1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment

1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The Regimental Banner of the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment consists of one layer of blue silk with a gold fringe border and the unofficial Minnesota state seal painted in the center with the Minnesota State Motto over it in gold pigment. Beneath the seal is a painted red ribbon reading "FIRST MINNESOTA VOLUNTEERS." Two gold shields list the battles fought by the 1st Minnesota before April of 1863. The Regimental Banner should not be confused with the Regiment’s Battle Flag, which was the U.S. flag with the letters "M" and "N" sewn in gold fabric across the stripes. It should also not be confused with the Flag of Minnesota which did not have its first version adopted until 1883 and was later revised on three other occasions.
ActiveApril 29, 1861, to April 2, 1864 (July 15, 1865 as 1st Minnesota Infantry Battalion)
Country United States
AllegianceUnion
BranchInfantry
EquipmentM1861 Springfield .58 Rifle-musket
M1842 Springfield .69 Smoothbore
M1842 Springfield .69 Rifle-musket
M1855 Springfield .58 Rifle-musket
Sharps Rifle (Company L only)
EngagementsAmerican Civil War
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Colonel Willis A. Gorman
Colonel Napoleon J.T. Dana
Colonel Alfred Sully
Colonel George N. Morgan
Colonel William J. Colvill
Image of Colonel Colvill when he was still a Captain.

The 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment was a Union infantry regiment active during the American Civil War. The 1st Minnesota participated in the battles of First Bull Run, Antietam and the Battle of Gettysburg.[1] The regiment's most famous action occurred on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg when Major General Winfield Scott Hancock ordered the 1st Minnesota to charge into a brigade of 1200 Confederate soldiers. This action blunted the Confederate attack and helped preserve the Union's precarious position on Cemetery Ridge.

  1. ^ Moe, Richard (1993). The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-087351406-4.