E.A. Season in the Civil War

13th in a series.

In the spring of ’61 we enlisted for three years in the First Minnesota Regiment, Company F, Captain Colville. We went to Fort Snelling in May and drilled every day and did guard duty and shooting at mark, so we kept busy all the time.  The regiment was mustered in for three months at first, April 29th. On May 7th Governor Ramsey received a message from Washington from Secretary of War suggesting the mustering in for three years or during the war, so all that wanted to enlist for three years did so and the rest were discharged. I enlisted May 23rd and George McKinley went with me. We took the stage from Cannon Falls to Red Wing where we took a boat for Fort Snelling, six miles up the Mississippi River from St. Paul, where we commenced our soldiering.

Captain William Colville led Edwin’s Regiment. Company F of the First Minnesota was the first regiment tendered to the federal army at the outbreak of the war.