The guns at Fort Sumpter had barely fallen silent and Minnesota had entered the war.
News of the Confederate attack on the Union fortification in Charleston harbor came while Minnesota Gov. Alexander Ramsey was in Washington D.C.
He hastened to the War Department and on April 14, 1861, offered the services of 1,000 Minnesota volunteers in the Union cause, the first troops offered for President Lincoln’s army.
News of the war and the call for volunteers reached Winona, and a public meeting was called for the evening of April 19 at Huff’s Hotel on the corner of Third and Johnson streets.
The meeting became loud and enthusiastic, according to reports in the Winona Republican, eventually spilling out into the street as the crowd rallied to the Union cause.
In the first hour, 15 men signed up.
People are also reading…
In its next edition, the paper carried an advertisement for “all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 45 to enroll their names at the brick building near Huff’s hotel,” warning this should be done “without delay as the company is filling up.”
The company was simply known as the Winona Volunteers and elected Clerk of Court Henry Lester as its captain.
The company drilled daily at Sanborn Hall and the Republican noted “the ladies of our city are engaged in the manufacture of a banner for the men to take with them.”
On Sunday, April 28, about 2,000 people gathered at the levee to see the 78 volunteers off.
“To the beating of the drum, the brave young fellows who had volunteered to fight in their country’s defense steadily marched to board the steamer ... with waving of handkerchiefs, and farewell salutations and hearty cheers from the people on shore,” the Republican reported.
A cannon fired to salute the departing soldiers discharged accidentally and struck George Pauley in the face.
Apparently caught up in the enthusiasm of the event, the newspaper dismissed this incident with the comment that “Pauley seems to be a tall, sturdy youth and should recover satisfactorily.”
Ten companies were mustered April 29 at Fort Snelling.
The companies were organized alphabetically, and the Winona Volunteers became Company K, First Minnesota Regiment.
A contributor to the Daily Republican who identified himself only as an “Old Soldier” offered some tips to Winona County recruits, “Let your beard grow long and full, the Old Soldier urged, “because it will be the best protection your throat and lungs can have on cold, damp nights you’ll be spending on guard duty.”
He recommended as the best military hat a soft felt, “the crown being sufficiently high to allow space for air over the brain.”
In the first days of the war, the number of volunteers quickly overwhelmed government supplies.
The boys from Winona marched off in gray uniforms sewn by their wives, mothers and sweethearts.
Other men of the Minnesota regiment went to war wearing the bright red flannel shirts, black pants and black felt hat issued by the state.
Regulation Union blue uniforms wouldn’t catch up with them until August.
By the time the men of Company K were dressed like Union soldiers they had already learned to fight like them.
Assigned to the Army of the Potomac the Winona men pitched their tents outside Alexandria, Va, just outside Washington, D.C. on July 3.
The first trial by fire was only weeks away.
On July 21, the First Minnesota marched against a Confederate force at the rail crossing at Manassas, Va.
Early in afternoon the telegraph key in the offices of the Daily Republican chattered out “Bulls Run.”
The news dispatch identified Bulls Run as a tiny, winding river in eastern Virginia on whose banks Winona counted its first war dead.
It was impossible to determine just who was the first to fall: Sgt. Zuar Moore, Pvt. Fritz Grimm, Pvt. Henry Morton or Pvt. Edward Rowley.
The first reports received here had indicated that the battle resulted in a singular victory for the Union and that losses had been relatively light.
Bull Run was a disaster for the Union armies, even though the Minnesota volunteers acquitted themselves well, leaving 42 dead on the field.
Through engagement after engagement — Bull Run, Antietam, Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville — the rag-tag collection of Minnesota farm boys and store clerks was welded into a hardened, battle-tested infantry force, preparing it for the moment when it would meet its ultimate test.
It was late afternoon, July 2, 1863, the second day of battle near a small Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg.
Company K and the First Minnesota waited in reserve, watching the fierce fighting at the foot of the hill they occupied, a fight that slowly appeared to turn to the advantage of the attacking Confederates.
If the rebels were not checked and succeeded in gaining command of the high ground, the Union line could be broken and the battle lost.
Capt. Henry C. Coates, First Minnesota Infantry described what followed: “To check them, we were ordered to advance, which we did, moving at double quick down the slope of the hill, right upon the rebel line.
The fire we encountered here was terrible, and although we inflicted severe punishment upon the enemy and checked his advance, it was with the loss in killed and wounded of more than two-thirds of our men who were engaged.”
Capt. Periam of Company K was wounded fatally and eight enlisted men were killed.
“The enemy suffered terribly here, and is now retreating. Our loss of so many brave men is heartrending, and will carry mourning into all parts of the state. But they have fallen in a holy cause, and their memory will not soon perish,” Coates reported.
The remnants of the First Minnesota fought on through the summer, fall and into the winter of 1864.
On Feb. 4, word was sent that the officers and men would be returned to Minnesota and the regiment reorganized.
“At midnight the bells of our city rang a welcome to the gallant First,” the Winona Republican reported on February 17, 1864.
“The First Minnesota has not been forgotten in their own state and never will be. They are welcomed into the hearts of the people as no other body of men can be.”
