The Story of The First Minnesota

The First Minnesota played a pivotal role in the Battle of Gettysburg. Its heroic charge on the 2nd day saved the Union's artillery batteries on Little Round Top and Cemetery Ridge. But the successful charge brought with it a tremendous loss of life. Over 80% of the regiment was lost during this legendary engagement.

The Battle of Gettysburg
The Situation
Crisis on the 2nd Day
The Order
The Charge
The Aftermath

The Battle of Gettysburg
On July 2nd, 1863 almost 160,000 men faced each other in what would later be called the "turning point" of the Civil War. However, on that day the outcome of that battle, and the war, was far from certain.

Lee had led his army into Union territory for only the second time of the war. Only Mead's army lay between him and Washington D.C. If the capital fell, the North might be forced to sue for peace and end the war on terms favorable to the South. Conversely, despite its early success in the Eastern Campaign, the war was slowly slipping away from the South. Grant was having success against them in the West, and Lincoln had virtually eliminated the possibility that the European powers would intervene on the South's behalf with his Emancipation Proclamation. The South could not last forever against the North's superior industrial base. They desperately needed a victory. Simply put, the fate of the nation rested on the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg.

The Situation
It was July 2nd, 1863, the second day of the engagement. The Union side had been blessed with excellent defensive terrain. Their artillery on Little Round Top and Cemetery Ridge overlooked the Union line. With such a battery position, any Rebel assault was virtually doomed to fail.

General Lee understood the importance of this high ground, and called upon General Longstreet to capture those positions. If the Rebels succeeded, the Union army would be forced from the field. The outcome of the battle rested heavily upon whether or not Longstreet could be stopped.

Crisis on the 2nd Day
Little Round Top was on the extreme left flank of the Union lines. It was guarded by Sickle's 3rd Corps. To his right was the 2nd Corps, which included the 15th Massachusetts, 19th Maine, 82nd New York, and 1st Minnesota. Early in the afternoon, Sickles moved his troops forward into a peach orchard and wheat field. There they fell right into the teeth of Longstreet's offensive. It appeared that Sickles' Corps might yield.

"To support Maj. Gen. Dan Sickles' hard-pressed Third Corps, Brig. Gen. John C. Caldwell's division of the Second Corps was moved to the left, leaving a large gap in the center of the Union line. About 5:00 p.m., parts of Hall's and Harrow's brigades were shifted to the left to fill that gap. The First Minnesota was shifted to the left about six hundred yards in support of Evan Thomas' Company C. Fourth United States Artillery on Cemetery Ridge. From this position, the Minnesotans had a grandstand seat from which to observe some of the war's most savage and bloody fighting, although at times the smoke of battle obscured their view... When at times the smoke lifted enough to see, the First watched with increasing anxiety as the Union left crumbled under the sledgehammer blows of Longstreet's Corps. They witnessed the disasters taking place before them, and their apprehension increased rapidly as they saw Sickles' Third Corps fallback, slowly at first, then in some disorder. The men felt a foreboding of disasters to come. The First Minnesota now occupied the former position of Caldwell's division. The 262 Minnesotans were hardly an adequate replacement... It was a very thin line, and the batteries on Cemetery Ridge were in grave danger." (M1,p.80)

The Order
With the retreat of Sickles' Third Corps, the Union left was close to breaking. The Southerners were steadily advancing on the precious Union artillery positions. Alfred Carpenter witnessed the events firsthand..."The Rebs came in two splendid lines, firing as they advanced, capturing one of our batteries, which they turned against us, and gained the cover of the ravine. The plain was strewed with dead and dying men. The Rebs had advanced their batteries and were hurling death and destruction into the ranks of our retreating men. They were nearing the hill, which if gained, the day was lost to us." (C1)

It was clear that something had to be done. "...General Hancock, commander of that portion of the battlefield, quickly studied the situation and determined that this Southern rush must be halted, regardless of the hazard. With only a single aid he rode desperately toward the station of the First Minnesota. Reserves had been sent for, they were known to be coming, but the delay might be fatal. If only the approaching troops could be delayed for five minutes, the impending catastrophe could be averted. Hancock galloped madly up to Colonel Colvill and demanded to be told the name of the latter's regiment; on being told it was the First Minnesota he immediately gave the order to 'Charge those lines' and at the same time pointed to the oncoming Confederates." (P1,p.71)

