7th Minnesota Infantry Regiment

{{Infobox military unit

| unit_name = 7th Minnesota Infantry Regiment

| image = 7th Minnesota Infantry Regiment Battle Flag.jpg

| caption = 7th Minnesota Infantry Regiment Battle Flag

| dates = August 16, 1862, to August 16, 1865

| country = United States

| allegiance = Union

| branch = United States Army

| type = Infantry

| equipment =

| battles = American Civil War

| notable_commanders = Stephen Miller
William R. Marshall

}}

The 7th Minnesota Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the Union Army that served in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.

Service

File:Harper's Weekly, Sept 12, 1863.jpg

The 7th Minnesota Infantry Regiment was mustered into Federal service at Camp Release, Fort Snelling, and St. Peter, Minnesota, between August 16 and October 30, 1862. In August Companies A, B, F, G, and H marched to relieve the embattled Fort Ridgely.7th Regiment Minnesota Infantry, Battle Unit Details, Union Minnesota Volunteers, National Park Service, Department of the Interior [https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UMN0007RI] They would see action at the Battle of Birch Coulee and at the Battle of Wood Lake in September. Following the surrender of the Sioux, the Seventh spent the winter in Minnesota. The next summer, they accompanied Colonel Henry Sibley against the native peoples in Dakota Territory. They fought in the Battle of Big Mound in July, 1863. They returned to Minnesota to be sent south to St Louis in October for the winter. Once spring arrived, the regiment moved east to Paducah, Kentucky. From there, it headed south into Tennessee and by the end of June were in northern Mississippi. In July, they fought Confederate forces in the Battle of Tupelo. They pursued Sterling Price but did not engage his troops. They arrived in Nashville that winter and contributed to the Union victory at the Battle of Nashville. After the battle, they moved further south into Alabama for the Battle of Spanish Fort, one of the last battles on the Western theater. The war ended and by July the Seventh was heading north for home. The Regiment was mustered out in St. Paul, Minnesota, on August 16, 1865.[http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unmninf2.htm#6thinf Civil War Archive]

File:MHS 7th Minnesota.jpg

Casualties

File:Veterans of the Seventh Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Which Fought in the Dakota War of 1862, and later the Civil War - DPLA - 205fa23d4a15d349709da6d4034f43ac.jpg

The 7th Minnesota Infantry suffered 2 officers and 31 enlisted men killed in action or who later died of their wounds, plus another 138 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 171 fatalities.[http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unmninf2.htm#7thinf Civil War Archive]

Colonels

Both of the 7th regiment's commanders were later elected governor of Minnesota:

Colonel Stephen Miller – August 24, 1862, to November 6, 1863.
File:7th Minnesota Infantry Regiment National Flag.jpg.]]Colonel William Rainey Marshall – November 6, 1863, to August 16, 1865.

References

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

External links

[http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unmninf1.htm The Civil War Archive]
[http://sites.mnhs.org/civil-war/ Minnesota Historical Society page on Minnesota and the Civil War]