L WAR.

Nothing of any special importance occurred during the years 1859 and
1860 in Minnesota. The state continued to grow in population and wealth
at an extraordinary pace, but in a quiet and unobtrusive way. The
politics of the nation had been for some time much disturbed between the
North and the South, on the question of slavery, and threats of
secession from the Union made by the slave-holding states. The election
of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency of the United States, in 1860,
precipitated the impending revolution, and on the fourteenth day of
April, 1861, Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina,
was fired upon by the revolutionists, which meant war between the two
sections of the country. I will only relate such events in connection
with the Civil War which followed as are especially connected with
Minnesota.

When the news of the firing upon Fort Sumter reached Washington,
Alexander Ramsey, then governor of Minnesota, was in that city. He
immediately called on the president of the United States, and tendered
the services of the people of Minnesota in defense of the republic, thus
giving to the state the enviable position of being the first to come to
the front. The offer of a regiment was accepted, and the governor sent a
dispatch to Lieut. Gov. Ignatius Donnelly, who, on the 16th of April,
issued a proclamation, giving notice that volunteers would be received
at St. Paul for one regiment of infantry composed of ten companies, each
of sixty-four privates, one captain, two lieutenants, four sergeants,
four corporals and one bugler, and that the volunteer companies already
organized, upon complying with these requirements as to the numbers and
officers, would be entitled to be first received.

Immediately following this announcement, which, of course, meant war,
great enthusiasm was manifested all over the state. Public meetings were
held in all the cities; almost every man capable of doing soldier duty
wanted to go, and those who were unable, for any reason, to go in
person, subscribed funds for the support of the families of those who
volunteered. The only difficulty the authorities met with was an excess
of men over those needed. There were a good many Southerners residing in
the state, who were naturally controlled in their sentiments by their
geographical affinities, but they behaved very well, and caused no
trouble. They either entered the service of the South or held their
peace. I