The Second Minnesota at Mission Ridge

Due to daily business use of this room, the painting may not be available for viewing.

Description

On November 25, 1863, still stinging from defeat in the Battle of Chickamauga two months earlier and under siege with dwindling supplies, Union forces charged Confederate-held Missionary Ridge, outside Chattanooga, Tennessee. After overtaking trenches at the base of the steep hills, the Army of the Cumberland, including the Second Minnesota Regiment, daringly pushed forward without orders and swept Confederate troops from atop the ridge. Because this assault was spontaneous, many have called it the “Soldiers’ Battle.” The officer waving his hat and urging his men upward is Lt. Col. Judson Bishop, a teacher and newspaper editor from Chatfield, Minnesota.