This year marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, a conflict that divided the nation and claimed over 600,000 lives. After years of hostility over states' rights and the spread of slavery, Abraham Lincoln's election was the last straw for disgruntled Southern states. South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860. Ten other states soon followed to form the Confederate States of America. On April 12, 1861, shots were fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, and the two nations, which only a few months before had been one, were officially at war.
Pine County was still young and wild when the Civil War began. Organized in 1856, two years before Minnesota became a state, Pine County boasted a population of 91, according to the 1860 federal census, and all of these people lived in or near the county seat of Chengwatana. Chengwatana, located at the outlet of Cross Lake, began as the site of a logging dam built by Elam Greeley in 1849-1850. After several failed attempts to build a village, the Robertson Company, a group of land speculators led by Daniel A. Robertson, purchased the site in 1856 and sent its agent, Herman Trott, to take over efforts to settle the area. Trott tried his best. He platted a town, carved out streets, founded a general store, and improved the few meager buildings already present, including a sawmill, blacksmith shop, carpenter shop, stable, and “hotel.” He also applied to the Minnesota territorial legislature to organize Pine County. The project was plagued with difficulties from its inception; buildings burned, the bridge over the Snake River collapsed, a national financial panic dramatically decreased land values, and several residents moved away. In 1860, after the blacksmith shop had burned to the ground, Trott wrote to his employer, “It seems...this place is doomed. We only have a distant hope for the future.” (1)
Chengwatana's troubles did not prevent its citizens from getting caught up in the patriotic rhetoric that accompanied the outbreak of the Civil War. “Save the Union!” was the cry sounded throughout the Northern states. One resident of Chengwatana, Emil Munch, decided to actively answer that call. Emil Munch was born in Prussia in 1831 and immigrated to America in 1849. He settled in Taylors Falls first, but by 1860, he was in Chengwatana, working as a carpenter and miller, investing in land, and serving as a member of the Minnesota Legislature. (2) In the summer of 1861, Munch traveled to St. Paul to volunteer his services in forming and leading a military unit. Governor Ramsey gratefully appointed him a captain and sent him home to recruit volunteers. (3) Munch returned to Chengwatana and called a meeting, hoping to inspire his neighbors to join him in this adventurous effort to save the Union. Several young men accepted his offer. William Eppel, age 21; William Fenkner, age 25; Joseph Gray, age 25; Henry Hurter, age 30; Charles A. Johnson, age 22; and Paul Munch, age 27, left with Captain Munch a few days later. (4) The group marched south through Taylors Falls, Stillwater, and St. Paul until they reached Fort Snelling where they met up with twenty-five men from New Ulm under the leadership of William Pfaender. When Governor Ramsey indicated Minnesota's need for a battery of light artillery, Munch and Pfaender decided to form their men into such a unit. They were joined by a group of men from southern Minnesota led by Ferd E. Peebles and together formed the First Independent Battery, Minnesota Light Artillery with 156 men. The unit, which was mustered into service on November 7, 1861, elected Munch as captain and Pfaender and Peebles as first lieutenants. (5)
At this point it might be helpful to pause briefly to examine the function of a battery of light artillery. Technically labeled “mounted artillery,” units like the First Minnesota were part of the military's field artillery division and were assigned to operate in support of infantry forces on the battlefield. They were mobile units that could transport their weapons from place to place as the situation demanded. Ironically, most men in mounted artillery batteries did not ride horses. Officers were literally mounted on horseback, and “drivers” rode or led the six-horse teams that towed cannons and other equipment, but the rest of the soldiers walked or, if there was a need for speed, grasped the “limber” (a two-wheeled vehicle that carried ammunition) and hung on. Field artillery units used several different types of cannons; the First Minnesota operated two 12-pound howitzers and four brass rifled 6-pound guns. Howitzers and 6-pound rifled guns weighed a hefty 750+ pounds apiece and fired everything from explosive shells to solid shot to canister (metal containers filled with lead or iron balls that sprayed out over a large area when fired). Artillerymen had the challenging jobs of transporting, loading, firing, and maintaining these weapons, often in the heat of battle and under heavy fire from the enemy's artillery and infantry. (6) Munch and his men were volunteering for a highly dangerous, extremely strenuous task.
1. Douglas A. Birk, “A Preliminary Historical and Archaeological Survey of the 'Old Chengwatana' Locale, Pine County, Minnesota,” Institute for Minnesota Archaeology Report of Investigations 34 (1988): 11-18.
2. Jim Cordes, Pine County...and Its Memories (North Branch: Review Corporation, 1989), 223; Birk, 18.
3. Ronald E. McRoberts, “First Battery, Minnesota Light Artillery at the Battle of Shiloh,” The Heritage of the 151st Field Artillery 2 (n.d.): 2.
4. Henry S. Hurter, “Narrative of the First Battery of Light Artillery,” in Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars 1861-1865, Vol. 1 (St. Paul: Pioneer Press Company, 1890), 650-651.
5. McRoberts, 2.
6. James Morgan, “'Mounted But Not Mounted': The Confusing Terminology of Artillery,” http://www.civilwarhome.com/artilleryterms.htm (accessed July 15, 2011); “Field Artillery in the American Civil War,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_artillery_in_the_American_Civil_War (accessed July 15, 2011); “Civil War Artillery,” Civil War Academy, http://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-artillery.html (accessed July 15, 2011).
No comments:
Post a Comment