"Colvill, and every member of the First realized what they were being asked to do - sacrifice themselves to gain the few minutes Hancock and the Union army so desperately needed. Without hesitation, the Minnesotans responded quickly to Colvill's orders, and, in a moment, the regiment was moving down the gentle slope on the double. The eight companies of 262 men present formed a front of not much more than a hundred yards, as they headed towards the Confederate brigade of more than a thousand men."(M1, p.80)

The Charge
The First Minnesota was engaging a force over four times its size. Alfred Carpenter described the advance... "We advanced down the slope till we neared the ravine, and 'Charge' rung along the line, and with a rush and a yell we went. Bullets whistled past us; shells screeched over us; canister and grape fell about us; comrade after comrade dropped from the ranks; but on the line went. No one took a second look at his fallen companion. 'We had no time to weep.'" (C1)

Henry Coates also described the charge... "It seemed as if every step was over some fallen comrade. Yet no man wavers, every gap is closed up... bringing down their bayonets, the boys press forward in unbroken line. Men stumbled and fell. Some stayed down but others got up and continued." (M1, p.82)

"When the Confederates were only about thirty yards away, Colvill ordered his men to fire a volley into their faces, causing much confusion. Wilcox's second line returned the fire through the remnants of their own first line, and, according to Colvill, 'felling more of their own men then ours.' Colvill shouted, 'Charge,' and with a wild yell and leveled bayonets, the First sprang forward, smashing head-on into the somewhat disorganized first line of Wilcox, which recoiled in the confusion back into his second line; both fell back across the dry run and a distance up the far slope...Quickly, the men of the First took whatever shelter they could find behind rocks and the shallow banks of the creek bed, as they began the struggle to win those precious five minutes of time Hancock and the Union army needed. Seemingly confused by the audacious and savage attack upon him, Wilcox's Alabamians kept their distance from the First, but poured a continuous and heavy fire into the ranks of the Minnesotans. Casualties were extremely heavy. The Confederate fire tore into the first from three directions, as Wilcox's much larger force began to wrap itself around the position of the First. All field officers were casualties. Colonel Colvill was severely wounded with one ball through his shoulder and another that smashed his foot. Lt. Col. John Adams was hit six times; Maj. Mark Downie was severely wounded twice in his arm; Capt. Louis Muller Company E. Lt. Waldo Farr, Company I, and Capt. Joseph Periam, Company K, were mortally wounded. Sgt. E. P. Perkins and two other color-bearers went down." (M1, p.82)

"Receiving fire from the front and both flanks, the First could not hold its position much longer, but the attack gained the precious five minutes of time, and a bonus, that the Army of the Potomac needed. Fifteen minutes or more went by - an eternity to the men in the smoky glen. The Confederates poured a murderous fire into the regiment. Meanwhile, Hancock succeeded in rallying some of the Humphrey's division, which re-entered the fight." (M1, p.82)

At last the reserves reached the First Minnesota, and the danger was ended. But at what cost...

The Aftermath
Alfred Carpenter described the aftermath... "The ground was strewed with dead and dying, whose groans and prayers and cries for help and water rent the air. The sun had gone down and in the darkness we hurried, stumbled over the field in search of our fallen companions, and when the living were cared for, laid ourselves down on the ground to gain a little rest, for the morrow bid for more stern and bloody work, the living sleeping side by side with the dead." (C1)

"Hancock got his five minutes, and at least ten minutes more, but at a terrible cost to the First Minnesota. Only about 50 men rallied around the colors on Cemetery Ridge. All the rest were killed, wounded, or missing at this time. Hancock declared, 'I can not speak too highly of this regiment and its commander in its attack as well as its subsequent advance against the enemy, in which it lost three-fourths of the officers and men engaged.' Later he told Senator Morton W. Wilkinson of Minnesota: 'I had no alternative but to order the regiment in... I saw that in someway five minutes must be gained or we were lost. It was fortunate that I found such a grand body of men as the 1st Minnesota. I knew 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 these men saved our line from being broken.'" (M1,p.83)

Of the 262 men of the First Minnesota, only 47 remained unscathed. Eighty-two percent of the regiment was dead or injured. These were the highest battle casualties suffered by any Union regiment during the War. But the sacrifice had been worth it. The Union left had held. The following day, Pickett would lead an ill fated charge against the Union lines. But with the Northern artillery positions still in place, Pickett's Charge would be doomed to fail. The Union would win the Battle of Gettysburg, and eventually the war...

Read Hannford Lennox Gordon's poem about the Charge of the First Minnesota, or
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