6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Regimental Flag

Shortly after recruitment in summer 1862, the 6th Minnesota spent nearly two years on the Minnesota frontier, participating in the battles of Birch Coulee (September 2-3, 1862), Wood Lake (September 22, 1862), and other campaigns against the Dakota, before finally going south in June 1864. Surrounded by malaria-infested swamps at Helena, Arkansas, the 6th was almost devastated by disease before joining four other Minnesota regiments in the New Orleans-Mobile-Montgomery Expedition (February-April 1865).

This silk flag has a painted Federal eagle on both sides with a ribbon in its beak that reads "E PLURIBUS UNUM" ("Out of Many, One"). As the national motto at that time, its meaning reflects the ideals of one nation made up of many states, and it amplified the reason the North went to war to preserve that union.