The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-03

the desperate battles 6of the ARMY of
the Potomac, for this Swas not a, mere
chance affair for the First Minnesota
1t was a. regiment with history before
it broke all records on the field of des-
tiny. Gov Ramsey, of Minnesota. was
In Washington when the dispatch came
on April Is, 1861, that Mai. Anderson
was to evacuate Fort Sumter the next
day, and he Immediately rendered 1000
men to uphold the flag. Lincoln ac-
cepted the offer before he wrote out
the call for $4,000 volunteers This was
wired to st. Paul, and during Sunday.
April IA, the city was thronged with
patriots anxious TO shoulder muskets in
Minnesota's first regiment One of
them who signed his papers that night
claims the honor of being the first to
volunteer for the civil war
The city had no uniforms to give
the men, but furnished them each a
blanket pair Of socks, and a red
flannel shirt. Those red flannel shirts
flashed out on the field around the
Henry house at Bull Run, where the
Minnesotans supported the batteries
of Ricketts, and Griffin when they were
trying to- hold the field in the face Of
Jackson's StoneWalF brigade. 1t is
fact that this regiment did not retreat
to Washington at the close of the bat
tie, but the men laid their bfvouacs
L
of the fight next day. ~,
In the charge on the. stone wall at
Fredericksburg the First Minnesota
stood fast when the regiments on its
right and left gave way. Gen. How
ard said to. its commander:
-" Colonel. your First Minnesota
doesn't run -. $50
Somewhat tartly,a the colonel re-
piled: Gen. Howard, the First Mime
sofa never runs % .....
This regiment was the only one
from Minnesota in the: battle here, and
fate seems to have selected her first
born, the child of the awful travail of
Fort Sumter days. baptized at Bull
Run, and glorified on all the interven-
ing battlefields of the Potomac, to be
immortalized at Gettysburg Many of
those wounded at Gettysburg, as also
some Of those who came out unscarred
that day, We're wounded in the later
battles. And after the term of the reg
iment had expired in 1864, a veteran
battalion of two companies was Or
ganized from the survivors. and it
served until Appomattox. The regi-
ment proper fought in thirteen battles,
and the little veteran battalion in six
which included more. than 200 days
passed under fire in the trenches at
Petersburg. All together the command
lost 584 men llsd and wounded
Now I have told you the simple
story of the First Minnesota, but must
leave it to others to coin phrases
worthy that wonderful feat at arms
1t was the gifted Edward Everett who
first said of the heroes of Gettysburg,
All time is the millennium of your
glory This was What Hancock said
ofait, Hancock, the prince of fighters,
and, like all fighters, not a man given
to CUFF:
-" L ordered those men in there be-
cause l saw that, 1 must gain five
minutes time. Reinforcements were
coming on the run, but knew that
before they could gea+Gh the tire tened,
peint the Cemfederates, uuIesS checked,
would seize the threatened position. 1
would have ordered that regiment in
II l had known that every man would
be killed, 1t had to be done, and I
was glad to find such gallant body
of men at hand willing to make the
terrible sacrifice that the occasion de-
manded' -.t-.
"The highest personal tribute I can
pay is this: l came out of the war
with the rank of field officer, a place
near the top of the list. but I would
gladly surrender that commission cou11
1 replace it among my laresi and pen
ates with an honorable discharge as
a. private in the First Minnesota vol
unteerS.