Bernt (Bernhardt) J. Madsen Sergeant in Company B 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry The Scandinavian Regiment

Post-war photo taken at Town of Sonora, State of California
Image WHI (X3) 30024, State Historical Society of Wisconsin
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Born August 18, 1840, Lillehammer, Kingdom of Norway

Bernhardt J. Madsen enlisted as Bernt J. Madsen for 3 years in Company B of the 15th Wisconsin on October 1, 1861. The men of Company B called themselves the Wergeland Guards in honor of Henrik Wergeland, the famous Norwegian writer and poet. Bernt was mustered into Federal service as a Private [Menig] at Camp Randall, near the City of Madison, Dane County, State of Wisconsin. At the time he was 22 years old and not married. His residence was listed as Town of Cambridge, Dane County, Wisconsin.

At a date prior to the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, Private Madsen was promoted to 3rd Sergeant (Sersjant). He was with Company B at the September 19-20, 1863, Battle of Chickamauga in the State of Georgia -- the second bloodiest battle of the war. Sergeant Madsen survived the vicious fighting around Viniard's Farm on the first afternoon of the battle, but was taken prisoner on the 20th near Brotherton Field during what is now called Longstreet's Breakthrough. He was then held as a prisoner of war in the City of Richmond in the State of Virginia. After his release from prison he mustered out of Federal service on January 27, 1865, at Madison, Wisconsin. This was nearly 2 months after the expiration of his 3 year term of service and the muster out of his company on December 1, 1864, at Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Sources: Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillage [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] by Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1895); Oberst Heg og Hans Gutter [Colonel Heg and His Men] by Waldemar Ager (Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 1916); Report of Missing From the 15th Regt. Wisconsin Vols. (Chattanooga, Tennessee, October 16, 1863); Regimental Descriptive Rolls, Volume 20 by the Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1885); and, Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, Volume 1 by the Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1886).

This page Copyright by Scott Cantwell Meeker of Deep Vee Productions.
All Rights Reserved. Created January 24, 1999. Last updated December 8, 2000.

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