St. Charles area residents in the Civil War

By Craig Hilmer

The St. Charles Press recently ran an eight-part series containing excerpts of the letters between Private Chauncey J. Hill and his wife, Sarah. The Hill’s were a young farming couple just starting out on their own near Saratoga when the Union called on Hill to join the Army to fight the Confederates. What of others from the area who were called up with Hill to fight for the Union? In this article we’ll explore what we can find about area Civil War soldiers.

The first bunch of volunteers from Minnesota left to fight in 1861. In 1862 the Minnesota Regiments swelled due to the Dakota uprising of 1862. By 1863 Minnesota had been a state a mere 7 years, had been in either wars with the Indians or the Confederates or both for much of that time and needed new recruits. Area draft boards were set up.