved there positions on the high ground during the 2nd days fighting, had as a result, poured a murderous cannon fire of shell and canister upon the advancing Confederates. Large groups of men fell. As the Confederates were climbing a rail fence at the Emmitsburg Road only about 100 yards from the Union lines, the men in blue opened up with rifle fire. The results were devastating for the Rebels. Nearly the whole front line fell. The First Minnesota, being position just to the left of the Union center was in the thick of things again.

The advancing Confederates began an oblique movement, merging there troops to concentrate their attack on the Union center. Gen. Lee believed that here at the Union center was the weakest part of the Union defense. Here also was where the First Minnesota was located.

At a point near the center called the “angle,” Confederate forces under Gen. L. Armistead breached the Union lines and a desperate hand to hand struggle ensued. It appeared that Union forces were beginning to break. A pivotal moment hung in the balance. The Federals were being pushed back by the spirited Confederate charge led by Armistead.

The surviving 47 of the First Minnesota had increased to about 150 men as about 100 men, who on the second day, had been assigned to provost marshal duty and as sharpshooters at Little Round Top had rejoined their comrades. As the Confederates breached the “angle,” the First Minnesota and part of Harrows Brigade were ordered to flank the Confederates. What happened next is best describe by the words of a survivor: “Corp. Dehn, the last of our color guard, then carrying our tattered flag, was here shot through the hand, and the flagstaff cut in two. Corp. Henry D. O’Brien of Company E instantly seized the flag by the remnant of the staff. Whether the command to charge was given by any general officer I do not know. My impression then was that it came as a spontaneous outburst from the men, and instantly the line precipitated itself upon the enemy. O’Brien who then had the broken staff and tatters of our battle flag, with his characteristic bravery and impetuosity sprang with it to the front at the first sound of the word charge, and rushed right up to the enemy’s line, keeping it noticeably in advance of every other color. My feeling at the instant blamed his rashness in so risking its capture. But the effect was electrical. Every man of the First Minnesota sprang to protect its flag, and the rest rushed with them upon the enemy. The bayonet was used a few minutes, and cobble stones, with which the ground was covered, filled the air, being thrown by those in the rear over the heads of their comrades.” It was here that Private Marshall Sherman of the “First” captured the battle flag of Virginia that is still in possession of the State of Minnesota and has created some recent controversy by Virginia wanting it back. O’Brien and Sherman were to receive the Congressional Medals of Honor. On July 3rd, the First Minnesota lost an additional 55 casualties, 23 killed in defense of their country.

As history knows, the Confederates suffered a devastating defeat at Gettysburg from which it would never recover. Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War and the high-water mark for the Confederacy. Lee would never again invade northern territory in any real threat and it was down hill for the South for the remainder of the war. The Union had won a great victory on their own soil. The role that the Fighting First Minnesota played at this pivotal moment in our history speaks for itself. This was mostly the end of the First as a viable fighting unit. Most of the men would be mustered out of service. Some would become part of existing or newly created Federal Regiments.

As a Minnesotan who had been with the First Minnesota when it left Fort Snelling in 1861 and was on hand in New York to witness the First marching in Brooklyn on August 28th, 1863, nearly 2 months after Gettysburg wrote: “As I saw this little fragment of the once splendid Minnesota First march by me, carrying their stained and tattered flag, scarcely a shred of which is left, except the design close by the staff, and take their places in line of battle just as they stood on that bright morning more than 2 years ago at Fort Snelling, when so many of us were there …and embarking for war, and their glorious destiny, I absolutely shivered with emotion. There the brave fellows stood a grand shadow of the regiment Fort Snelling knew. Their bronzed faces looked so composed and serious. There was a history written on every one of them and I never felt so much like falling down and doing reverence to any living men. The music of the band, as the men went steadily through the changes of the drill was very sweet, but it seemed to me all the while like a dirge for the fallen.”

There are 3 beautiful monuments in Gettysburg erected for the First Minnesota. One where they made their famous charge on the second day, another near the “angle” where they helped in crushing Pickets Charge, and the third in Gettysburg National Cemetery only a short distance where Lincoln gave the famous Gettysburg Address. The Minnesota Monument in the National Cemetery was the very first monument dedicated at Gettysburg.

I hope this account will renew an interest in the Fighting First Minnesota. What these brave men did along with all veterans should never be forgotten. We owe them too much! What the First did at Gettysburg should forever be a part of Minnesota history and heritage. May their memory never die. And may we not forget what these men fought for; to preserve freedom for all men. And when we remember these brave men who gave the supreme sacrifice for the reasons they so clearly understood, may we think of the closing remarks made by Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address. The speech that remade America:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.





The materials from which I learned of and quoted from were:
“The Last Full Measure, the Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers” Richard Moe
“The First Minnesota Regiment at Gettysburg” Robert and William Haiber
“The Gettysburg Magazine” Robert W. Meinhard