RICHARD MOE:

Richard Moe was born on November 27, 1936 in Duluth, Minnesota, the son of Russell James and Virginia Mary (Palmer) Moe. He graduated from Williams College in 1959 and then served as administrative assistant to Minneapolis Mayor Arthur Naftalin (1961-1962), as administrative assistant to Minnesota Lieutenant Governor A. M. Keith (1963-1966), and studied for a law degree at the University of Minnesota. He passed the Minnesota state bar in 1967 and in the same year became financial director of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He became chairman of the DFL in 1969 and continued in that post until 1972 when he joined the Washington office of Senator Walter Mondale. In 1977 Moe became Mondale's vice presidential chief of staff and a member of the Carter senior staff.

Following the Carter-Mondale administration Moe joined the Washington office of the New York law firm Davis, Polk & Wardwell, became a partner of the firm in 1985, and also served as a senior adviser to Michael Dukakis in his 1988 Democratic presidential campaign. In 1993, the year that Moe's history of the First Minnesota Infantry Regiment was published, Moe was elected the seventh president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A second book, Changing Places: Rebuilding Community in the Age of Sprawl, coauthored by Moe and Carter Wilkie, was published by Henry Holt and Company in 1997.

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The collection represents the primary sources, published materials, and background information that Moe gathered from a variety of sources--including private collections, county historical societies, the Minnesota Historical Society, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, the Library of Congress, and other researchers--for his Civil War history of the men of the First Minnesoa Infantry Regiment. The collection includes photocopies and typed transcripts of letters, diaries, reminiscences, contemporary and retrospective newspaper reports, biographical data, obituaries, magazine articles, book excerpts, unpublished research papers, National Park Service battlefield pamphlets, and photographs. These materials describe the men of the First Minnesota Infantry and their experiences in the very first regiment volunteered to the Union Army as well as the regiment that suffered the highest percentage of losses of any Union regiment at both the First Battle of Bull Run and Gettysburg.

The letters, diaries, and reminiscences discuss personal and family matters, camp life, food, clothing, marches, the election of officers, the enlisted men's opinion of their officers and Union command, descriptions of the regiment's stations in the eastern campaign, observations of civilian sentiment, and the regiment's participation in skirmishes and several major battles of the Civil War. Biographical data, obituaries, news clippings, and other materials provide information about the lives and careers of the regiment's members after the War.

Key topics include the regiment's drill at Fort Snelling (Minn.) and transfer to Washington, D.C. (April-June 1861); the regiment's participation at the First Battle of Bull Run (July 1861); drills, picket duty, and winter quarters at Camp Stone on the Potomac River near Edwards Ferry (Aug. 1861-Feb. 1862); the Battle of Antietam (Sept. 1862); the Battle of Fredericksburg (Dec. 1862); the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1863); its duty as a provost guard during the draft in Brooklyn, New York (Aug.-Sept. 1863); and its return and discharge at Fort Snelling (May 1864). Correspondent Edward A. Walker also discusses his employment with the U.S. Military Railroads in Nashville (Tenn.) after his discharge (1865) and Joseph H. Spencer discusses his service with the U.S. Signal Corps during and following the War.

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The papers are arranged in three groups consisting of files pertaining to individual regiment members, to places such as camps and battlefields, and to sources such as county historical societies and libraries. Additional files include photographs and materials compiled for use in the book's epilogue.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Richard Moe. First Minnesota Infantry Regiment Letters and Research Files. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 14,667; 15,423

Processing Information:

Processed by: Frank Hennessy, November 1992; Monica Manny Ralston, May 2001.

Catalog ID number: 990017293010104294

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Moe's history of the First Minnesota Infantry Regiment, The Last Full Measure: the Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers, published by Henry Holt in 1993 and reissued by the Minnesota Historical Society Press in 2001 is available in the Minnesota Historical Society book collection.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Bull Run, Battle of, Va., 1861.

Peninsular Campaign, 1862.

Antietam, Battle of, Md., 1862.

Fredericksburg (Va.), Battle of, 1862.

Gettysburg (Pa.), Battle of, 1863.

Military camps.

Military railroads -- Tennessee -- Nashville.

Places:

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Regimental histories.

Persons:

Berry, Amos Osmon, 1834-1913.

Best, Balthasar.

Colvill, William, 1830-1905.

Dana, Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh, 1822-1905.

Davis, Edward L.

Goddard, Charley, d. 1868.

Gorman, Willis Arnold, 1816-1876.

Lochren, William, 1832-1912.

McEwen, John, -1862.

Marvin, Matthew, 1838-1903.

Mead, Frank J., 1839-1908.

Pressnell, Thomas H., 1843-1915.

Spencer, Joseph H., 1835-187-.

Taylor, Isaac Lyman, 1837-1863.

Taylor, Patrick Henry, 1838- .

Walker, E. A. (Edward A.).

Organizations:

United States. Army. Minnesota Infantry Regiment, 1st (1861-1864).

United States. Army. Signal Corps.

Titles:

Last full measure.

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