From 1861 to 1865, our nation was engaged in its most costly conflict. The Civil War divided the nation pitting neighbor against neighbor. The war’s unprecedented violence at battle such as Shiloh, Antietam and Gettysburg was shocking. In less than four years roughly 2% of the population, an estimated 620,000, lost their lives.

Those that survived formed the backbone of America’s great post Civil War western migration. Over 1,100 Civil War veterans came to Otter Tail County. They took homesteads, established businesses and in general, played active roles in the county’s development.

One of these men was Charles Smith.

Smith enlisted in the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry joining the ranks of Company D, the Lincoln Guards. While the 1st sustained high casualties at the battles of First Bull Run and Antietam, it was during the Battle of Gettysburg that they took their place in history.

On July 2, 1863, during the second day of fighting, General Winfield Scott ordered the 1st to assault a much larger Confederate force. He ordered Colonel William Colvill to take the enemy’s colors. The 1st fully and instantly executed the order despite enduring an 82% casualty rate. Their action contributed to the preservation of a key Union position on the heights of Cemetery Ridge. The unit’s flag is now in the Minnesota State Capital rotunda.

After the war Charles Smith came to Otter Tail County. He first lived in Fergus Falls where he was chief of police the first time the city went dry. He later moved to Maine Township to farm.

Revered for his military service, Smith was a renaissance man with wide interests. His obituary described him as an intellectual and noted conversationalist with an encyclopedic knowledge on almost any topic. He was also a talented musician known for his skill with the “musical keyboard” in addition to his singing. When Charles Smith died on January 29, 1909, Wheelock’s Weekly lamented his “wonderful personality would be especially missed.”