Andrew Ellicksen (Ellickson, Elickson, Eleckson) Andrew E. Brickson Anders Erikson Private in Company C 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry The Scandinavian Regiment

Photo is believed to have been taken sometime after May, 1862
Image WHi (X3) 30063, State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Picture shown above has been electronically enhanced by Deep Vee Productions
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Born December 28, 1838, Hafslo, Sogn, Kingdom of Norway
Parents were Erik Larsson Sjotun (1___-18__) and Martha Knudsdatter Bjornethune (1___-18__)
Immigrated to America, 1854, settling in Dane County, State of Wisconsin
Married February 26 or 28, 1868, to Betsey Steen (Betee Stein) (1___-18__)
Married at Town of Pleasant Springs, Dane County, Wisconsin
Died February 1, 1917, Town of Stoughton, Dane County, Wisconsin
Buried Eastside Cemetery, Stoughton, Wisconsin

Andrew Ellicksen enlisted under Captain Frederick Berg in Company C of the 15th Wisconsin on March 14, 1862 at the City of Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin.  That same day he was mustered into the Army at the rank of Private (Menig). This was 2 weeks after the 15th had left Wisconsin for the war.  Company C was the regimental Color Company, but its members called themselves the "Norway Bear Hunters."  At the time he was 23 years old and not married.  He is recorded as having blue eyes, dark hair, fair complexion, and standing 5 feet 10 inches tall.  His residence was listed as the Town of Pleasant Spring, Dane County, Wisconsin.

Private Ellicksen was listed as " present" with his company from sometime in late March, 1862, until August 31, 1863.  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 General Buell up to the City of Louisville, State of Kentucky, with the last 2 weeks being on half rations and short of water. 

Private Ellicksen would have also 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 following is from Buslett's 1895 history of the 15th Wisconsin. 

The 15th's commander, Colonel Hans C. Heg, submitted Private Ellicksen's name to headquarters and he was subsequently entered on the Roll of Honor for the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 20th Army Corps for his actions in the Battle of Stone River.

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 General Rosecrans' Tullahoma campaign.  On July 3, 1863, the 15th 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 Ellicksen is believed to have been present at the daring early morning crossing of the Tennessee River on August 28th, which the 15th led.  He was present at the September 19-20, 1863, fighting at Chickamauga, Georgia -- the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War.  There on the afternoon of the first day of the battle Private Ellicksen was taken prisoner during the vicious fighting around Viniard's Farm.  Some 63% of the 15th's soldiers who were at Chickamauga were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. 

Following his capture Private Ellicksen was transported by railroad train to the City of Atlanta, Georgia, and onto the City of Richmond, State of Virginia, the Confederate Capital.   There he was confined in the notorious Libby Prison beginning September 29, 1863.  On December 12, 1863, Private Ellicksen was transported to a prison in the Town of Danville, Virginia.  On June 9, 1864, he was admitted to the prison hospital there with "Variola" (Smallpox).  He was released back into the prison on June 26, 1864.  

Private Ellicksen is said to have then been transported to the infamous hellhole known as Andersonville Prison Camp in Georgia sometime in the summer of 1864, and then some 4 months later to a prison at the Town of Florence in the State of South Carolina.  On December 10, 1864, Private Ellicksen was finally paroled to Union forces at the City of Charleston, South Carolina, where the Civil War began.  He had been a prisoner nearly 15 months. 

After his release Private Ellicksen was reported as "present" at Camp Parole, City of Annapolis, State of Maryland, on December 16, 1864.  From there he is said to have been sent home to Wisconsin on furlough, after which he reported to Camp Chase at the City of Columbus, Ohio, on January 27, 1865.  He is noted as having reported to the Provost Marshal in Columbus on March 16, 1865.  This was the at the end of his 3 year term of service, at which point he should have been mustered out of the Army.  However, he was not mustered out until June 12, 1865, in Madison, Wisconsin.  The reason for this 3 month delay is not known, but it may be because he still needed medical treatment due to his imprisonment.

During the months between Private Ellicksen's release from prison and his belated muster out, the Army transferred him several times.  These were paper changes and had no effect on his physical location.  First he was transferred within the 15th from Company C to Company H when the former was mustered out at Chattanooga, Tennessee, on December 31, 1864.  When Company H, the last remaining company in the 15th, was mustered out in mid-February, 1865, the Army transferred him to Company I of the 13th Wisconsin Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment. 

After the war Andrew Ellicksen worked as a Farmer and lived in the Dane County Towns of Pleasant Spring, Dunn, Dunkirk, Rutland, and Windsor before settling in the Town of Stoughton, Wisconsin.  In 1885 he submitted an application for an Invalid Pension, which stated "That while in each prison from severe hardship and exposure he contracted rheumatism and heart disease."  In 1890 he amended his application to add "partial deafness and defective eyesight."  

In response to a 1898 questionnaire from the government, Andrew started that he and his wife had had 10 children: Annie Marie, born December 25, 1868; Ellick, September 7, 1870; Emma Sophia, September 17, 1871; Mary Ana, March 31, 1873; Julia Jensina, September 3, 1876; Louisa (Lovina), February 4, 1879; William (Willie) Severt, February 4, 1881; Millie Edia, April 4, 1883; Victor, May 12, 1885; Nora Belinda, April 18, 1889.

Sources: Genealogical data provided by Milt Brickson; 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 1 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 March 21, 1999. Last updated December 28, 2001.

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