William Colvill, born April 5, 1830, in Forestville, New York, emigrated to Red Wing, Minnesota, in 1854, opened a law office, established the local newspaper the Sentinel in 1855, and at the outbreak of the Civil War raised the Goodhue County Volunteers and entered service in 1861 as captain in the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, later becoming its colonel in May 1863. The 1st Minnesota was the first regiment tendered to President Lincoln at the outbreak of the war and served three years in the Army of the Potomac, fighting at Bull Run, Ball's Bluff, the siege of Yorkton, construction of Grapevine Bridge across the Chickahominy River, Fair Oakes, Peach Orchard, Savage's Station, White Oak Swamp, Glendale, Malvern Hill, Flint Hill, Vienna, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Haymarket, Gettysburg, Bristow Station, and Mine Run. At Gettysburg on July 2nd, 1863, in a charge against the Confederate brigades of General Barksdale and General Wilcox, the regiment lost 82 percent of the men engaged; General Hancock said he had ordered the charge to gain five minutes until reinforcements could reach the threatened point and praised the regiment's willingness to make the sacrifice. On July 3rd, 1863, the regiment suffered a further loss of 15 percent of the men engaged while resisting General Pickett's charge of 15,000 men against the left center of the Union line. The regiment was successively commanded by Colonel Willis A. Gorman, Colonel Napoleon J. T. Dana, Colonel Alfred Sully, Colonel George N. Morgan, and Colonel Colvill; the first three became brigadier generals during the service through the regiment's valor, and the last two were breveted brigadier generals at the close of the war. Colvill was twice wounded during the war, was discharged with the regiment in 1864, and was mustered out in May 1865 with the brevet rank of brigadier general for gallant and meritorious service. He then resumed his law practice in Red Wing, served as editor of the Republican, was elected Minnesota attorney general and served from 1866-1868, served one term in the House of Representatives beginning in 1878, and in 1887 was appointed registrar of the federal land office at Duluth. A student of astronomy, mineralogy, and geology, he wrote A History of Glaciers in the Northwest. In 1867 he married Jane Morgan, born October 9, 1834, in Trenton Falls, New York, a direct descendant of Parson Brewster of the Mayflower colonists; she was noted for charity and church leadership, died in Duluth on November 13, 1894, and was buried in Cannon Falls Cemetery. Colvill died on June 12, 1905, and was buried beside her in the Cannon Falls Community Cemetery.