The 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment was the very first group of volunteers the Union received in response to the South's assault of Fort Sumter at the beginning of the United States Civil War.
The 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment was at Antietam where the regiment suffered significant casualties but where the corps "fired with so much coolness and accuracy that they brought down [three times one] of the enemy's flags, and finally cut the flag-staff in two."
Later, at Gettysburg, the 1st Minnesota suffered an 82% casualty rate -- the highest loss by any surviving U.S military unit in a single day's engagement ever.
During Picket's Charge the battle colors of the 28th Virginia Infantry -- one of the first units raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army -- were seized. The Confederate flag was taken back to Minnesota as a war trophy and the state retained the flag to this day despite threats of law suits from Virginia confederates.
Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura put the issue of the flag's possession succinctly: "We won... We took it. That makes it OUR heritage."
Read "True Southern Pride and Real Southern Shame" from this blog.
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