No More Gallant a Deed: A Civil War Memoir of the First Minnesota Volunteers Book

"James A. Wright was an orderly sergeant in Company F of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War. His memoir, based on his diaries and letters, is the fullest and most lively personal account of the battles, marches, and soldier life of one of the most renowned regiments in the Army of the Potomac. The First Minnesota Regiment was the first unit in the nation tendered to President Abraham Lincoln when he issued the call for volunteers. It went on to take part in every significant battle in the war in the East from 1861 to 1864. In remarkable detail, Wright describes the fighting at Bull Run, the Peninsula Campaign, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the New York draft riots, and Bristoe Station. The most grueling battle for the First was Gettysburg. Detached from the main body of its regiment, Company F missed the bloody fighting on July 2 when the First lost 82 percent of its men in a suicidal attack. But the next day, Company F and the remnant of the First helped stop Pickett's Charge. The First's sacrifice inspired Gen. Winfield S. Hancock to reflect, "There is no more gallant a deed recorded in history." Wright's account of the battle is striking in its description of the horror the men felt at facing their foes, their determination to do their duty, and the shock of the loss of so many of their comrades." Wright recalls the long marches, the poor food, the inadequate shelter, the dedicated officers, the debilitating illnesses, the longing for home, and the sense of pride in carrying out the struggle to preserve the Union. For conveying what the Civil War meant to one man, it is unmatched.