The Sacrifice of the 1st Minnesota Regiment

The 1^st Minnesota Regiment was organized at Fort Snelling, Minnesota on April 29 for three months service and on May 10^th, it was remustered for three years service. The regiment was the first state volunteer regiment formally accepted by the Federal government under Abraham Lincoln's call for troops in 1861.

The members came from every part of the state and from all walks of life. Peter Hall was Swedish-born lumberman, Newton Brown was young farm boy, and William Lochren was twenty-nine year old attorney, who became the regiment's official historian.[1] The Taylor brothers, Isaac and Henry, both teachers, Henry joining first, then followed by Isaac. For the most part the members of the 1^st Minnesota came from farming colonies, where they had to be tough, enduring great hardships, hard work, learning to be resourceful, qualities that would see them through the hard times of war.

The history of the 1^st Minnesota is one of heavy casualties while serving in the Eastern Theater. At the First Battle of Bull Run it had the heaviest losses of any Federal regiment at the battle. At Antietam the regiment was in the ill-famed assault on the West Woods, ending in a rout of the Union forces in that part of the field. The regiment is best known for what it accomplished at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2^nd and July 3^rd, 1863.

The 1^st Minnesota was part of the 1^st Brigade, 2^nd Division, 2^nd Corps, on the march to Gettysburg they had a new Brigade Commander, Brig Gen William Harrow. Some members of the Brigade was unhappy with their officers, on hearing that Maj Gen Meade had replaced Gen Hooker, Private Patrick Taylor of the 1^st Minnesota stated "It fell on us like a wet blanket"[2] The new Brigade Commander, William Harrow was highly disliked by his men. Major Henry Abbott of the 20^th Massachusetts wrote that Harrow was "an administration tool....a western col. promoted for a bloodless skirmish out west ostensibly, but really for cursing rebels, is here in command...to toadies the men & calls them boys."[3]

For the 1^st Minnesota, discontent arose when their Commander, Colonel William Colvill was placed under arrest when some of the members ignored Maj Gen Hancock's orders not to stop or waste time by taking off socks and shoes. Upon seeing some members of the 1^st skipping across on two fallen logs, Inspector Gen Colonel Charles Morgan immediately rode up to Col Colvill and placed him under arrest.

The Brigade marched thirty-three miles on June 29 that left the men numb and exhausted. They camped near Uniontown and rested on June 30^th, receiving pies, bread & cheese and from the citizens. Sergeant John Plummer of the 1^st Minnesota recalled that the citizens yelled "God Bless You! and "Good For You". "It seemed to put new life into all of us"[4]

On July 1^st the men marched and finally stopped for the night near Little Round Top at Gettysburg. They were ordered to build breastworks, but they were so tired that most of them just laid down and went to sleep. July 2^nd the brigade was positioned on Cemetery Ridge in columns, from west to east, 82^nd NY, 19^th Me, 15^th Mass and the 1^st Minn. This order would have placed the 1^st Minn in front of the Leister House by the Baltimore Pike. The men stacked arms and rested and waited for the storm to break.

After the 3^rd Corps advanced the 15^th Mass and 82^nd NY was ordered to support their right flank. They moved to an exposed position along the Emmitsburg Pike with the 82^nd NY left flank at the Codori House and the 15th Mass on their right. Col Colvill asked to be released from arrest so he could lead his men and it was granted, so after the 15^th and 82^nd regiments were deployed, Col Colvill received orders to move his regiment by the left flank along the crest of the ridge to help plug part of the line left open when Caldwell's Division moved to the Wheatfield.

Sometime between 6:15 and 6:30 General Ambrose Wright's Georgia Brigade slammed into the 15^th Mass and the 82^nd NY along Emmitsburg Pike. After holding their position for a short time they were forced to retreat and formed on the right of the 1^st Minnesota, behind the batteries on Cemetery Ridge.

At about this time, Humphreys' Division was being pushed back by the Confederate forces and Gen Hancock, Commander, 2^nd Corps was trying to find units to help hold back the attacking Confederates. He rode up to Col Colvill and looked at the 262 officers and enlisted men in the eight-company line and bellowed in disbelief "My God!, Are these all of the men we have here? What regiment is this?" First Minnesota" Colvill replied. Pointing toward Wilcox's line and a flag that led it, probably that of the Eleventh Alabama, Hancock shouted "Advance, Colonel, and take those colors"[5]

Col Colvill ordered the Minnesotans forward at the double-quick. Receiving heavy fire from Wilcox's men who were 150 yards away, they halted when they reached the stream bed. Firing almost point blank occurred there between the two opposing forces and many of the Minnesotans were killed and wounded along this stream bed. Col Colvill was wounded in the foot, and he ordered a hurried retreat back to the crest of the ridge.

Private Alfred Carpenter wrote of the attack, "Bullets whistled past us; shells screeched over us...no one took a second look at his fallen companion"[6] Sgt Plummer noted "the bullets were coming like hailstones, whittling our boys like grain before the sickle."[7]

This action lasted probably no more than fifteen minutes, out of the 262 officers and men that made the charge, 215 had fallen, 82 percent loss. Most of the men were wounded and would survive, but forty died. They did not capture the flag as ordered by Gen Hancock, but they did stop the advance of the enemy and gave Gen Hancock time to bring up more reinforcements. For this effort the 1^st Minnesota sustained the greatest percentage of loss of any Union regiment at Gettysburg, or during the war.[8]

The surviving members of the regiment took part the next day in the defense of Pickett's Charge where Corporal Henry D. O'Brien of Company E, won the Medal of Honor for taking the flag and leading the men forward towards the enemy. When Captain Messick was killed the regiment was without a commander, Sgt Plummer said "the absence of commanders made little difference to the outcome in this kind of fighting. Each man "fought on his own hook," and "acted as though he felt what was at stake in the contest, and did all in their power to drive the enemy, without regard to officers, or whether there was any or not"[9]

Private Marshall Sherman of Company would also receive the Medal of Honor for capturing the flag of the twenty-eight Virginia. The Minnesotans would be credited with capturing five hundred prisoners. For this action against Pickett's Division, they would have another 55 casualties, 23 of them killed or mortally wounded.

Talking about the 1^st Minnesota Regiment, General Hancock said "I had no alternative but to order the regiment in. We had no force on hand to meet the sudden emergency. Troops had been ordered up and were coming on the run, but I saw that in some way five minutes must be gained or we ere lost. It was fortunate that I found there so grand a body of men as the First Minnesota. I know they must lose heavily and it caused me pain 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 those men saved our line from being broken. No soldiers, on any field, in this or any other country, every displayed grander heroism."[10]

[1] The Last Full Measure - The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers by Richard Moe

[2] Brigades of Gettysburg by Bradley M. Gottfried

[3] Brigades of Gettysburg by Bradley M. Gottfried

[4] Brigades of Gettysburg by Bradley M. Gottfried

[5] Gettysburg - The Second Day by Harry W. Pfanz

[6] Brigades of Gettysburg by Bradley M. Gottfried

[7] Brigades of Gettysburg by Bradley M. Gottfried

[8] Gettysburg - The Second Day by Harry W. Pfanz

[9] The Last Full Measure - The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers

[10] The Last Full Measure - The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers