Members of the 34^th “Red Bull” Infantry Division OSJA conduct Leader Professional Development with First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment re-enactors at the “Minnesota and the Civil War” exhibit at the Minnesota History Center, May 2013.  Minnesota was the first state to offer troops to the Union in response to President Lincoln’s call in April 1861.  The First Minnesota fought at Bull Run, Antietam and all the major campaigns of the Army of the Potomac through the fall of 1863.  It is most famous for its actions at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, when it suffered 82% casualties in charging and repulsing Wilcox’s Alabama Brigade.  Despite five to one odds, the Minnesotans charged over 200 yards of open ground to repulse the Alabamans who were threatening to breach the Union lines.  Of the 262 men present for duty that morning, only 47 were present the following day.  The remaining men assisted in repulsing Pickett’s Charge.  The First Minnesota was commanded at Gettysburg by Colonel William Colvill, a lawyer from Red Wing, Minnesota.  When given the opportunity to speak about the Regiment after the war, both General Hancock and President Calvin Coolidge were unrestrained with praise. Hancock placed its heroism highest in the known annals of war and ascribed unsurpassed gallantry to the famed attack. Emphasizing the criticality of the circumstances on July 2 at Gettysburg, President Coolidge considered, "Colonel Colvill and those eight companies of the First Minnesota are entitled to rank as the saviors of their country."