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Health & Fitness

149 Years Ago Today: Courage That Should Never Be Forgotten

On this day in 1863, a group of 262 Minnesota volunteers changed the course of the Civil War – and paid a price that has never been matched.

A tattered flag displayed in the State Capitol rotunda always causes me to choke up a little when I give State Capitol tours.

On July 2, 1863, at the battle of Gettysburg, a battle that historians widely regard as the turning point of the Civil War, 262 Minnesotans—at least two dozen of whom were from our area—were called upon to plug a breach in the Union lines. 

Had the Confederate forces not been stopped from pouring through that breach, experts predict the Confederacy may well have won the Battle of Gettysburg, which would have changed the course of the war.

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With no other troops available and outnumbered five-to-one, the 262 soldiers of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment were called upon to charge 200 yards across an open field to plug the breach.

They didn’t hesitate.

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Facing near certain death, the Minnesota volunteers charged into the breach. Five times their flag fell. Five times it was picked up. 

All in all, the First Minnesota Regiment suffered 215 casualties in a matter of minutes. But they held the line just long enough for reinforcements to arrive, and for the turning point in the Civil War to swing in the Union’s favor. 

This is why I tell schoolkids and other visitors to the Capitol that the tattered flag of the First Minnesota is the piece of Minnesota history I most value.

To this day, the 83% casualty rate suffered by the First Minnesota stands as the largest loss by any surviving military unit in American history in a single engagement.

Please take a moment this week to think about and appreciate not only the volunteers of the First Minnesota but all those who have served and sacrificed.    

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