The Men From Minnesota

About 200 surviving members of the 1st Minnesota with family and friends converged on Gettysburg in 1897, for the dedication of their monuments on Hancock Ave.  The 1st Minnesota Monument is located near where the Regiment began their charge on 2 July 1863.

The 1st Minnesota was organized in April 1861 at Fort Snelling, MN.  Minnesota's Governor Alexander Ramsey having been in Washington, DC when Fort Sumter was fired upon, went to President Lincoln and is supposed to have been the first Governor to promise troops.  The first action these men from the west experienced was at First Manassas.

On 2 July the 1st Minnesota was posted as support of Thomas' Battery C, 4th US artillery, when Major General Winfield Hancock came looking for troops to plug a hole in the line, toward which the Confederates were advancing.  Hancock ordered them forward and the Minnesota men ran into the fight without firing a shot until they reached Plum Run.  The fight there only lasted about 15 minutes, but it bought the time needed to hold the Union line.  The unit had about 82% casualties in this fight, including their Colonel, William Colvill.

The fight wasn't over for the men from Minnesota.  What was left of the regiment was posted along the wall on 3 July, near their second monument.  Here they helped in the repulse of Pickett's Charge.  There were 17 more casualties here, including Captain Nathan Messick, who had taken over command of the Regiment after Colville's wounding.  The end of the fighting left 232 casualties within this small 330 man regiment, 50 of whom were killed

In 1887 the Minnesota State government voted to give $20,000 for a monument to place on the field at Gettysburg.  A commission was set up to locate a place on the field, and approve a design for the monument.  Three veterans of the Regiment, William Lochren, Christopher Heffelfinger, and Matthew Marvin picked a spot for their monument, and contracted Minneapolis sculpture Jacob Fjeld.  The final monument was placed on ground in 1893, it included a charging 9 ½ foot tall bronze soldier on top of a Barre, VT granite base.

In 1897 the State of Minnesota chartered a train to take the Veterans and their family and friends to Gettysburg for a dedication of the monument.  About 200 men took the trip.  Most of the dignitaries stayed the night of 1 Jul 1897 in the Eagle Hotel on Washington Street.  The dedication was held the next day.  As a special guest, Tillie Pierce was introduced.  Her family had taken care of William Colvill after his wounding on 2 July 1863.