3rd Minnesota Infantry

Died in Little Rock, AR in 1864. Source credited to Lois Johnson (lebjohnson@aol.com).

The Third Minnesota had taken part in the Dakota Conflict of 1862 before being sent south to participate in the Union's successful siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in the summer of 1863. In September the regiment moved north to Little Rock, Arkansas, in an action that captured the city with almost no bloodshed. Stanley M. Arthur's painting shows the regiment's entry into Little Rock early on the morning of September 11, 1863, over a pontoon bridge spanning the Arkansas River. The men of the Third Minnesota raised the United States flag over the Arkansas capitol that day and stood guard duty in Little Rock for the next nine months. Friedrich Volkenant died at Little Rock September 4, 1865.

John R. Bennett was born 1 Feb 1802 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. He married Susana A.E. Miller on 5 April 1840. John served in the Mexican War in 1847, listed from Iowa, as a member of Company K of the US 15th under General Scott; he was promoted to a Lieutenant on 13 Sept 1847 after the Battle of Chapultepec. In 1853, John was appointed to be the US Counsel at Bahia, Brazil, by President Benjamin Franklin Pierce, his commanding officer in the Mexican War; he resigned 5 months after his appointment at the direction of his unhappy wife. He lived in Chatfield, MN in 1857 while working as the US Land Register. My 2nd Great Grandmother, Alice Eugenia Bennett (Piers), his 7th child, was born 10 Oct 1860 in Minnesota. John was in charge of recruiting the Fillmore County Volunteers for the 3rd Minnesota that formed the backbone of Company C for the Civil War. At age 59, he was Captain of Company C when it mustered at Fort Snelling in the fall of 1861, and he was in charge of Company C when it was dispatched to Kentucky and Tennessee. John's wife, Susana, died 15 January 1862, perhaps due to the birth of her 8th child, Michael. On 17 Feb 1862, exactly 100 years before my date of birth, Capt. Bennett wrote to Col. Henry Lester that he was compelled to resign his commission to return home to his 7 orphaned children. His resignation was accepted 24 Feb 1862. John and his children are listed in the 1865 US Census living in Brownsville, MN. John's oldest son, William A. Bennett (1842-1912), was a Union Corporal & Sgt. in Company A of the Minnesota 2nd Infantry. Another son, Franklin Pierce Bennett (1855-1900) was a US Scout. John is listed in US Census reports as living in Washington DC in 1870, and was also listed as the oldest person residing in Fort Grant in Pima, Arizona in 1880 while the Apache Wars were raging nearby. John lived in San Francisco, CA at the time he was admitted into the newly established Veteran's Home in Yountville, Napa County, California, in the summer of 1888. He died in Yountville, CA on 18 Nov 1888 and is buried in the cemetery at the US Veteran's Home in Yountville, California.

My great grandfather... Enlisted October 9, 1861, Reenlisted 1864. Promo from Corporal to Sergeant. Discharged with regiment in 1865. Died of war related illness.

Ake (from Sweden) m- Carrie (from Norway) 6 children (Gertrude Helen Johnson) Alexandria & Sauk Rapids MN

Very interesting pension file on 'Bal' Day, my great-great uncle. His younger brother, George Webster Day, filed a fraudulent pension application in Bal's name. There are several affidavits from other men in the regiment attesting to William B. Day's identity.

Enlisted as a Private on 9 October 1861 at the age of 27. Mustered out on 14 November 1864.

My gt gt gt grandfather's brother. He died at Nashville in 1862, and is buried in the Nashville National Cemetery.