5th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Regimental Flag

Organized in winter 1861-62, three companies of the 5th were stationed in Minnesota frontier military posts when the U.S.-Dakota War began in August 1862. After joining the regiment in the south, the 5th was heavily engaged at Corinth (October 1862), Vicksburg (July 1863), in the Red River Expedition (March-May 1864), Tupelo (July 1864), Nashville (December 1864), and the New Orleans-Mobile-Montgomery Expedition (February – April 1865). Of its 101 soldiers killed in battle, 38 died fighting the Dakota in Minnesota.

Led by Colonel Lucius Hubbard during the Battle of Corinth, the 5th Minnesota executed a timely charge to push back Confederate forces that penetrated the Union lines. A painting in the Governor’s Anteroom depicts this turning point in the battle [move this sentence to photo label- see below]. Hubbard survived thirty-three battles and skirmishes and became the ninth governor of Minnesota (1882-1887).

This regimental color has the Federal eagle device on its face and the state seal on its reverse. Purchased by the State of Minnesota from Horstmann Brothers, a Philadelphia military goods supplier, this and the national color was presented to the regiment on May 11, 1862 at Fort Snelling. It was carried by the 5th Minnesota in the Battle of Corinth in 1862 and retired shortly after.