First Minnesota Battery Light Artillery

ne of the best examples of Minnesota units serving in the West was the 1st Minnesota Light Artillery. Formed in the fall of 1861 the battery saw its first action at the bloody battle of Shiloh where they played an important part in the defense of the "Hornets' Nest". They saw more hard fighting at Corinth Mississippi and as part of the Army of the Tennessee they endured the long campaign to capture Vicksburg. Later the battery joined General Sherman's forces in the Atlanta Campaign and his famous "March to the Sea." The Minnesotans continued with Sherman's forces through the Carolinas to the final battle of the war at Bentonville North Carolina. They also participated in the Grand Review of the major Union armies in Washington D.C. following the war's end.