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Nels Olans
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| Photo believed to have been taken after 1900
and before 1918 Image and permission to use it on the 15th website courtesy of Nels' Great Great Grandson Herb Haire Picture appearing above has been electronically cropped and enhanced by Deep Vee Productions To view the original image, which includes his wife and 10 children, click HERE. |
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Born January 8, 1842, Eiesland Fjotland near Flekkefjord, Kingdom of Norway
Parents were
Tor Oddson (17__-18__) and Joren Ryggesasen (17__-circa 1845__)
Immigrated to
America with Didrick Njavatn, 1860/1861
Married November 17, 1867, to Betsy
Johnson (1847-1928) at Winchester, Winnebago County, State of Wisconsin
Died late September, 1918, at his home in Greenville, Outagamie County,
Wisconsin.
Buried Grace Lutheran Church Cemetery, Town of Winchester,
Winnebago County, Wisconsin
Nils Olavus was enlisted under the name Nels Olans by Captain Ole C. Johnson in Company B of the 15th Wisconsin. He joined up on January 6, 1862, at the City of Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, for a 3 year term of service. The men of Company B called themselves the "Wergeland Guards" in honor of the famous Norwegian writer and poet, Henrik Wergeland. Nils was mustered into Federal service at the rank of Private on January 18, 1862, at Camp Randall, near Madison. At the time he was listed as 20 years old, not married, and a resident of Winchester, Winnebago County, Wisconsin.
After about 6 weeks at Camp Randall learning to be a soldier, Private Olans left there in early March, 1862, with his company and regiment to join the war. It is believed that from then until September, 1863, he was listed as "present" with the 15th. As such he would have participated in the successful siege of Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River in the State of Tennessee, and the surprise raid on Union City, Tennessee, in March and April, 1862. That summer he would have been with the 15th on campaign through Tennessee and the States of Mississippi and Alabama. In August and September he would have participated in the grueling 400 mile retreat with U.S. Major General Don Carlos Buell up to the City of Louisville, State of Kentucky, with the last 2 weeks being on half rations and short of water.
Private Olans would then have been present at the October 8, 1862, fighting at the Town of Perryville, Boyle County, Kentucky, which is also called the Battle of Chaplin Hills. While this was the 15th's first big battle, it emerged without any fatalities. On December 26, 1862, he would have participated in the 15th's desperate charge upon a Confederate artillery battery at Knob Gap, Tennessee, just south of the City of Nashville. There the 15th captured a brass cannon. He would have also fought at the long, cold, wet, and bloody Battle of Stone River, Tennessee, also called the Battle of Murfreesboro, on December 30-31, 1862. It is there that the 15th first suffered serious battle casualties, and was cited for bravery.
The 15th camped in the Murfreesboro area for the next 6 months, except for 2 weeks in February when it was sent to the Town of Franklin, Tennessee. Starting June 23, 1863, the regiment took part in U.S. Major General Rosecrans' Tullahoma campaign. On July 3, 1863, the regiment went into camp at the Town of Winchester, Franklin County, Tennessee, for 6 weeks.
On August 17, 1863, the 15th left Winchester to participate in General Rosecran's Chickamauga campaign. Private Olans was present at the daring early morning crossing of the Tennessee River on August 28th, which the 15th led. He was also present at the September 19-20, 1863, fighting at Chickamauga, Georgia -- the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War. There he survived the vicious fighting around Viniard's Farm on the first afternoon, but was taken prisoner around midday on the 20th near Brotherton Field during Longstreet's Breakthrough. That was the last time he was with the 15th during the war. Some 63% of the 15th's soldiers who were at Chickamauga were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.
After the battle Private Olans was marched under guard to the Town of Tunnel Hill, Georgia, along with other captured 15th soldiers. From there he was transported by railroad train to the City of Atlanta, Georgia, and then on to the City of Richmond, State of Virginia, where he was confined in a prison beginning September 29, 1863. The Confederates held Private Olans as a prisoner of war for nearly a year before paroling him to Federal authorities on September 12, 1864. He was then reported as being "sick" in a U.S. Army hospital at the Town of Annapolis in the State of Maryland, and then later in a hospital at the City of Louisville in the State of Kentucky.
Private Olans was mustered out of Federal service on January 18, 1865, at Madison, Wisconsin. This was 6 weeks after the expiration of his 3 year term of service and the muster out of Company B on December 1, 1864, at the City of Chattanooga in the State of Tennessee.
After the war he got married and went by the name Nels Olavis Thorson. He and his wife had 11 children: Evelina born July 20, 1866; John (Tobias) born January 21, 1869; Cnute (Gilbert) born February 9, 1871; George (Alvin) born January 15, 1874; Charles Louis (1st) born January 13, 1876 (died January 8, 1885); Nettie Bertina born March 23, 1878; Elizabeth Judina born December 12, 1880; Julius Olavus born June 29, 1883; Charles Louis (2nd) born December 9, 1885; Isabelle Amelia (Amy) born October 28, 1888; and Maybell Louise born March 27, 1891. It is said that at his death at age 76 he was survived by 10 children, 51 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.
Sources: Genealogical data from Peter L. Christianson and Herb Haire; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillage [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] by Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1895); Regimental Descriptive Rolls, Volume 20 Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1885); and, Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, Volume I 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 June 5, 1999. Last updated January 31,
2005.