Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission
    • Hours and Location
    • Staff & Contacts
    • Board of Directors
    • Accessibility & Accommodations >
      • Site Map
    • Employment
    • HCSCC Supporters
  • Visit Us
    • Accessibility & Accommodations >
      • Social Story
    • Events >
      • History On Tap!
      • Pangea 2025
    • Exhibitions >
      • Home of Memories: Portraits and Stories of Kurdish and Iraqi Minnesotans
      • Land to Table: Food Stories from Clay County
      • Njal's Saga Tapestry
      • The Unchosen Ones
      • Trådar
      • Treasures from Norway
    • Online Exhibits >
      • At Last: Marriage Equality
      • Stories of Local Black History
    • The Hjemkomst >
      • Be More Colorful VR Tour
    • The Hopperstad Stave Church >
      • Be More Colorful VR Tour
    • Comstock House
    • Felix Battles Monument
    • Bergquist Cabin
    • Field Trips/Tours
  • Shop
  • Join & Support
    • Join Today
    • Enewsletter
    • Donate to HCSCC
    • Volunteer/Intern Opportunities
  • Research
    • COVID19 in Clay County
    • HCSCC Blog
    • Clay County Archives & Research >
      • Holdings
      • Finding Aids
      • Maps >
        • Fire Insurance Maps
        • Plat Books
      • Digital Books
    • General Photo Catalog
    • Falten-Wange Collection
    • Newsletters
    • HCSCC on MNopedia

Image: an 1888 story from the Moorhead Daily News. The text reads as follows: A March 13, 1888, story from the Moorhead Weekly News. Felix's first shop was in the Jay Cooke Hotel.
Who is Felix Battles?

​Felix Battles was called "the pioneer barber of the Red River Valley." He arrived in Moorhead shortly after the city was founded in the 1870s and lived here until he died in 1907. Battles was born into slavery in the early 1840s on a cotton plantation near Memphis, TN, and lived his childhood enslaved near Holly Springs, MS.

Sometime between 1856-1860, Felix gained his freedom. He likely escaped his enslavers, but the story has been lost to history. He is listed in the 1860 census in Dubuque, Iowa, with three people who share his last name – perhaps his mother and two brothers? An aunt and two cousins? For some time he worked steamboats on the Mississippi in St. Paul. On August 8, 1864, he became one of more than 100 African Americans to join the Union Army from Minnesota. He served with the 18th United States Colored Infantry, and in November he was promoted to corporal. As a member of this regiment, he took part in the crucial Battle of Nashville, a Union victory that brought Battles back to his home state of Tennessee and effectively took the Confederate Army out of the western theater of the Civil War.

After the war, Battles worked on the Northern Pacific Railroad that brought him to the Red River Valley. He then worked as a traveling barber before setting up his own shop in Moorhead. A stroke forced him into retirement in 1905. He lived in south Moorhead with his wife Kate, her family, and their two children, Julia and Richard.


Image: an 1856 probate inventory for the estate of William Dawson in Holly Springs, Mississippi. A page from an 1856 probate inventory for the estate of plantation owner William Dawson in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

Why build a monument?
​

As our nation debates how the Civil War will be remembered in our schools, textbooks, and public spaces, we believe that Felix Battles embodied both a national Civil War hero and an integral part of our local history.

​We also think his story should be told loudly and clearly. Throughout our national history, stories like Felix's have been intentionally and systematically overlooked or erased. Our difficulties researching his life affirm this: no birth certificate, no photographs, no personal artifacts. His first public record? An anonymous listing in an 1850 slave schedule in Shelby County, Tennessee. His next? A name, Felix, in an 1856 Mississippi probate inventory. One of 68 enslaved men, women, and children. A 13-yr-old valued at $600. 

A monument in Felix's memory promotes a greater interest in his story and others like it. A monument also stands to remind our future generations that many forgotten heroes — particularly among people of color — have made great sacrifices for this community. Felix can be admired for overcoming a lifetime of injustice and adversity, and he can be remembered for his bravery. After escaping slavery, he risked his life as an American soldier to free his fellow Americans and preserve the Union. After the war, he moved north to the frontier, married, raised a family, and built both a home and a business.

In short, we believe Felix Battles is a man Moorhead can be proud of.



