The 9th Minnesota Infantry Regiment was a

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

USV

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

that served in the Union Army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Alexander Wilkin

Service

The 9th Minnesota Infantry Regiment was organized into service at Camp Release, Hutchinson, Glencoe,

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 th ...

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 An ...

and St. Peter, Minnesota, between August 15 and October 31, 1862.9th Regiment, Minnesota Infantry, The Civil War - Battle Unit Details, Union Minnesota Volunteers, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior websit

/ref> The companies were individually mustered into Federal service at Camp Release in October. * A Co. Joined the 6th Minnesota on August 25 to relieve besieged Fort Ridgely. A Company saw action against the Sioux at the

Battle of Birch Coulee The Battle of Birch Coulee occurred on September 2–3, 1862, and resulted in the heaviest casualties suffered by U.S. forces during the Dakota War of 1862. The battle occurred after a group of Dakota people, Dakota warriors followed a U.S. buri ...

and the

Battle of Wood Lake The Battle of Wood Lake occurred on September 23, 1862, and was the final battle in the Dakota War of 1862. The two-hour battle, which actually took place at nearby Lone Tree Lake, was a decisive victory for the U.S. forces led by Colonel Henry H ...

. They mustered into Federal service on October 2. They saw action again at the Big Mound, Buffalo Lake and the

Battle of Stony Lake The Battle of Stony Lake was the third and last engagement of Henry Hastings Sibley's 1863 campaign against the Sioux, Santee, Sioux, Yankton, Sioux, Yanktonai and Lakota people, Teton Sioux in Dakota Territory. Following the battle, the Ind ...

. * B Co. saw action at Glencoe on 3 September and defended Hutchinson 3–4 September 1862. * C Co. joined Sibley's forces at New Ulm and saw action at Wood Lake. Mustered into Federal service on 5 October. * D, E, and H companies were the guard at the hangings of the 38 Sioux in

Mankato Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The population was 44,488 at the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Mi ...

. * F Co. was organized at Fort Snelling and posted to

for a year. Was mustered in Federal service in September 1862. * G Co. was organized at St. Cloud and posted north at

Fort Abercrombie Fort Abercrombie, in North Dakota, was a United States Army fort established by authority of an Act of Congress, March 3, 1857. The act allocated twenty-five square miles of land on the Red River of the North in Dakota Territory to be used for ...

for a year. The company was composed of roughly equal numbers of German-speaking immigrants from

Stearns County Stearns County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,292. Its county seat and largest city is St. Cloud. Included within the Minnesota Territory since 1849, the county was founded by Europe ...

and

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

and

French Canadians French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the provi ...

from the multi-ethnic

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

community of Crow Wing. * I Co. was at Glencoe, St. Peter, and Fort Ridgely until 1863. Mustered in Federal service on 12 October. * K Co. was organized at Fort Snelling and posted to South Bend outside Mankato and then to New Ulm and Madelia. In September 1863 the regiment was reorganized as a unit and sent south to St. Louis Missouri, where it was posted to the Department of Missouri. May 1864 the 9th Minnesota was attached to the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 16th Army Corps, Dept. of the Tennessee, to December 1864. At that time they were made part of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division (Detachment), Army of the Tennessee, Dept. of the Cumberland. From February, until August 1865. the regiment was part of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 16th Army Corps (New), Military Division West Mississippi. In August the regiment was sent back to St. Paul for discharge.

Casualties

The 9th Minnesota Infantry suffered 6 officers and 41 enlisted men killed in action or who later died of their wounds, plus another 3 officers and 224 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 274 fatalities. List of 9th Minn. dead at Andersonville Prison.Record of the Deaths of the 9th Regiment Minnesota , The Saint Paul Press, Jan. 7, 1865, Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub, MNHS 202
Colonels

*Colonel Alexander Wilkin
– August 24, 1862, to July 14, 1864. *Colonel Josiah F. Marsh – July 27, 1864, to August 19, 1865.

References

* {{Cite book ">editor1-first=C. C. , editor1-last=Andrews , editor1-link=Christopher Columbus Andrews , publisher = Printed for the state by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Pioneer Press Co , location = St. Paul, Minn , title = Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars 1861-1865 , date = 1891 , ol=7088819M

External links

The Civil War Archive

Minnesota Historical Society page on Minnesota and the Civil War

MNopedia article about the 9th Minnesota

Service

Casualties

References

External links

Notes

See also