There is more to the Civil War than stories of soldiers and battles...
The patriotic spirit spread through the country and in Minnesota, only just made a state of the Union in 1858, it was no different. From all over men young and old answered the call of their nation in its' time of turmoil, prepared to lay down their lives to preserve the Union and free a race of people in bondage. But their service is only the tip of the iceberg, only one sliver of the story to be told.
While the soldiers marched away, other trials and tests would await those left behind. Life had to go on; fields and farms still needed tending and the work wasn't about to wait on men off at war. As they had before, a thousand times previously in nations and conflicts throughout history, women stepped forward to ensure that life went on. Wives, sisters and mothers lent their shoulders to plows and took up jobs in stores and businesses like never before. They not only filled the shoes of those that had gone off to fight, but in the process a new confidence began to be sown in a generation of women than would be as affected by the war as the men that went off to fight in it. They had found a measure of freedom, and they liked it.
Those men who were left behind at home, for whatever reason, found themselves living in a time and place when one knew the world was changing forever. Where one could see the beginning of struggles to come, and a march towards a very different America.
As the war raged, families struggled to make a life for themselves. Each day might be a fight to carve normalcy from the occasional chaos and surreal days of a conflict that could seem a thousand miles away.
There are many stories lost to history, many ordinary lives that possess tales of extraordinary courage and strength. The Civilians of the 5th Minnesota seek to portray these everyday people, caught up in a less than ordinary time.
You could meet families, torn between their patriotism and fear for their loved ones. Women and men doing their best to till the land, and to make life grow in a time of death and destruction. Ordinary people, faced with events and passions that propelled them to places they never dreamed. Like the Soldiers of the 5th Minnesota, these people you might meet will greet you as they would and help you to take a step back into time. You could meet immigrants, yearning for a life better than they had ever known for their children. Women who found a voice and stood forward to challenge the evils of their day; from slavery to sufferage. More than anything, you will find yourself understanding better what sacrifice was made in both the fields of War, and those of Wheat and Home. So come and discover for yourself what stories remain untold, and of the amazing unsung everyday people who called Minnesota their home.
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