Image: an 1888 chromalithograph detailing the Battle of Nashville. Confederate soldiers are shown in various stages of death in the foreground. Union troops, including the USCT, overtake them from a hill.An 1888 Kurz and Allison chromalithograph detailing the Battle of Nashville. USCT members are at the top of the hill.

Who were the U.S. Colored Troops?
​

​"Arms in the hands of slaves had been the nightmare of Southern whites for generations. In 1863, the nightmare came true. It achieved a new dignity, self-respect, and militancy for the former slaves who fought for the Union. It helped them achieve equal citizenship and equal rights – for a time – after the war." - James McPherson, Historian

On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln's executive order known as the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. Remembered mostly for freeing all enslaved people in the rebelling states, the proclamation also called for the active recruitment of black soldiers. Although some states like South Carolina, Louisiana, Kansas, and Massachusetts formed early regiments as state militia, black units came to be federalized as the United States Colored Troops (USCT).

Eventually 209,145 black American men served in the United States military during the Civil War, accounting for more than 10% of the Union Army and more than 25% of the Union's Navy. Most often, these servicemen were born enslaved, freed themselves by escaping to Union lines, and joined the army to fight for their fellow citizens in bondage. Through their bravery they overcame otherwise insurmountable obstacles; the war would not have been won without them.

After the war, many USCT soldiers returned home to rebuild and remake the south as a free land. The US government protected the new rights of black Americans in the era known as Reconstruction (1865-1877). USCT veterans often became leaders of the newly enfranchised Black communities and several USCT veterans were even elected to state legislatures. When Reconstruction ended in 1877, white supremacists regained control of southern governments and cultures through violence. Rights were taken, votes were suppressed, lynching and incarceration skyrocketed, and the USCT's crucial efforts in winning the war were purposely overlooked and concealed while Confederates were commemorated.



Picture

Remembering and Memorializing Felix Battles

The Felix Battles Monument Committee composed of Fargo-Moorhead area Black community leaders worked together on this project with the help of other volunteers, the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County, and Minnesota State University Moorhead. 

​Felix Battles’ old home stood next to the Paseka School of Business at Minnesota State University Moorhead – the perfect place for a statue of a pioneer Black businessman. Thanks to the funding provided by local and state donors, the monument and interpretative panels telling the story of Felix's life have been fully installed. We wish to extend our deepest appreciation to the many donors who made creating and erecting this monument and panels possible.

The Felix Battles Monument is located on the campus of Minnesota State University Moorhead on 11th Street at about 8th Avenue South.


If you wish to sustain our efforts preserving local history, stop by the Hjemkomst Center to make a donation or donate online here. 
​
This publication was made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Any views, findings, opinions, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society, or the Minnesota Historic Resources Advisory Committee.


Felix Battles Documentary


Visit Us

Hours & Location

Exhibitions

Events

Tours

Archives

Resources

About Us

Membership

Donate

Contact

Employment


Accessibility

Site Map

Accommodations

Connect

© COPYRIGHT 2025  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Mission
    • Hours and Location
    • Staff & Contacts
    • Board of Directors
    • Accessibility & Accommodations >
      • Site Map
    • Employment
    • HCSCC Supporters
  • Visit Us
    • Accessibility & Accommodations >
      • Social Story
    • Events >
      • History On Tap!
      • Pangea 2025
    • Exhibitions >
      • Home of Memories: Portraits and Stories of Kurdish and Iraqi Minnesotans
      • Land to Table: Food Stories from Clay County
      • Njal's Saga Tapestry
      • The Unchosen Ones
      • Trådar
      • Treasures from Norway
    • Online Exhibits >
      • At Last: Marriage Equality
      • Stories of Local Black History
    • The Hjemkomst >
      • Be More Colorful VR Tour
    • The Hopperstad Stave Church >
      • Be More Colorful VR Tour
    • Comstock House
    • Felix Battles Monument
    • Bergquist Cabin
    • Field Trips/Tours
  • Shop
  • Join & Support
    • Join Today
    • Enewsletter
    • Donate to HCSCC
    • Volunteer/Intern Opportunities
  • Research
    • COVID19 in Clay County
    • HCSCC Blog
    • Clay County Archives & Research >
      • Holdings
      • Finding Aids
      • Maps >
        • Fire Insurance Maps
        • Plat Books
      • Digital Books
    • General Photo Catalog
    • Falten-Wange Collection
    • Newsletters
    • HCSCC on MNopedia