On October 23, 1861, Assistant Secretary of War Thomas A. Scott sent correspondence to Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey, authorizing him to raise a fifth regiment of infantry in the state.

[1][2] Companies A, E-K were ordered south in May 1862 and joined the II brigade, I division of Major General John Pope in the Army of the Mississippi on May 24, 1862,[2] to take part in the Siege of Corinth.

The action served as the regiment's baptism of fire and they contributed a number of casualties; more of which succumbed to the effects of heat and exhaustion throughout the campaign.

[3] At the outbreak of the Dakota War of 1862 on August 18, 1862, companies B, C and D of the 5th Minnesota were the only immediate military forces available to defend the frontier until the arrival of reinforcements from Fort Snelling.

As bands of the Dakota advanced along the Minnesota River, survivors fled to Fort Ridgely which was then garrisoned by Company B, numbering , under Captain John S. Marsh.

Upon reaching the Ferry, Marsh found a Dakota man named White Dog and spoke to him through the interpreter Peter Quinn.

[5][2] As survivors of the Ambush at Redwood Ferry returned the night of August 18, 1862, 22 out of 51 remaining men of Company B were counted as effectives due to the rest suffering from illness.

Chief Little Crow finally began the battle on the Fort's northeast corner and drove out the soldiers posted to the outbuildings shortly after 1:00 pm.

Lieutenant Gere sent a detachment of Company B with Sergeant McGrew to return fire with two twelve-pound howitzers, eventually dispersing the advancing warriors with canister shot.

Little Crow then joined the attack personally at the southwest corner, where Ordnance Sergeant Jones, supported by the Renville Rangers, wheeled a six-pound field gun in position whilst under fire.

The warriors returned to the slopes surrounding the fort and fired from their safety, attempting to exhaust the defenders of their low reserves of ammunition.

An assault on the northwest corner was repelled that evening, which was discouraged by the burning of one of the buildings and combined artillery and infantry fire, including a 24-pounder cannon[8] brought into action by Sgt.

When war broke out on August 18, 1862, Company D of the 5th Minnesota had garrisoned Fort Abercrombie in the Dakota Territory under the command of Captain John Vander Horck since March.

Vander Horck was shot accidentally in the right arm by a frightened picket; leaving 2nd Lt. Groetch in command of the fort as 1st Lt. Cariveau was sick.

[12] As the II brigade, I division marched toward Corinth, it is claimed that the regiment was nearly overwhelmed by a large crowd of freedmen (referred to by the soldiers as "contrabands") fleeing Confederate pursuit.

On October 3, 1862, the combined forces of Confederate Generals Sterling Price and Earl Van Dorn attacked the Union lines.

The rebels managed to push back the northerners, and the men of the 5th Minnesota could hear the sounds of battle headed their way, however the Minnesotans would not see action until the next day.

The sunshine of young manhood has given place to the grayer lights of autumn, yet when digging down I find the events of the Fifth Minnesota's work on the 4th come vividly before me.

Late in the evening Colonel Hubbard brought up his regiment and formed facing westward on the Mobile & Ohio railway, with its left near the depot, where they bivouacked for the night.

On May 2, 1863, Sherman's XV Corps moved into western Mississippi to secure Grant's position from Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's army.

The 5th Minnesota took position on the left of the II brigade, which would attack along Graveyard Road at 3:00 pm with the rest of Tuttle's III division.

[18] The 5th Minnesota was promptly re-assigned to the II brigade, I division, XVI Army Corps under the command of Andrew J. Smith in time for the Red River Campaign.

The expedition's main objective was to capture Shreveport, a major Confederate port city in Louisiana, and destroy the forces in the area under General Edmund Kirby Smith.

On reconnaissance to Henderson's Hill near Boyce, Louisiana, the 5th Minnesota aided in an ambush that resulted in the capture a battery of four cannon and 250 men[21][22] On the 26th, movement up the Red River valley commenced.

The route lay through almost impenetrable cypress swamps and over unused mountain roads, washed by continuous rains down to their rocky beds.

Severe storms prevailed much of the time, and the men often lay down at night, drenched, sore, weary and hungry, feeling that they would never be able to rise to their feet again.

It was developed after the command had been out several days that its supply train was loaded with moldy and decayed hard bread, refuse stores issued by the commissary at Little Rock.

The men became nearly starved, and driven to that extreme that they sought for nourishment in the bark of sassafras boughs and beech leaves, which the forest trees afforded.

The regiment then took a new place in the II brigade, I division as part of a detachment Army of the Tennessee now commanded by Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson Smith.

Across the cornfield, the soft ground giving away un til men and horses sink at every step knee- deep; under a shower of canister, shell and Minie-balls filling every inch of the atmosphere and meeting them square in the face, they keep onward.