Josiah Fay Marsh, a Canadian-born lawyer and Minnesota probate judge, commanded the 9th Minnesota Infantry as colonel after Colonel Alexander Wilkin’s death at the Battle of Tupelo in July 1864. He had already distinguished himself directing a rear-guard action against Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry at Brice’s Cross Roads, and he led the regiment through Price’s Missouri Expedition and the Mobile campaign until mustering out in 1865.