My Dear Companion: The Civil War Letters and Journal of Corporal Albion Otis Gross of the First Minnesota Battery of Light Artillery, January 1, 1864 to June 10, 1865. edited by Robert W. Meinhard.
Photocopy of a typescript manuscript based on the Civil War journal and letters of Albion Otis Gross, as transcribed, arranged, and edited by Meinhard who supplemented Gross’ papers with an introduction and commentary identifying individuals and elaborating on events during the war. He also drew a map indicating the route traveled by the battery. Gross’ letters give graphic and frank details about life in the army, describing the activities of the battery and its personnel. He comments on conditions such as the food, physical comforts, and military life. Gross also writes about the conduct of the men, such as their drunkenness, looting, and language; the condition of the countryside and its inhabitants; and the competence of the military leaders.
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (P2323).
Reuben Farnum Civil War letters, 1864-1865
Farnum’s letters to his wife Roxanna during his Civil War service with the First Battery, Minnesota Light Artillery, in Mississippi, Georgia, North and South Carolina, describing military and camp life, maneuvers, and battles.
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (P36).
Minnesota Light Artillery Battery, 1st, Muster Rolls and Historical Data, 1864-1906
Muster rolls (7 items, 1864-1865), announcements of reunions (6 items, 1891-1906), a historical sketch of the unit by Robert Monahan (4 pp., undated), and a map of the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, showing the battery’s location.
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (P1257).
Minnesota Light Artillery Battery, 1st, Company Morning Reports and Record, 1861 Dec.-1865 June.
The morning reports consist of rosters and narrative accounts, which include descriptions of the battery’s participation in the battles of Shiloh and Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg, the Atlanta campaign, and Sherman’s march to the sea. The battery record (through Oct. 1863) lists names, enlistment dates, place of residence, and remarks on individual promotions, discharges, desertions, and deaths.
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (P1903).
Joseph M. Allen Letters, 1862-1863
Photocopies of letters to his family in Ohio from a Civil War soldier in the First Minnesota Battery of Light Artillery (1862-1863). They describe the battery and its movements and activities, especially in the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi (Oct. 9, 1862), where he was wounded. Other letters describe his subsequent illness and death from dysentery.
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (P1465).
William Z. Clayton Papers, 1862-1864
Papers related to a Maine native who moved to Minnesota and served in the Civil War as a sergeant and later as the commanding officer of the First Minnesota Light Artillery. The bulk of the collection consists of letters (1862-1864) from Clayton to his parents, wife, and siblings, which document his personal experiences and the role of his battery during the battles of Shiloh and Corinth (1862), the Siege of Vicksburg (1863), and the Atlanta Campaign (1864). The battery’s original muster out roll (1864) and photographs of its flag and a captured Confederate flag are also included.
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (P2199).
Emil Munch Papers, 1861-1865
Correspondence, orders, and other papers pertaining to Munch’s Civil War service, including captain of the First Minnesota Battery of Artillery in Tennessee and Mississippi (1862); his retirement from field service because of wounds and his later appointment as brigadier general of the Fifth Brigade, Minnesota State Militia (1863); his responsibility for the fortification of Minnesota frontier settlements (1863) after the Dakota Conflict; his service as captain in the Veteran Reserve Corps (Invalid Corps) stationed at Camp Douglas, Illinois (1863-1865); and his appointment (1865) as major of the First Minnesota Volunteer Heavy Artillery.
Winston W. Cheatham and Family Papers, 1830-1905
Largely letters (1864-1865) from James Major Cheatham during his Civil War service with the First Minnesota Battery, describing troop movements, camp life, foraging and destruction in the South, the siege and capture of Atlanta, and William T. Sherman’s march through Georgia and capture of Savannah.
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (A/.C514).
James C. Christie and Family Papers 1823-1975
The papers document the lives of James Christie and his wives, Eliza Gilchrist, Elizabeth Reid, and Persis Noyes; their children, William Gilchrist, Thomas Davidson, Sarah Jane, Alexander Smith, and David Bertie; Sarah’s husband, William Long Stevens; and their daughter Elizabeth and her husband, Robert H. Monahan; William’s children, Buell V., Estella B., Frank W., and Charles Edwin; and other family members. Letters from William, Thomas, and Alexander (1861-1865) document their Civil War service in the Southeast and along the Mississippi River with the Minnesota 1st Light Artillery (Thomas and William) and 2nd Minnesota Infantry (Alexander).
1st Battery Minnesota Light Artillery: 
