Brackett's Battalion: Minnesota Cavalry in the Civil War and Dakota War

by Kurt D. Bergemann

Overview

After two years in the Southern theater of the Civil War, Brackett’s Battalion became part of the Northwestern Indian Expedition of 1864 and rode into Dakota Territory to seek out and engage the Indians in response to the attacks on settlers in Minnesota. On July 28, 1864, during a decisive battle against a large Dakota contingent at Killdeer Mountain, Brackett’s men conducted a remarkable three-mile-long saber charge that resulted in vicious hand-to-hand combat and eventually turned the tide of the battle.

Told through the extant journals, diaries, and letters of the troopers themselves,Brackett’s Battalion brings to light a long neglected aspect of Minnesota's role in the Civil War and reveals a side of the conflict rarely portrayed in the war's literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780873514774
Publisher:	Minnesota Historical Society Press
Publication date:	02/09/2004
Edition description:	1
Pages:	214
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Kurt D. Bergemann has long been a student of the Civil War. This book is a result of his research on his great-great-grandfather, who served in Brackett's Battalion.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	ix
Part 1
	The First Companies of Minnesota Cavalry in the Civil War	3
	Cavalry Training at St. Louis and Joining a Regiment	12
	Into the Fight at Last	22
	Shiloh and the Siege of Corinth	31
	Disaster at Lockridge Mill	34
	A New Name for Curtis Horse	39
	Recapture of Clarksville	45
	Attack on Dover - Von Minden Captured Again	51
	The Tullahoma Campaign	56
	Long Marches and Hard Charges	61
	George W. Northrup	71
Part 2
	Brackett's Battalion and the Northwestern Indian Expedition	89
	Sully's Troops March	99
	Battle of Killdeer Mountain	105
	Battle through the Badlands	119
	Captain Fisk's Perilous Wagon Train	131
	The Notorious John L. Campbell	143
	Extended Service: The Expedition of 1865	152
	Citizen Soldiers as Citizens	169
	Acknowledgments	179
	Notes	181
	Bibliography	185
	Index	191