[FROM THE ARCHIVES] The First Minnesota at Gettysburg
SHOW DESCRIPTION
On July 2, 1863, at the pivotal climax of the Battle of Gettysburg, 262 men of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry stood on Cemetery Ridge facing a catastrophic Union line collapse. Ordered by General Winfield Scott Hancock into a near-suicidal countercharge against an advancing Confederate brigade outnumbering them ten to one, the regiment stepped into the gap to buy crucial minutes for reinforcements to arrive. In less than six minutes, 215 men fell—yielding an extraordinary 82% casualty rate, the highest single-engagement battle loss of any Union regiment in the Civil…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.