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Rupa Shenoy
St. Paul, Minn.

Ceremony honors Minnesota soldiers of Civil War

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A ceremony Saturday at Oakland Cemetery in St. Paul honors a Minnesotan who fell at the battle of Shiloh 150 years ago and was buried at Oakland.

The Battle of Shiloh was fought in Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., on April 6 and 7 in 1862. Capt. William Ackers of Minnesota was killed there at age 27.

The battle was a turning point in the Civil War said spokesman Jeffrey Williams of the Minnesota Civil War Commemoration Task Force.

"Prior to Shiloh people from both sides, they all thought it was going to be a very quick war. Shiloh was the first example of what kind of war the Civil War would become," Williams said. "It was the first major battle that inflicted large scale casualties and that served kind of as an eye-opener for everybody that this was going to be a whole lot different from what their preconceived notions were."

The event honors the 1st Minnesota Light Artillery, which fought at Shiloh. There will also be a headstone re-dedication for Captain Ackers.

"These guys were in the thick of the fighting. Their camp was overrun by the Confederates," Willams said. "Point blank, right in the center of the line. These are the guys that were pushed back and then ended up regrouping and did the frontal assault. So really the First Minnesota Light Artillery did a lot at Shiloh. And a lot that they haven't been recognized for over the last 150 years."