Civil War POW to Dakota War to Civil War: Orrin Mills Journey with the Third Minnesota Infantry Regiment
Orrin Oliver Mills: 1840-1917 (Maternal Second-Great-Granduncle)
I knew
that Orrin O. Mills was a Civil War Veteran, but until I recently started
researching his regiment and unit, I had no idea what a wild, eventful wartime
experience he survived. The Third Minnesota Infantry regiment was a volunteer
unit that, between its formation in 1861 and its demuster in 1865, had served
in the Civil War, been taken as prisoners of war by Nathan Bedford Forrest’s
cavalry, had been sent to fight the Dakota War back in Minnesota, and then sent
back to serve in the Civil War. The Third was also the Minnesota unit with the
highest casualty count--due to disease, not battlefield injuries.
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| Orrin Mills' Civil War Regiment Pin. Photo courtesy of June Marcus on Family Search. |
Orrin
Oliver Mills was born July 7, 1840 in Hermon Township, St. Lawrence County, New
York, to parents Joel Mills and Orpha Pratt Mills. He was the youngest of Joel
and Orpha’s five children, and he also had two older half siblings. At some
point before 1850, father Joel moved his family west, settling first in Dodge
County and then moving to Jefferson County, Wisconsin. Joel Mills died January
31, 1858 when Orrin was 17 years old.
Some Mills
family members, including Orrin, moved further west to Minnesota, settling in
the Blue Earth County area. On October 1, 1861, just months after the start of
the Civil War, Orrin enlisted in the Third Minnesota Volunteer Infantry
Regiment. He was twenty-one years old. His company, Company I, was formed from
volunteers from the Blue Earth/Le Seuer County area, so the unit probably
included many of his young friends and acquaintances.
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| Civil War photo of Orrin Mills, courtesy of June Marcus on Findagrave |
According
to histories of the regiment, the Third Minnesota organized at Fort Snelling in
Minneapolis, and was then sent to Louisville, Kentucky in November of 1861.
They guarded the railroad line in Louisville, and protected Military Governor
Andrew Johnson. In April 1862, the regiment was sent to Murfreesboro, Tennessee
to join the 23rd Brigade of the Army of the Ohio. On July 13, a
Confederate Cavalry brigade commanded by Col. Nathan B. Forrest conducted a
surprise attack on the Union forces in Murfreesboro.
According
to Mnopedia, the Third Minnesota “encountered and repulsed two attacks by the
Second Georgia Cavelry…before being overrun by Forrest, who burned the
officers’ tents.” The Union commander of the 23rd Brigade
surrendered, and the entire 3rd Minnesota Regiment, except for one
company that had been assigned duty elsewhere, became prisoners of war. They
were marched to St. Louis where they were held in the Benton Barracks until
late August when they were paroled and sent back to Minnesota to fight in the
US-Dakota War.
.jpg) |
| Orrin's Civil War Record |
The
regiment faced the more of the ugly reality of war in Minnesota. One of their
first assignments was burying settlers who had been killed by the Dakota
warriors. The regiment then fought at the battle of Wood Lake, described by one
of the regiment’s soldiers in a letter to a family member:
“We saw
any amount of Indians on every little knoll. They seemed to be on almost every
side of us…They undertook to turn our left flank & get between us and the
camp. Major Fowle rode up in front of the men & told them that Col. Sibley
ordered them back to camp & told them to get back to camp the best way they
could. He seemed much frightened & turned & rode back to camp as fast
as he could…Soon everything was in confusion & every man on his own hook.
As soon as the Indians saw the retreat, they came pouring in from all quarters,
firing into our crowd as fast as they could. We kept retreating, loading &
turning & firing as fast as we could…On the top of the hill we made a stand
while the Indians took possession of the ravine…”
Ordered to
retreat, the 3rd Minnesota disobeyed, and charged the Dakota
warriors, helping to turn the course of the battle. The Minnesota forces
prevailed; it was the final battle of the Dakota War. The 3rd
Minnesota lost four men in the battle.
Following
that battle, the regiment “foraged” upon the town of New Ulm which had been
attacked by Dakota warriors. I am not sure what that phrase meant—did they try
to resupply by forcibly taking goods from the settlers they were supposed to
protect, or is there a more innocent meaning?
The Third
Minnesota was then ordered back to Fort Snelling, where they expected to be
paid as other regiments fighting the Dakota War had been. However, the Army for
some reason withheld their pay. The men of the Third Minnesota rioted in St.
Paul in protest. I can find no record indicating how serious the riot may have
been, or whether the pay dispute was resolved, but by January the regiment was
on the move, marching back to the Civil War.
The Third
Minnesota was sent to Tennessee where they helped to retake Fort Heiman on the
Tennessee River early in 1863. They conducted counter-guerrilla operations
against Confederate troops along the river. Colored Troop units were being
organized at the fort, and the Third Minnesota contributed 82 officers for these
new units, making it among the top ten sources for USCT officers in the entire
Union Army.
In June
1863, the Third Minnesota was sent to Vicksburg and helped to take the city.
