The First Independent Battery, Minnesota Light Artillery: Pine County's Contribution to Saving the Union - Part 2

          The new unit, clad in new Union uniforms, left almost immediately for St. Louis, Missouri, where they were quartered in Benton Barracks. In January of 1862, the First Minnesota transferred to the arsenal to receive their weapons and prepare for active service. (7) Already, the men of the First Minnesota were realizing that war was not as glorious and heroic as they might have thought. In their two-month stay at St. Louis, the unit lost seven men. Stephen Emery and Mathew Wechsler died January 17, 1862; William P. Woodcock died January 25, 1862; Henry C. Hoppen died January 30, 1862; and Daniel Meyers died February 3, 1862. (8) These men most likely died from one of the many diseases that ran rampant in military camps. Their fellow soldier Hermann Gillermann drowned at St. Louis on March 10, 1862, and bugler Henry Rippe must have decided that military life was not for him. He deserted his unit on January 10, 1862. There is no record of his capture or return. (9)
          In March, the First Minnesota boarded the steamer Himalaya and traveled down the Mississippi River to Cairo, Illinois. They continued their journey up the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers, and on March 18, they landed at Savannah, Tennessee. They were immediately sent to Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh, Tennessee, to join General William Tecumseh Sherman's troops. On April 4, they were transferred to General Benjamin Prentiss' division and set up camp near the Fifth Battery, Ohio Light Artillery. (10) The Union forces spent much of their time drilling. They knew that the Confederates were close by, but since battle did not seem imminent, Union commanders took no “precautionary measures” like digging defensive trenches or sending out pickets and cavalry patrols to watch for an attack. (11)
          Union leaders probably should have been more wary about the situation, especially since they had been striving for months to gain and keep control of major rivers and supply lines in Kentucky and Tennessee. In February, General Ulysses S. Grant launched an attack on the Confederate stronghold Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and won a decisive victory. He then pressed on toward Fort Donelsen, where he laid siege against Confederate forces. The Union proved stronger than the Confederates, who surrendered unconditionally in mid-February. Grant seemed to be on his way to dominating the region. Confederate regional commander General A.S. Johnston was not about to let that happen if he could help it. He regrouped his forces a few miles away at Corinth, Mississippi, and lured Grant down the Tennessee River toward him. Grant set up camp at Pittsburg Landing, but he made a huge mistake. He failed to recognize Johnston's plan. (12)

7. McRoberts, 2.
8. Hurter, 650-652.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid, 640; McRoberts, 2.
11. William Pfaender to Alexander Ramsey, 1862, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul; Kenneth C. Davis, Don't Know Much About the Civil War (New York: HarperCollins, 1997), 224.
12. Kelly Knauer, ed., The Civil War 1861-1862: An Illustrated History (New York; Time Home Entertainment, 2011), 62-67.