Captain Erwin Shelly

Erwin Y. Shelly was thirty-four year old resident of Saint Paul, Minnesota when he was appointed a First Lieutenant on November 4, 1861. He was promoted to Captain of Company K on February 1, 1862. With the rest of the Minnesota volunteers he was transferred to service in Minnesota on February 25, 1864.

Following his discharge in 1865, Shelly returned to his original profession, as a printer. In a collection of articles from the Daily Pioneer Press which was published under the title Reminiscences of Pioneer Days in Saint Paul, there is an interesting biography about Shelley. It says, in part:

Capt. Shelly was a member of the old Pioneer guards, and when President Lincoln called for men to suppress the rebellion the old patriotism was aroused in him, and he organized, in company with Major Brackett, a company for what was afterward known as Brackett's battalion…

Brackett's battalion was the only Minnesota force engaged at Fort Donelson, and, although they were not in the thickest of the fight, yet they performed tremendous and exhaustive service in preventing the rebel Gen. Buckner from receiving reinforcements. After the surrender the regiment was kept on continual scout duty, as the country was overrun with bands of guerrillas and the inhabitants nearly all sympathized with them…

On the 25th of August, 1862, Fort Donalson was attacked by the rebels and this regiment was ordered to its relief. This attack of the rebels did not prove to be very serious, but on the 5th of February, 1863, the rebels under Forrest and Wheeler made a third attack on Fort Donelson. They were forced to retire, leaving a large number of their dead on the field, but fortunately none of the men under Capt. Shelly were injured. Nearly the entire spring and summer of 1863 was spent in scouring the country in the vicinity of the Tennessee river, sometimes on guard duty, sometimes on the picket line and often in battle. They were frequently days and nights without food or sleep, but ever kept themselves in readiness for an attack from the wily foes…

After receiving a number of recruits at Fort Snelling, the command, on the 14th of May, 1864, received orders to report to Gen. Sully at Sioux City, who was preparing to make a final campaign against the rebellious Sioux…

Apparently, Shelly performed his civilian duties with dignity and professionalism. But he was not self-serving. And the biographical entry ends on a somber note, saying, "Captain Shelly was almost painfully modest, seldom alluding to the many stirring events with which he had been an active participant… Political preferment and self-assurance keep some men constantly before the public eye, while others, the men of real merit, who have spent the best part of their lives in the service of their country, are often permitted by an ungrateful community to go down to their graves unhonored and unsung."