Visit to the Civil War Exhibit

About a month ago I told you how excited I was to learn that the Minnesota History Center was hosting an exhibit about Minnesota and the Civil War.  Well,  I was able to visit the exhibit  a couple weeks ago and was quite impressed by its setup.  However, my IPhone lost all it's juice so I couldn't take any pictures.  Well, today I went back to the History Center on it's free evening and was able to test out my IPhone 5 camera.

Here's what I saw:

This is what I saw when I walked into the exhibit.  It's a smaller one, but much information

Picture of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry on the War Eagle near Red Wing

Interesting fact:  Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey  was the first to volunteer its regiment to the Union Army.  This is the letter he wrote volunteering the !st Minnesota to the Union Army.

A cannon used during the Civil War

A Civil War camp set up.  Could be a makeshift medical tent also

Surgeon Kit:  there were two bone saws I recalled in the kit.  Many times soldiers limbs would be severed in battle to keep from getting gangrene (where body tissues die and is life-threatening)

However, the highlight of the exhibit is that I actually saw this:

This is the flag that the First Minnesota obtained from the 28th Virginian Infantry during the Battle of Gettysburg.  262 Minnesotans were available to hold back the Confederate front and only 47 survived 15 minutes later, but got the job done.  Later in that battle Marshall Sherman somehow captured this flag and subsequently won the Medal of Honor. Virginians have wanted the flag back ever since, but I don't think they will ever get it back.

I'll just all in all, it was an educational experience.  I acknowledge that this was a sad time in American history.  But if we don't know history, particularly war history, it's likely to repeat itself.