I adore Civil War history, so of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the heroics of the First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. On July 2, General Winfield Scott Hancock had a problem to deal with: Daniel Sickles had led his corps out of position, and it got badly mauled. The Southerners were approaching the center of the line, with a nice big hole in it. He turned to Colonel William Colvill for help, and he, in turn, led his 262 men into the face of two brigades totaling nearly 10 times their number. They lost 215 men killed or wounded, the highest casualty percentage (82%) of any American military unit before or since; but they weren’t done. The next day, reconstituted with two detached companies elsewhere, they earned a Medal of Honor when they again charged into the advancing Confederate line and took the colors of the 28th Virginia. The colors of the 1st Minnesota hang in our state capitol; the colors of the 28th Virginia are in the basement of our state archives. Virginia has asked for them back several times over the last 160 years. We told them - politely, as we are Minnesotan - to get fucked.