by Steve Timmer

Jan 31, 2026, 10:30 AM

Echos of the 1st Minnesota Volunteers

This analogy herein is not original to me, but I endorse it.

In July of 1863, in the little town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where General Lee’s Army of Virginia had made its farthest incursion into the Union — the high water mark of the traitorous confederacy (I do not capitalize it) — it faced the Grand Army of the Republic in what would be the pivotal battle of the Civil War.

In the pivotal engagement on the pivotal day of the pivotal battle of the Civil War, July 2nd, 1863, a regiment from Minnesota, the First Minnesota Volunteers, made a suicidal plunge into overwhelming confederate (I do not capitalize it) forces to keep the Union line from being split. The regiment suffered 82% casualties, but the line held until reinforcements could arrive. The confederates were thwarted. We know that the next day, on July 3rd; the confederates threw everything they had at the Union and lost.

On that final day of the battle, one of the few Minnesota First Volunteers soldiers left standing snatched a Virginia regimental battle flag. You can still see it on display at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul. It is a venerated object in Minnesota, and despite multiple entreaties by Virginia, we’ve not given it back. That flag was purchased with too much blood to do that.

The First Minnesota Volunteers was the first regiment pledged to the defense of the Union. Minnesota had only been a state for three years. About a third of the regiment — they were all volunteers — was made up of foreign-born immigrants: Germans, Scandinavians, and Irish, mostly. Apparently, some of the members of the First Minnesota didn’t speak English and relied on officers from the same community they came from to tell them what to do.

And yet, they followed — yes, followed — Col. William Colvill into the union breach. There is a statue of Col. Colvill in the Rotunda of the Minnesota Capitol that I make a point to visit every time I am at the Capitol. You can see it yourself if you follow the link above to read my story about the battle and Col. Colvill.

Many non-English speaking, foreign-born immigrants joined the First Minnesota Volunteers and perished before or on July 2nd, 1863. They gave what President Lincoln called that fall “the last full measure of devotion.” Maybe you can’t understand the immigrants’ devotion unless you’ve attended a naturalization ceremony.

Seriously, many of us who have been around for a while don’t deserve the people who want to be Americans.

So, now to the analogy. As it may be said the the First Minnesota Volunteers saved the Union at a critical moment, it may also be said that another group of Minnesota volunteers is saving the Union now. I know that people will accuse me of hyperbole, but I think it’s true.

At least the First Minnesota Volunteers had muskets and bayonets. The current crop of volunteers only has whistles and cell phones. Well, and sometimes bullhorns.

Jack Califano for The Atlantic

Imagine hectoring three heavily-armed ICE Orcs with a bullhorn. As we know, it can get you killed, or at least beat up and detained. Amazingly, more and more Minesotans seem willing to do it.

We know about the excesses of the ICE Orcs because of the brave volunteer observers with cell phone video cameras who document — in Stalingrad-grade weather — the excesses from every angle. It is how we know not to believe J. Davenport Vance, Kristi Noem, Pamela Jo Bondi, Stephen Miller, Greg Bovino, Tom Homan and the rest of the poisonous blowhards and liars. And it drives them nuts.

Minnesotans, perhaps especially, know the value of cell phone video witness because of Darnella Frasier, the Minnesota teenager who videoed the excruciating and prolonged killing of George Floyd at the hands — knee, really — of Derek Chauvin.

Because of their witness, the nation knows. Because of their witness, legislators from around the country have come to Minnesota to offer support and to help spread the word about about what is happening in Minnesota as a cautionary tale. Because of their witness, congress members (Harriet Hageman) in deep red places like Wyoming have had to flee usually friendly town halls under a hail of pointed questions.

They are heroes to the Republic.

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Update 1/31: Eric Roper’s column about what the ICE Orcs are facing in Minnesota is illuminating.