Born circa 1842
Died February 2, 1864, City of Richmond,
State of Virginia
Buried National Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia
Nels M. Tobiasen was enlisted in Company D of the 15th Wisconsin by Captain Campbell on November 11, 1861, for a 3 year term of service. The men of Company D called themselves the Norway Wolf Hunters. Nels was mustered into Federal service as a Private on December 8, 1861, at Camp Randall, near the City of Madison, Dane County, State of Wisconsin. At the time he was 19 years old and not married. His residence was listed as the Town of Oconomowoc, Waukesha County, Wisconsin.
After several months at Camp Randall learning to be a soldier, Private Tobiasen left there in early March, 1862, with his company and regiment to join the war. From then until September, 1863, he was recorded as "present." As such he would have been at the successful siege of Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River in the State of Tennessee, and in the surprise raid on Union City, Tennessee, in March and April, 1862. On May 1, 1862, Private Tobiasen was appointed as a Corporal in Company D. That Summer he would have been with the 15th on campaign though Tennessee and the States of Mississippi and Alabama. In August and September he would have participated in the gruelling 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. He would have been present at the October 8, 1862, Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, which is also called the Battle of Chaplin Hills. In late December 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, at the end of December, 1862. It is there that the 15th first suffered serious battle casualties and was cited for bravery.
In August and September, 1863, Corporal Tobiasen participated in General Rosecran's Chickamauga campaign. He 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, Battle of Chickamauga in the State of Georgia -- the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War. There he was taken prisoner during the vicious fighting around Viniard's Farm on the first afternoon. Some 63% of the 15th's soldiers who were at Chickamauga were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Along with the other 15th soldiers taken prisoner, Corporal Tobiasen was marched by the Confederates to Tunnel Hill, Georgia, and then transported by railroad train to Richmond, Virginia, via the City of Atlanta, Georgia. "M. Tabeason" died there 4 months later of "chronic diarrhea."
Sources: Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillage [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] by Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1895); Civil War Compiled Military Service Records by Office of Adjutant General of the United States (Washington, DC); and, Regimental Descriptive Rolls, Volume 20 Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1885).
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Scott Cantwell Meeker, Deep
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