Few Civil War regiments carry a legacy as stark and well-documented as the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. Organized in 1861, it was the first regiment formally offered by a state to the federal government after the outbreak of the war, earning it a symbolic place in Union history long before it reached the fields of Gettysburg.
That place was secured at enormous cost during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.
What to Know…
The 1st Minnesota Infantry played a decisive and costly role at Gettysburg, suffering one of the highest casualty rates of any Union regiment while holding critical ground.
The capture of the 28th Virginia’s battle flag by Private Marshall Sherman during Pickett’s Charge was a documented act of bravery that resulted in his Medal of Honor and permanent injury.
The flag remains in Minnesota as a historically earned artifact, reflecting battlefield sacrifice and the lasting consequences of the Civil War rather than modern political symbolism.
The regiment is most famously remembered for its central role in a charge on July 2, 1863, when it was ordered to halt a Confederate advance that threatened to collapse the Union line. The command was explicit and desperate: charge immediately, regardless of cost. Of the 262 men who went forward, 215 were killed or wounded in a matter of minutes, one of the highest casualty rates of any Union regiment in a single engagement.
Less widely known, but equally significant, was the regiment’s role the following day during Pickett’s Charge.
The Capture of the 28th Virginia’s Battle Flag
On July 3, 1863, Confederate forces surged toward the Union center in what became the climactic assault of the battle. During the fighting, Private Marshall Sherman of Company C, 1st Minnesota Infantry, seized the battle flag of the 28th Virginia Infantry Regiment.
Regimental flags were not ceremonial decorations. They were tactical markers, rallying points, and symbols of unit cohesion. Losing a flag was a serious blow to morale; capturing one was a mark of exceptional bravery. Flags were often defended to the last, and men who carried them were frequent targets.
Sherman was severely wounded during the capture, losing his right arm as a result of his injuries. For his actions, he later received the Medal of Honor.
The flag itself was sent to Minnesota and eventually placed in the care of the Minnesota Historical Society, where it remains today.
Postwar Disputes and Official Responses
In the decades since the war, the Commonwealth of Virginia has periodically requested the return of the flag, sometimes with the support of congressional resolutions or formal appeals. Minnesota’s response has been consistent across political parties and administrations. Governors ranging from Tim Pawlenty to Mark Dayton, and even Jesse Ventura, have declined to return it. Ventura’s blunt reply became the most widely quoted: Virginia could have the flag back “the same way we got it.”
While the phrasing varied, the underlying rationale did not. The flag was captured in battle by a Minnesota soldier at tremendous personal cost. It is preserved not as a taunt, but as a historical artifact representing sacrifice, service, and the outcome of a war fought over the survival of the United States.
Memory, History, and Consequence
The 1st Minnesota Infantry does not occupy its place in history because of slogans or grudges, but because of documented actions under fire. Its soldiers held the Union line at Gettysburg when failure would have been catastrophic. The captured flag of the 28th Virginia is inseparable from that record.
History is not neutral memorabilia to be redistributed at convenience. It is instead shaped by events, decisions, and consequences. The flag remains in Minnesota not out of spite, but because it was earned on a battlefield that helped decide the future of the nation.
The record stands. The artifact remains. And the story endures.