Civil War Military Units from Minnesota: 8th Minnesota

"Narrative of the Eighth Regiment," by Hon. William H. Houlton.  
In Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, Vol. I, p.386-387.
Minnesota Historical Society Press: St. Paul, 2005.
MNHS call number: Reading Room, E515 .M66 2005

Report of the Chaplain of the 8th Regt., Minnesota Vols. for the Month of May, 1864.
Report on the regiment’s moral condition and the character of its members, submitted from a camp near Fort Ridgely. Accompanied by cover letters from Mrs. E. L. Armsby to J. C. Cooper, Northfield, Minn. (Sept. 29, 1909) and Cooper to D. L. Kingsbury (Oct. 4, 1909).
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (M582: Armsby, Lauren).

General Order No. 37, 1864, Oct. 12.
Original printing of General Orders, No. 37 (Oct. 12, 1864) issued by Major General John Pope from the headquarters of the United States Army Department of the Northwest in Milwaukee (Wis.). In the order Pope commends the Eighth Regiment of Minnesota Volunteer Infantry for "The uncomplaining and soldierly fortitude with which it has borne the hardships of service on the frontier." The order goes on to inform the regiment, which was ordered to join the armies in the South, that it will receive "fame and honor" for having secured Minnesota from Indian hostilities. 
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (Res. 64).
*This is a reserve item that requires the curator's permission to view. 

Edison D. Washburn Diaries, 1863-1865.
Three small diaries kept by Washburn as a member of Company "E," Eighth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry while serving in Minnesota; on the Sully Expedition (1863-1864) into Dakota Territory, and in Civil War engagements in Tennessee and North Carolina (1864-1865).
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid

Leonard Aldrich Papers, 1862-1866.
Ten letters written by Aldrich to his brother Joseph, describing his service with the Eighth Minnesota Infantry in the Dakota Conflict (1862-1864) and the Civil War (1864-1865); one letter (1866) written from Lake Shetek, Murray County, where Aldrich settled after the war; obituary (1903) containing biographical information.
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (P950).

The Diaries of George W. Doud, Eighth Minnesota Volunteers, Co. F., September 14, 1862-October 15, 1864.
Bound typescript copy of three diaries kept by Doud while serving in Minnesota during the Dakota Conflict and in the Sully Expedition of 1864. His diaries record depredations by both Whites and Indians, treatment of Minnesota Ojibwe and Dakota peoples by the military and civilians, topography and weather, the expedition’s progress, and army life in the field.
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid

William and Herbert Paist Papers, 1849-1932.
William Paist’s correspondence (1862-1865) relates his experiences during the Dakota Conflict of 1862 and during the Civil War. The unit was engaged in the pursuit of the Dakota Indians along the western half of Minnesota. He describes living conditions, the marches, and Fort Abercrombie and Fort Snelling. Civil War letters relate conditions in Washington (D.C.), Raleigh (S.C.), and Charlotte (N.C.); rebel and union prisoners; and fighting and casualties at Murfreesboro (Tenn.).
MNHS call number: See the finding aid in the library (P1771).