Download War for the West: Minnesota regiments in the Civil War

War for the West: Minnesota regiments in the Civil War
Video Podcast Transcript
Minnesota Historical Society
I’m Brian Pease, Site Manager at the Minnesota State Capitol Historic
Site. Minnesota sent a total of 22 units – that included infantry
regiments, sharpshooters, artillery and cavalry –about 24,000 men in
total to fight in the Civil War. Some units were in the thick of the fight
at Shiloh, Gettysburg, Missionary Ridge and Nashville, while others had
relatively uneventful – yet vital – duty guarding railroads in Kentucky
and Tennessee.
Throughout the Capitol building, the soldiers and their efforts are
commemorated through dramatic paintings, larger-than-life statues and
the display of battle flags used in the war.
In this episode, we look at three military units whose collective
experience typifies Minnesotans’ contributions and sacrifices made in
the country’s darkest hour.
The Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry was organized in July 1861,
and sent to Louisville, Kentucky, that October. While there the regiment
received this national battle flag as a gift from the Loyal Ladies of
Louisville, one of that border state’s pro-Union groups. The flag is
proudly marked for the January 1862 Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky,
where combat was so close that the men of the Second Mn. were
“poking their guns through the same fence” as the Confederate forces.
The Union triumphed that day, and Mill Springs was the first significant
Northern victory of the war.
In the stinging defeat of the Union army at Chickamauga in the fall of
1863, the Second Minnesota was one of the last units to leave the field
of battle. After that loss, the Union army retreated into Chattanooga,
Tennessee and was surrounded and being starved out by the
Confederate army. In the attempt to break out of this precarious
situation, the Second Minnesota participated in one of the most
memorable events of the war on November 25, 1863 at the Battle of
Missionary Ridge. Together with 60 other regiments, the Second
Minnesota made a successful assault on the Confederate rifle pits at the
base of the ridge. Having either misunderstood orders, or simply been
caught up in the moment, the Union regiments continued past the first
line and charged all the way to the top of the ridge and overwhelmed
the defending Confederates. This unexpected and daring event also
came at some cost. During this scramble to the top, the Second
Minnesota had six of its seven color bearers killed or wounded.
After Missionary Ridge, the Second Minnesota finished out the war as a
part of Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” and took part in the Union Army’s
post-war grand review in Washington. The regiment was discharged at
Fort Snelling on July 20, 1865.
The Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry was organized at Fort Snelling
in August 1862. Rather than heading south, the regiment first went to
central and western Minnesota to garrison outposts during the U.S. Dakota War. The unit then moved around the Civil War’s Western
Theatre, stationed variously at St. Louis, Kansas City and Memphis. At
the Battle of Guntown, also known as Brice’s Crossroads, in June 1864,
it covered the retreat of the shattered Union army but 200 of its
exhausted soldiers were captured. They were sent to prisoner-of-war
camps, including Andersonville Prison. Nearly half of those men never
returned back to Minnesota. In July 1864, at the Battle of Tupelo,
Mississippi, the regiment lost its colonel, Alexander Wilkin. He was the
highest ranking officer from Minnesota to die during the Civil War. On
December 15 and 16, 1864, the Ninth along with three other Minnesota
regiments, took part in the Battle of Nashville. During its charge at Shy’s
Hill, the regiment was one of the first to reach and plant its colors in the
Confederate defenses, a remarkable feat after advancing 400 yards
through a muddy cornfield and under fire the entire time. It was the
last major engagement in the West and a decisive Union victory, and
effectively destroyed Confederate forces in Tennessee.
The Ninth Minnesota spent the war’s closing days participating in sieges
of Confederate fortifications on Mobile Bay, Alabama. The regiment was
discharged at Fort Snelling on August 24, 1865.
Minnesota’s First Battery Light Artillery was organized in November
1861. The unit went to Tennessee and faced its first test in the Battle of
Shiloh on April 6 and 7, 1862. On the sixth, the First Battery held a
position in the Hornet’s Nest – scene of the most intense fighting on the
Union line. The men held their position for seven long hours before the
Confederates finally pushed through. Federal reinforcements arrived
overnight, and the next day the Union prevailed.
The First Battery went on to see action in the October 3 and 4, 1862,
Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, where the Union triumphed at this crucial
railroad junction. The unit later fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi,
Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, and took part in Sherman’s “March to the
Sea” through Georgia and the Carolinas.
In keeping with military protocol, the First Battery’s unit flag is a vivid
red, and displays the crossed cannons symbolic of the artillery. In
addition to the unit’s various battle honors, the blue arrow represents
the emblem of the 17th Army Corps. The First Battery Light Artillery was
discharged at Fort Snelling on June 30, 1865.
Whether in heated combat or guarding essential supply lines,
Minnesotans played important roles on all fronts of the Civil War. One
hundred and fifty years later, we continue to honor their sacrifices.