Organization and early service edit

The 11th Minnesota Infantry Regiment was formed in response to President Lincoln's last call for troops in late 1864. The regiment was mustered into Federal service at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, between August and September 1864. Its original term of service was for three-years.

Service in the Department of the Cumberland edit

After training and equipping, the 11th received orders to report to the Department of the Cumberland around the Nashville, Tennessee area. Here, the regiment was tasked with protecting the Louisville-Nashville railroad; a thirty-mile stretch.^[1] Occasionally, the troops would engage in skirmishes with Confederate guerillas and raiders. However, the 11th would not take part in any notable engagements, though some men are said to have heard or witnessed the Battle of Nashville,^[1] which several other Minnesota regiments fought in.

End of service edit

After serving in the Nashville area for the remainder of the war, the 11th Minnesota was finally sent home on June 26, 1865 and discharged at St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 11. The regiment was the last infantry unit to be raised by the state of Minnesota until the Spanish-American War in 1898.^[1]

The 11th Minnesota Infantry suffered 3 enlisted men killed in action or who later died of their wounds, plus another 1 officer and 21 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 25 fatalities.^[2]

• Col. James B. Gilfillian - November 3, 1864, to June 26, 1865.

List of Minnesota Civil War Units

• 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. OL 7088819M.

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