1st Minnesota Cavalry Regiment

Service history

Organized at St. Cloud, St. Peters and Fort Snelling, Minnesota from October 9 to December 30, 1862. Organized for frontier duty against Indians. 1st Battalion engaged in frontier duty till June, 1863. Sibley's Expedition against Indians in Dakota Territory June 16-September 14. Battle of Big Mound, D. T., July 24. Dead Buffalo Lake July 26. Stony Lake July 28. Missouri River July 28-30. 1st Battalion on duty at Fort Ripley, and rest of Regiment at Fort Snelling, Minn., till December. Mustered out October 20 to December 7, 1863.

Battles and campaigns

• Sibley's Expedition against Indians in Dakota Territory, June 16 to September 14, 1863.
• Battle of Big Mound, July 24, 1863.
• Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake, July 26, 1863.
• Battle of Stony Lake, July 28, 1863.
• Operations along the Missouri River, July 28 to 30, 1863.

Colonels

• Samuel McPhail - October 1862 to December 1863.

Casualties and total strength

The 1st Minnesota Cavalry lost two officers and four enlisted men killed in action or died of wounds received in battle. An additional 31 enlisted men died of disease. Total fatalities were 37.http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unmncav.htm

Notable people

• Samuel McPhail: McPahil was the Colonel and commander of the regiment. Originally born in Kentucky, McPhail was a veteran of the Mexican–American War and was an early settler of Renville County, Minnesota. During the Dakota War of 1862 McPhail led a cavalry relief column to rescue Captain Hiram P. Grant, Captain Joseph Anderson, and Major Joseph R. Brown who had been ambushed by Little Crow in the Battle of Birch Coulee.
• Jacob Nix: Nix served as the Captain of Company L from December 28, 1862 to December 1863 when he was transferred to the 2nd Minnesota Cavalry Regiment where he then commanded Company G.
• William Pfaender: Mayor, postmaster, and State Representative from New Ulm, Minnesota. Pfaender first served as the Lieutenant colonel of the regiment until his transfer to the 2nd Minnesota Cavalry Regiment.
• John Hauenstein: A renowned brewer from New Ulm, Minnesota. He was later the founder and operator of the Hauenstein Brewing Company. Hauenstein served as a 2nd Lieutenant in Company L under Captain Jacob Nix.
• Eugene M. Wilson: A lawyer and Democratic politician who served in various legal and political offices in Minnesota including as a member of Congress and as the fifth and seventh mayor of Minneapolis.
• Eugene Saint Julien Cox: Minnesota politician and lawyer. Cox served in the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1873 as a Democrat and then served in the Minnesota State Senate in 1874 and 1875.
• Horace Austin: Republican politician and the 6th Governor of Minnesota.

References

References

1. Citation: S.Rep.No.534,47Cong.,1stSess.(1882) Report : Claim of the First Minnesota Mounted Rangers, University of Oklahoma Digital Commons, [https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4272&context=indianserialset]
2. The Weekly Pioneer and Democrat, Dec. 12, 1862, Minnesota digital Newspaper hub, 2023, Minnesota Historical Society, 345 Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, MN [https://newspapers.mnhs.org/jsp/PsImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=743969f0-a2e4-4040-b787-2822eb24bcea%2Fmnhi0031%2F1DFC4V56%2F62121201]
3. "Battle Unit Details - The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service)".
4. "KinSource - The History of Renville County, 1916, Volume 2, Col. Samuel McPhail".