[ Abraham Lincoln ] In your hands,
my dissatisfied fellow countrymen,
and not in mine, is the
momentous issue of civil war.
You can have no conflict
without being yourselves the aggressors.
[ James Wright ] After the attack on Sumter,
the only consistent attitude
of a loyal man was with
a rifle at his shoulder,
and the only logical argument:
a bullet.
[ Narrator ] Just weeks after President Lincoln's
first inaugural address
in which he tried to reassure the north
and reach out the southern states
who had seceded following his election,
Fort Sumter, a Federal fort in
the seceded state of South Carolina,
was shelled by the Confederacy
and surrendered on April 13th, 1861.
Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey,
who happened to be in the nation's
capital at this pivotal moment,
promptly called on
Secretary of War Simon Cameron.
Minnesota would have the distinction
of being the first state to
volunteer troops to the Union army.
[ Jayne Becker ] He went right away to see
Secretary Cameron: I'm here on behalf of
the State of Minnesota and I'm offering troops,
tendering a thousand troops.
That's when Cameron told him,
"Well, I'm on my way to see President Lincoln,
write it down."
[ Ramsey ] As the Executive of the
state of Minnesota,
I hereby tender to the Government
of the United States,
on the part of that state,
one thousand men,
to be ready for service
so soon as the necessary
information can be communicated
to the people there.
[ Jayne Becker ] So I think he understood that
he had to be in the right place at that
right time, capitalizing
on the fact he did happen
to be out there.
I think he really understood
what the next few weeks were
going to be, and we needed
to know what states could be
counted on and what troops
could already be counted on
going to that federal cause.
[ Narrator ] While events were unfolding
quickly in the nation's capital,
Minnesotans were called together
in communities across the young state.
[ Wayne Jorgenson ] The men from Faribault met
at the Metropolitan Hotel, all signed up,
and then headed to Fort Snelling.
And most seemed to be going by wagons.
In Stillwater they met at the armory.
They were hauled in lumber wagons
to Fort Snelling.
The people in Winona met at
the Sanborn Hall where they had their
militia practices.
They actually went by boat up river.
Because there were no railroads
in Minnesota at the start of the Civil War.
But they all met at Fort Snelling.
[ Jayne Becker ] They may not have come from
the very well-known states
like Pennsylvania and New York,
but this was going to be
their way of showing their
patriotism to the union.
[ Wayne Jorgenson ] Initially, they were called up
for just ninety days.
The men here who received
the word thought, "Well this
will be somewhat of an adventure.
We'll be home in time for the fall harvest.
We'll go show these
Southerners what's going on.
In about two weeks,
the government figured out that they were
going to need more than ninety days.
They asked the men to re-enlist
for a period of three years,
or the duration of the war.
[ Narrator ] Ramsey knew that Minnesota was
ill-equipped to fight.
[ Ramsey ] I ask whether you would feel
justified in saying that the
reasonable expenses that may be
involved will be furnished
by the General Government.
[ Narrator ] As men gathered at Fort Snelling
there were no arms or accoutrements.
In lieu of uniforms, the men were issued
red shirts and black pants.
[ Wayne Jorgenson ] They marched out the doors
of Fort Snelling and down to
the wharf underneath the bluff
of the fort, where they boarded
the War Eagle and the Northern Belle.
They went down to LaCrosse
and Prairie du Chien, there they
boarded trains and headed east.
[ STEAM WHISTLE ]
[ Narrator ] Residents of Chicago took note
of the impressive First Regiment
of Minnesota Volunteer Infantry.
The Chicago Tribune reported:
[ Reporter ] There are few regiments that can
compare in brawn and muscle
with these Minnesotians.
They are unquestionably the
finest body of troops that
has yet appeared in our streets.
[ Wayne Jorgenson ] Early on the lore of the men
from the First Minnesota begins with
this comment from the Chicago Tribune.
[ Wayne Jorgenson ] The war evolved from being
an adventure to being serious business
very quickly at the battle of Bull Run.
That was the battle where they
realized this is not going to be
a lark, this is going to take awhile.
I just saw a lot of my friends die.
The generals noticed that this
well drilled, uniformed group
from Minnesota did not run,
they held their ground until
ordered to retreat.
That began the reputation of
the First Minnesota with the
generals knowing that this was
a unit that they could count on.
Battle after battle the North was not the victor.
Antietam was a very wearing battle on everybody.
Then Gettysburg comes along in 1863
and the tide turns. The union is saved
at that battle and from then on
the union starts winning.
And that's where the First Minnesota
made their most famous charge of course.
The men really cohered as a unit.
They always stayed together,
they never lost faith,
and they always took care of each other.
[ Narrator ] 150 years later, Minnesotans,
courtesy of the National Archives and
Records Administration,
had the chance to read
Ramsey's letter for themselves.
[ Jayne Becker ] I think the letter really did
help put Minnesota on the map.
It showed that we were a state
willing to make sacrifices
and any battle that any of
the Minnesota Regiments took part in,
they definitely showed their valor.
[ Alexander Ramsey ] Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
Alexander Ramsey.
This page was last edited on 17 January 2021, at 07:01