A local group of historians is planning to hold an event honoring the battle that unfolded at Gettysburg during the civil war. The roughly hour-long event will take place on Sunday, November 19 at 2:00 p.m. at Oakwood Cemetery near the gravesite of First Sargent James H Akers. Akers was killed at Gettysburg and brought to Hastings by his father in 1863.

The event will be led by Spencer Johnson, who will talk about the history of the civil war and what led up to Gettysburg. There will be some re-enactments as well as Mayor Mary Fasbender reading the Gettysburg Address. Johnson gave a brief summary of the things he would be covering at the event.

“The story the second day, the First Minnesota was being held reserved. And when the regiment starts, it's about 1000 men, where they were like 363 men at that time, it was a couple years into the war. They're being held in reserve. So, they're sitting on the bench, basically, if it was a basketball game, and then there's this general from New York who was a political general, and he decided to move his guys. A big part of the strategy is you got to keep that line solid. So, think of a chessboard, you don't want to have big gaps in that front. This guy thought he'd be a hero and he took his regiment, and he goes running and attacks a wing of confederates, which leaves a big gap of this line. As soon as that happened, there was some brigade from Alabama who sees this gap and they get the orders to charge that opening. So, they're running across this field, coming towards that gap and if they can get inside there, they can turn the flank to break into the center and push guys out. Anyway, this Hancock guy is right and up and down the line, and he sees what's going on from a distance and he sees the First Minnesota guys sitting in the grass or waiting for orders. He asks what regiment this is and there is a colonel, a guy named Colvill, he was an officer from Red Wing, and he's buried in Cannon Falls. So, these guys all got up and they go running down to stop these men until more reinforcements can come in. It was only 15 minutes, but they took a huge amount of casualties and they knew they would because I mean it was you know, there's like 2000 Confederates coming up and you got less than 300 soldiers from Minnesota,” explained Johnson.

“Any book on Gettysburg is going to have something on the First Minnesota, there are several paintings of this particular event including one big one at the State Capitol. It was a big deal. They saved the day by holding that part of the line but they took a lot of casualties. James Akers was a sergeant who was killed at Gettysburg and buried on the field. It was not unusual for parents to have the remains brought back home and that is what they did with James. He buried here in town next to his little brother who drowned a year before. There are others from the Hastings Company such as CP Adams,” added Johnson.

There will be other speakers, as a part of the event that is expected to last around an hour. Oakwood Cemetery is the cemetery behind Hastings High School on Featherstone Road. Parking is at the High School and guests are encouraged to bring their favorite folding chair so that they will be comfortable during the presentation.