Manuscripts Collection
On October 20, 1870, seventy veterans of the Third Minnesota Infantry Regiment met in St. Paul to organize the association, which thereafter met annually to commemorate the Civil War service of the regiment, and to memorialize its members. At its organizational meeting, Hans Mattson was appointed its first president, and a committee was formed to locate surviving members of the regiment.
Originally incorporated under the name Third Regiment of Minnesota Veteran Volunteers, the association underwent a number of small name changes. The name form used in this collection was adopted in 1913.
These records are arranged chronologically within three sections: Correspondence and Related Materials (1870-1935), Memorial Window File (1926-1927), and Annual Reunion Rosters (1912, 1918-1933).
Annual re-union of the Third Regiment Minnesota Veteran Volunteers, 1886-1931 is in the Minnesota Historical Society serials collections.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should
Accession number:4311; 11,660
Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, May 1998
Catalog ID number: 09-00041177
The materials consist largely of routine correspondence with association members, mostly during the 1916-1935 period. The 1870 item is the printed program from its first annual banquet. The 1916-1935 correspondence relates to the annual reunions, including finances; deaths of members; and reminiscences of Civil War battles. Most of the correspondence is with secretaries Edgar L. Mattson and L. A. Hancock.
Correspondence (1917-1926) of John F. Early, a jeweler who moved to Cuba in 1900, gives information on life in that country, civil unrest, German influences, his jewelry store (including photo), and the effects of the U.S. sugar tariff (1926). Two 1923 letters from Hancock and James A. Wright describe actions of the Third Minnesota and the Seventh Michigan regiments at the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 11, 1862. An obituary by C. C. Andrews (Sept. 2, 1919) memorializes Lt. Heman Pettibone.
Subscription lists and contract-related papers concerning a stained glass window placed in the chapel of the Minnesota Soldiers' Home as a memorial to the Third Minnesota Infantry Regiment.
The names of attendees appear in alphabetical order.
There is a separate section for each reunion, although there is nothing for 1932. Each section includes attendees broken down by company, a list of members who have died since the previous reunion, and a list of guests.