The 3rd Minnesota Light Artillery Battery was a Minnesota USV

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...

that served in the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and the American Indian Wars.

Service

The 3rd Minnesota Light Artillery Battery was mustered in at

Fort Snelling Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint Anth ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, between February 2 and May 1, 1863, and was made up of enlisted men of the 6th,

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

8th 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

9th 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

, and

10th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment The 10th Minnesota Infantry Regiment was a Minnesota USV infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 10th Minnesota Infantry Regiment was recruited into Federal service at Garden City, Winnebago ...

s. It participated in Sibley's Expedition against hostile Indians in Dakota Territory from June 16 until September 12, 1863. In this campaign the battery saw actions at Big Hills, Dakota Territory on July 24, at Dead Buffalo Lake, Dakota Territory on July 26, and at Stony Lake, Dakota Territory on July 28. It was then on the Missouri River from July 29–30. The 4th Section moved as escort to General Ramsey, U.S. Commissioner, from Sauk Centre to Fort Abercrombie to a treaty with Chippewa Indians at Red Lake River Crossing, then was stationed at Fort Ripley until May, 1864. The 2nd Section served at Pembina, Dakota Territory from October 1863, until May 1864. The 3rd Section stationed at Fort Ridgely until May 1864, and the 1st Section was at Fort Snelling until May 1864. The battery then participated in Brigadier General

Alfred Sully Alfred Sully (May 22, 1820 – April 27, 1879), was a military officer during the American Civil War and during the Indian Wars on the frontier. He was also a noted painter. Biography Sully was the son of the portrait painter, Thomas Sully, of ...

's Northwestern Indian Expedition against "hostile" Sioux west of the Missouri River between June 4 and November 10, 1864. The battalion marched to Fort Sully from June 4–15, 1864, and pursued Indians into the Badlands from July 19–28. It participated in the Battle of Tah Kah A Kuty or

Killdeer Mountain Killdeer Mountains is a mountain range in Dunn County, North Dakota, in the United States. The range's name comes from the Native Americans, who used the area as a hunting ground for deer. The range was the scene of the Battle of Killdeer Mountain ...

, Dakota Territory on July 28, 1864, and after that action it marched to Fort Rice, Dakota Territory from June 28 to July 7, 1864. The battery then made the passage of the Badlands in Dakota Territory from August 3–18. During this time, it fought in the engagement near the Little Missouri River at Two Hills, called the

Battle of the Badlands The Battle of the Badlands was fought in Dakota Territory, in what is now western North Dakota, between the United States army led by General Alfred Sully and the Lakota, Yanktonai, and the Dakota Indian tribes. The battle was fought August 7� ...

, Dakota Territory, on August 8–9, 1864. The unit also helped in the rescue of Fisk's Emigrant train from September 10–30, 1864, then marched down the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains an ...

in Montana Territory to Fort Union, Dakota Territory. The 1st Section was then stationed at Fort Ripley, the 3rd Section at Fort Sisseton, and the 2nd and 4th sections at

Fort Ridgely Fort Ridgely was a frontier United States Army outpost from 1851 to 1867, built 1853–1854 in Minnesota Territory. The Sioux called it Esa Tonka. It was located overlooking the Minnesota river southwest of Fairfax, Minnesota. Half of the ...

until May 1865. Then the 1st, 2nd, and 4th sections went on an expedition against hostile Indians in Dakota Territory from June to October 1865. The 1st Section was then moved to Fort Abercrombie, and the rest of Battery at Fort Wadsworth until February, 1866. The 3rd Minnesota Light Artillery Battery was finally mustered out at St. Paul,

, on February 27, 1866.

Commander

* Captain John Jones - February 25, 1863, to February 27, 1866

Casualties and total strength

The 3rd Minnesota Battery lost no men who were killed in action or who died of wounds received in battle, but did have 4 enlisted men who died of disease, for total fatalities of

References

* * {{cite book , last = Jones , first = Robert Huhn , title = The Civil War in the Northwest , publisher =

University of Oklahoma Press The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established i ...

, year = 1960

External links

The Civil War Archive Website

Minnesota Historical Society page on Minnesota and the Civil War

Service

Commander

Casualties and total strength

References

External links

See also