1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery Regiment

The 1st Minnesota Volunteer Heavy Artillery Regiment was a regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Service

The 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery mustered in at St. Paul, and Rochester, Minnesota, between November 1864 and February 1865. Many of the officers were recruited from discharged veteran sergeants of the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment and corporals from the 3rd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, 4th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and 5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment. It was composed of twelve companies, each containing 140 men, with officers.

The regiment was assigned to the garrison of Chattanooga, Tennessee where it was in charge of the heavy guns and forts because it was feared General John Hood might try and retake the city. The regiment, which saw no combat action, remained there until the close of the war. The 1st Minnesota "Heavies" were mustered out of service on September 27, 1865.

Albert Woolson, who was a 14-year-old company drummer in the regiment, became the last surviving veteran of the American Civil War from either side. He died in 1956.

Battles and campaigns

• None

Commanding officers

• Lt. Colonel Luther L. Baxter, February 25, 1865 to April 26, 1865.
• Colonel William Colvill, April 26, 1865 to May 6, 1865.
• Colonel Luther L. Baxter, May 7, 1865 to September 27, 1865.

Casualties and total strength

87 enlisted men died of disease. Total fatalities were 87.

References

• Andrews, C. C., ed. (1891). Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars 1861–1865. St. Paul, Minn: Printed for the state by the Pioneer Press Co. 
• The Union Army; A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States, 1861–65, Vol 4. Federal Publishing Co. 1908. 

External links

• The Civil War Archive
• Minnesota Historical Society page on Minnesota and the Civil War

See also

• List of Minnesota Civil War Units