Gilbert Gutknecht: “I rise tonight in honor of Minnesota's 135th Infantry. It is hard for us to imagine what it must have been like in the…”

“I rise tonight in honor of Minnesota's 135th Infantry. It is hard for us to imagine what it must have been like in the spring of 1861 when cannons announced the first battle of the Civil War by firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Minnesota's first Governor, Alexander Ramsey, happened to be in Washington on other business. Upon learning the news, he raced to the White House to become the first Governor to volunteer troops for the Union Army. A few nights later, in Red Wing, Minnesota, William Colvill used his considerable size and agility, as he stood almost 5 feet, 5 inches tall, to elbow his way to the front of the line to become the first volunteer in the first regiment of the first State that volunteered troops to preserve the Union. Minnesota's First Regiment fought with distinction in many of the bloodiest battles in the Civil War, including Fredericksburg, Bull Run, and Antietam. American history has a special footnote, however, to commemorate their actions on July 2, 1863 in that most famous of Civil War contests, the Battle of Gettysburg.”