The Supreme Sacrifice Made by the First Minnesota at the Battle of Gettysburg

The First Minnesota fought in the Battle of the First Manassas (First Bull Run) and 1 officer and 40 enlisted men were killed in action (KIA) or died of wounds (DOW) suffered that day.  The regiment during the Battle of Seven Pines (Battle of Fair Oaks) from May 31 to June 1, 1862, lost three men killed while on picket duty at Fair Oaks, Virginia.

The next major battle for the First Minnesota was the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, along Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland.  The First Minnesota suffered the loss of one officer and 13 enlisted men killed in action or died of wounds.

The First Minnesota played a pivotal role on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg July 1-13, 1863. The Union line was in danger of a breakthrough, and the First Minnesota was ordered to charge a larger Confederate force to buy time for the arrival of reinforcements. The First Minnesota badly outnumbered valiantly charged and suffered significant casualties, but they stopped the attack, reinforcements arrived and the Union position on Cemetery Ridge was saved.

First Minnesota Monument

The main monument to commemorate the heroic 1st Minnesota stands on Cemetery Ridge at the place the regiment began its charge on July 2. The monument was dedicated on July 2, 1897.

Inscribed on the front of the main monument:

First Regiment
Minnesota Vol’s
1st Brigade 2nd Div 2nd Corps
April 29 1861 – May 4 1864
Bull Run, Balls Bluff, Berryville, Yorktown, West Point, Hanover Court House, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Glendale, Malvern Hill, 2nd Malvern Hill, Vienna, South Mountain, Antietam, Charlestown, Ashby’s Gap, Fredericksburg, Marye’s Heights, Haymarket, Gettysburg, Auburn, Bristow Station, Mine Run and numerous skirmishes.

Erected by The State of Minnesota a.d. 1893

Inscribed on the bronze plaque on the right side of the memorial

On the afternoon of July 2, 1863 Sickles Third Corps having advanced from this line to the Emmitsburg road eight companies of the First Minnesota regiment numbering 262 men were sent to this place to support a battery. Upon Sickles’ repulse as his men were passing here in confused retreat two Confederate brigades in pursuit were crossing the swale. To gain time to bring up the reserves and save this position General Hancock in person ordered the eight companies to charge the rapidly advancing enemy.

The order was instantly repeated by Col. Wm. Colvill and the charge instantly made down the slope at full speed through the concentrate fire of the two brigades breaking with the bayonet the enemy’s front line as it was crossing the small brook in the low ground. There the remnant of the eight companies nearly surrounded by the enemy held its entire force at bay for a considerable time and till it retired on the approach of the reserve. The charge successfully accomplished its object. It saved the position and probably the battlefield.

The loss of the eight companies in the charge was 215 killed and wounded, more than 85 percent. 47 men were still in line and no missing. In self-sacrificing desperate valor this charge has no parallel in any war. The next day the regiment participated in repelling Pickett’s charge losing 17 more men killed and wounded.

First Minnesota Soldiers Who Made the Supreme Sacrifice

Eighty men were killed in action (KIA) or died of wounds (DOW) during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Company A from Saint Paul: Sergeant Henry C. Wright, KIA; Corporal Timothy Crawley, DOW; Corporal Julius Edler, KIA; Corporal James N. Keyes, KIA; Corporal Peter Marks, DOW; Private Clark Brandt, DOW; Private Frederick Glave, DOW; Private John Hauser, KIA; Private Charles C. Loomis, KIA; Private William F. Miller, KIA; Private Henry Nickell, KIA; Private Joseph Schumaker, KIA; Private Hans M. Simonson, DOW; Private Warren Wagner, KIA; Private John G. Wilson, KIA.

Company B from Stillwater: Sergeant Samuel B. Nickerson, KIA; Private William F. Bates, KIA; Private Charles H. Gove, DOW; Private Augustus Koenig, KIA; Private Andrew P. Quist, KIA; Private Ole Thompson, DOW.  

Company C from Saint Paul: Captain Wilson Bernard Farrell, KIA; First Sergeant Heny H. Howard, DOW; Corporal Aaron Greenwald, DOW; Private John Ellsworth, DOW; Private Wade Lufkin, KIA.

Company D from Minneapolis: First Lieutenant Charles H. Mason, DOW; Corporal George Grandy, DOW; Private William Russell Allen, DOW; Private Charles C. Baker, KIA; Private Alonzo C. Hayden, KIA; Private Joseph H. Prime, KIA; Private Irving Lawrence, DOW; Private Marcus A. Past, DOW; Private Frank Rollins, DOW.

Company E from Saint Anthony: Captain Louis Muller, KIA; First Lieutenant David B. Demarest, DOW; First Sergeant Joseph G. Trevor, KIA; Corporal John McKenzie, DOW; Corporal Peter Welin, DOW; Private John W. Davis, KIA; Private Norman Fowler, KIA; Private Israel Jackins, KIA; Private Isaac L. Taylor, KIA. 

Company F from Red Wing: First Sergeant Philip Hamlin, KIA; and Corporal Leonard J. Squire, DOW.  

Company G from Faribault: Captain Nathan Messick, KIA; Corporal Phineas L., Dunham, KIA; Corporal George P. Sawyer, KIA; Corporal John E. Strothman, KIA; Private Anthony W. Ernst, DOW; Private Jerome B. Farnsworth, DOW; Private John McKinstry, DOW; and Private Joseph V. Sisler, KIA.

Company H from Hastings: First Sergeant James Ackers, KIA; Sergeant Frederick Diehr, DOW; Sergeant William Henry Wikoff, KIA; Corporal John H. Essencey, KIA; Corporal Peter Marks, DOW; and Private Frederick W. Raymond, DOW.

Company I from Wabasha: First Lieutenant Waldo Farrar, KIA; Sergeant William J. Roe, DOW; Sergeant Oscar Woodard, KIA; Corporal William N. Peck, DOW; Wagoner Byron Welch, KIA; Private Philander C. Ellis, KIA; Private Jacob F. Freeze, DOW; Private Joseph Frey, KIA; Private Edward P. Hale, DOW; Private Edwin Paul, DOW; Private William F. Wellman, DOW.

Company K from Winona: Captain Joseph Periam, DOW; Corporal Randolph Wright, KIA; Corporal Leslie P. Gore, KIA; Private Israel Durr, DOW; Private Jacob Geisreiter, KIA; Private Augustus H. Smith, KIA; Private David Taylor, KIA; Peter Vosz DOW; Private Henry C. Winters, KIA.