1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry

1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry

The First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment mustered for a three-year term (1861-1864) in the Union Army at the outset of the American Civil War when the prevailing enlistment period was three months. During offensive movements, it sustained high degrees of casualties at the Battles of First Bull Run (20%) and Antietam (28%) and a catastrophic degree of casualties (82%) at the Battle of Gettysburg. It is most noted for its service on the second day at Gettysburg.

At a pivotal moment and position during the 1863 conflict at Gettysburg, Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, Commander of the II Corps, ordered the First Minnesota to charge into a situation where it would be outmanned by odds of at least 5:1. The General's purpose was to buy minutes of delay with human lives, and one survivor spoke afterward that he expected the advance to result in "death or wounds to ." The Regiment fully and instantly executed the order, received at least 82% casualties among those making the attack, and contributed significantly to the preservation of a key Union defensive position on the heights of Cemetery Ridge.

When given the opportunity to speak about the Regiment after the war, both General Hancock and U.S. President Calvin Coolidge were unrestrained with praise. Hancock placed its heroism highest in the known annals of war and ascribed unsurpassed gallantry to the famed attack. Emphasizing the criticality of the circumstances on July 2 at Gettysburg, President Coolidge considered, "Colonel Colvill and those eight companies of the First Minnesota are entitled to rank as the saviors of their country."