They were then assigned to the “Arkansas Expedition” to seize Little Rock. They
were the first infantry regiment to enter the city. Stanley M. Arthurs painted
the regiment entering Little Rock over a pontoon bridge. The painting now hangs
in the Minnesota Capitol. They spent several months serving as Provost Guard in
Little Rock protecting the state’s constitutional convention.
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In April
1864, most of the regiment re-enlisted, lured by both patriotism and the
promise of bonuses. Orrin re-enlisted as well. The regiment then became known
as a “veteran unit”, staffed by experienced soldiers.
The Third Minnesota was sent to Pine Bluff, Arkansas that spring, where the heat, mosquitos and contaminated water sources were devastating. Many of the troops fell ill from malaria. The regiment had no quinine (the only treatment for malaria at the time) despite repeated pleas to headquarters from their officers. At one point, so many troops were ill that there weren’t enough healthy troops to bury the regiments’ dead; soldiers from other regiments had to be brought in to handle the burial detail. One of the regiment’s colonels wrote in desperation to Minnesota’s governor and Senator Ramsey, which finally produced results. The state sent the regiment a surgeon carrying a large supply of quinine. Some of the troops were sent home on furlough to recover—many boarding the train home on stretchers-- while the others were sent to a healthier site in Arkansas. Over one hundred soldiers from the regiment were buried in Arkansas.
I can’t
imagine how a young man like Orrin who had grown up in the cooler states of New
York and Minnesota dealt with the debilitating heat, humidity and disease. He
must have been so afraid, watching the suffering and death of his friends and
comrades and fearing for his own health. Somehow Orrin survived.
At some
point during the final years of the war, Orrin was promoted from private to
corporal. He mustered out at war’s end in September 1865 in Arkansas. The regiment
headed back to Minnesota, where they attended a celebratory dinner in Red Wing
before heading to Fort Snelling. Eager to return to their homes, they turned
down St. Paul’s offer of a parade and banquet in their honor and were
discharged from service on September 16, 1865.
.jpg) |
| Orrin Mills' Civil War pension record |
Orrin was
only 24 years old when he was mustered out of the army. He went home to
Blue Earth County and began farming. He married Harriet Jane Britt on April 21, 1868,
and their daughter, Carrie Belle Mills, was born a year later on July 6, 1869.
Tragically, Harriet died six days later from childbirth complications. Eight months
later, Orrin married Harriet’s sister, Martha Isabelle Britt. They had six
children of their own.
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| Orrin and Martha Mills and six of their children, circa 1887. Photo courtesy of totapaint on Findagrave. |
In 1891, Orrin and Martha and five of their children moved to Kitsap County, Washington where Orrin started farming in the Port Orchard area. Eventually their eldest son, Olney Orrin Mills, moved to Port Orchard as well.
Orrin died
October 31, 1917 at age 77. According to his obituary, he was still a vigorous,
active man up until the moment of death:
“Up till 2
o’clock he had been working on his place picking apples, after which he took
his gun and went out hunting. Returning in the evening, he took his milk pail
and went to the barn to do the milking.” He collapsed “just as he had taken the
milking stool in his hands” and was found dead of a heart attack by one of his
daughters. Orrin was buried at Bethel Cemetery in Kitsap County, Washington.
His headstone bears the inscription:
Life’s race well run,
Life’s work well done,
Life’s
Crown well won,
Now
comes rest.”
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| Photo by Mick Hersey on Findagrave. |
A fitting
tribute for a veteran of a renowned Civil War regiment.
Sources:
Union
Regimental Histories: Minnesota. Third Regiment Infantry. http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/unmninf1.htm
3rd
Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. http://Libguides.mnhs.org/cwmu/infantry3
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers.htm#sort=score+desc&q=orrin+mills
Third
Minnesota Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment. https://www.mnopedia.org/third-minnesota-volunteer-infantry-regiment
Photos of
Mills’ Civil War Pin and Mills in Civil War, posted by June Mills Marcus n
Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/46986934/person/24020284640/media/04ebe18b-62d3-4cf5-b198-6ce5280d12ed?_phsrc=Acy5398&usePUBJs=true&galleryindex=3&albums=pg&showGalleryAlbums=true&tab=0&pid=24020284640&sort=-created
Painting-
"Third Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Entering Little Rock" by Stanley
M Arthurs. https://collections.mnhs.org/search/collections/record/10413809?__hstc=98931905.c78978b6bb3504b2a5ad823a719f44a0.1718063865104.1719612820147.1719630157282.6&__hssc=98931905.2.1719630157282&__hsfp=2678111119
Minnesota
in the Civil and Indian Wars 1861-1865.
Charles E. Flandreau. Minnesota Board of Commissioners on Publication of
History of Minnesota. https://archive.org/details/minnesotacivil01minnrich/page/164/mode/2up
Drawing of
Battle of Wood Lake, by Colonel Alonzo Putnam Connolly - Minnesota Historical
Society - https://www.usdakotawar.org/history/multimedia/wood-lake
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