12th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Regimental Flag

The 2nd Minnesota Infantry Regiment was renumbered the 12th Minnesota, U.S. Volunteer Infantry in May 1898, for service in the Spanish-American War. The regiment, made up largely of recruits from southern Minnesota, moved to Camp Thomas at Chickamauga National Park, Georgia, for training. Less than adequate living conditions resulted in an outbreak of typhoid fever. The regiment moved to Camp Hamilton in Lexington, Kentucky, where it remained until September 1898, when the Spanish-American War ended.

While serving as the regiment’s quartermaster, John Lind announced his intention to run in the 1898 governor’s election. He became the state’s fourteenth governor and the only Spanish-American War veteran to hold that office.

Unlike several of the older Civil War flags that had eagles or a state seal painted on them, this one has an embroidered and appliquéd state seal on one side and the federal eagle on the other.