I love stories like this. Minnesota refuses to surrender to the Feds a Virginia Reb flag it captured during The Civil War. My favorite quote is from Governor Ventura -- who btw announced today he will not run for reelection -- "Why? I mean, we won."

States' rights, states' rights.... (Ventura is correct.)

I've got to send this to a friend who once argued with me that Minnesota (which became a state in 1858, right?), did not participate in the U.S. Civil War. Though the upper midwest was sparsely populated compared to the rest of the north during 1861-1865, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin all fielded Union regiments that helped win the war. BTW, did Oregon, which entered in 1859, field any regiments? I can't remember.

Minnesota, which became the nation's 32nd state admitted to the Union on May 11, 1858, sent 21 regiments to fight in the Civil War. Oregon, the nation's 33rd state (Feb 14, 1859) had two regiments.

(I'll reserve the right to claim common knowledge for the states entry into the Union, but as backup: State Admission Dates)

For the information about Civil War Regiments, I found this: Civil War Regiments

[ June 19, 2002: Message edited by: Chip ]

C'mon, Chip; Doris Kearns Goodwin got in trouble for that. What's your source for this info?

Edited to add:
Thanks, Chip. The attribution police are now satisified.

[ June 20, 2002: Message edited by: twin58 ]