Memories of Chickamauga 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry The Scandinavian Regiment

Surgeon Stephen Oliver Himo of Field & Staff
Resigned soon after his brother-in-law Colonel Heg died
Photo Collection PH2361, State Historical Society of Wisconsin

The following quotes are by 15th soldiers who were at the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19-20, 1863. If you know of letters, diary entries, memoirs, etc., by 15th soldiers who served at Chickamauga, please contact Scott Meeker at s.c.meeker@15thwisconsin.net. The contents of this page will increase over time, with your help. Thank you.

"Issued rations at 11 o'clock night. Very cold indeed." -- Acting Commissary Sergeant William A. Fisher, 15th Wisconsin Field & Staff, in his diary entry for Friday, September 18, 1863, the night before the battle.

"Most of the company had gone to rest when the order came. Now all are on their feet. Five of us now sit around a table and write and at all places they sit and write in haste to their home, some to their wife, others to parents and brothers and sisters, and others struggle getting their rations packed. It is now 12 o'clock at night and bad weather is beginning. It is now thundering and lightning and a storm will break loose before dawn. We will soon find out that we will be sent up to the front, thought we are far from it. Dearly beloved wife, you must not worry because of this, because the Almighty rules over all things. Everybody is in good spirits and anxious to get going... I shall write again soon. Adieu my greatly beloved wife, from your devoted husband." -- Sergeant Rollin Olson (Rolin Oleson), Company E, in a letter dated September 18, 1863, the night before his capture at Chickamauga.

"At two o'clock on the afternoon of the first day, September 19, 1863, fighting broke out with great fury. The rebels were better prepared for the battle than were the men from the North. As the various divisions of the North were thrown into battle, they stemmed the tide for awhile, only to be driven back. Division after division was thrown into battle. Your nearest and dearest friends fell beside you but everyone fought on with a stolid indifference. Oh how welcome is night on such a day as that! You look wistfully at the sun after each impetuous onset and it seems to you that he never moved so slowly before. What would you not give at such a time as this for the power to make the sun, not like Joshua of old stand still, but to move a little faster." -- Lieutenant Colonel Ole C. Johnson, 15th Wisconsin Field & Staff, in an address delivered at Albion, Wisconsin, after the war.

"...about 60 of the Regt left, as hard a Fifht as at Murfreesboro. Issued beef..." -- Acting Commissary Sergeant William A. Fisher, 15th Wisconsin Field & Staff, in his diary entry for September 19, 1863, written after distributing rations to the 15th's survivors that night.

"I found the Colonel at Crawfish Spring where our division hospital is established. A minie ball has entered the right thigh internal to the trochanter and traversing the abdominal cavity emerged in the left iliac region. He is fully aware that his wound is mortal... The Col. died at fifteen minutes before 12 o'clock Mr. [noon] and I sent his remains immediately to Chattanooga in charge of Lt Mathews... It was agonizing to stand beside the Col and see him suffer and die -- Col La Grange of the 1st Wis Cav, and other friends who called to see him, wept like children. Everybody who knew him loved him. He was not only a noble patriot, but a true Christian and died peacefully and calmly, fully persuaded of a glorious immortality thro' Jesus... Capt Skofstad started for Bridgeport with the Col's remains in the afternoon." -- Surgeon Stephen O. Himoe, 15th Wisconsin Field and Staff, in his diary entries dated September 19-21, 1863, about the last hours of the 15th's Colonel Hans Christian Heg who was mortally wounded on the 19th.

"Ole Milesten on my right side was killed and Christian Thompson on my left side was also killed. I got a bullet through my hat and that did no harm; but I was taken prisoner, and that was something that did hurt." Private Ole Steensland, Company E, speaking about the fighting on the 20th in an address to the 15th's veterans, August 29, 1900, at Chicago, Illinois.

When we were captured, many of us were rounded up and led back to Chickamauga Creek by a captain on General Hindmand's staff, who, as previously stated, was a gentleman. He showed no vindictiveness and did not permit his soldiers to take the canteens and knapsacks from the prisoners -- which they tried to do. I gave him my field glass, which I knew I would not be permitted to keep anyway, and could just as well give to one who had the courage to step forward and fight for what he believed to be right... From Chickamauga Creek we were taken two-three miles farther to the troops in the rear, where we found the men who had been captured on Saturday, and at four o'clock we were sent on our way to Ringgold, a distance of twelve miles, where -- we were told -- we would stay overnight and get something to eat... At nine o'clock in the evening we arrived at Ringgold, tired and hungry, and were told we must go four miles further before we could receive rations and leave by train for Atlanta. At eleven o'clock we arrived at a railroad station the name of which I have forgotten and were allowed to light fires. But the night was cold and we got little rest and less sleep. The next morning we were given the unwelcome news that we must go another four miles -- on foot -- before we could get anything to eat. At eight o'clock we were on our way, and we arrived at Tunnel Hill at ten. A detachment was immediately set to work baking some cornbread, but before this was ready, we were put aboard a train and started for Atlanta. Thus for the third time we were disappointed in not receiving anything to eat, and our one hope now was Atlanta. If it had not been for the fact that some of the prisoners had a supply of rations when they were captured -- which they willingly shared with me -- I surely would have starved..." -- Lieutenant Colonel Ole C. Johnson (Shipnes), 15th Wisconsin Field & Staff, in a letter dated December 7, 1863, Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, describing events following his capture on the 20th.

"I have now been in three great battles, but this was the hardest one... I received a visit from a bullet that went through my trousers below the knee, without harming me. Yes, it is a great favor of God our father, who delivers us in such dark moments, when bullets rain over us like a hailstorm, and we have a mighty army to fight against." -- Private John Johnson (Thoe), Company K, in a letter dated November 15, 1863, from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

This page Copyright 1999 Scott Cantwell Meeker of Deep Vee Productions.
All Rights Reserved. Last updated November 28, 1999.

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