Thorkild A. Rossing Captain of Company E 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry The Scandinavian Regiment

Photo, taken in 1863 or 1864, shows him in officer's uniform
Image RG985-CWP-161.79, Wm. Schultz College, U.S. Army Military History Institute

Born 1840, Gaarden Rossing i Land, Kingdom of Norway
Immigrated to America, 1857
Married Marie Lungstad Anderson, May 30, 1864, City of Madison, Dane County, State of Wisconsin
Died June 25, 1923, at his home in the City of Decorah, Winneshiek County, State of Iowa
Buried Lutheran Church Cemetery, Town of Bode, Humboldt County, Iowa

Thorkild Rossing was enlisted by Captain John Ingmundson as a Private (Menig) for a 3 year term of service in Company E of the 15th Wisconsin on October 4, 1861, in LaFayette County, Wisconsin. Company E called itself Odin's Rifles. Thorkild was mustered into Federal service as a Sergeant (Sersjant) on December 11, 1861, 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 Wiota, LaFayette County, Wisconsin.

Sergeant Rossing was appointed as the 15th's Sergeant Major (Kommandérsersjant) on July 1, 1862, at the Town of Humbolt, State of Tennessee. He was commissioned 1st Lieutenant (Premiérløitnant) of Company E by the Governor of Wisconsin on January 8, 1863, to rank from September 3, 1862. He was mustered into Federal service at that rank on March 18, 1863, to date from January 16, 1863, at the Town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee (in 1892 this was amended to date from January 17, 1863). Lieutenant Rossing was in command of Company E starting May 1, 1863, when Captain Henry Hauff was detached to serve on the Brigade staff.

1st Lieutenant Rossing commanded Company E during the September 19-20, 1863, Battle of Chickamauga in the State of Georgia -- the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War. He survived the vicious fighting on the first afternoon around Viniard's Farm and the near capture of the regiment at midday on the 20th during Longstreet's Breakthrough. After the battle he was appointed as the 15th's Acting Adjutant starting October 23, 1863, when Adjutant Nelson went on leave. Starting December 24, 1863, Lieutenant Rossing was detached on recruiting service. While on recruiting service he was commissioned Captain (Kaptein) of Company E by the Governor of Wisconsin on April 7, 1864, for "term of service." Captain Rossing returned to the regiment in June, 1864, shortly after his marriage. He was mustered into Federal service at that rank on July 17, 1864, to date from May 1, 1864, at the Town of Powers Ferry, Georgia (amended in 1892 to date from April 7, 1864). He led Company E through the rest of its service, including most of General Willam T. Sherman's campaign to capture the City of Atlanta, Georgia, that summer.

Captain Rossing mustered out of Federal service along with most of the surviving members of Company E on December 20, 1864, at the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the expiration of his 3 year term of service. After the war he was a successful businessman in the Town of Argyle, Wisconsin, and then moved to Lott's Creek in the State of Iowa, where he farmed. By 1886 he was living in Bode, Iowa, where he operated a store and later became president of the State Bank of Bodo. In 1913 he moved to Decorah, Iowa, shortly after the death of his wife of 52 years. There he joined the Col. Hughes Post of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). Capt. Rossing attended the reunion of 15th Wisconsin veterans in September, 1917, at Madison, Wisconsin, under the name "T.A. Rossing." He died of "an apoplectic stroke" just 1 day after his only child was ordained as a Lutheran Minister. The following is from his obituary in The Decorah Republican newspaper of June 28, 1923.

Sources: Genealogical data from Duane W. Fenstermann; Reunion of the Fifteenth Wisconsin and the Scandinavian Veteran's Association article in "Familiens Magasin" (author and date unknown); Oberst Heg og Hans Gutter [Colonel Heg and His Boys] by Waldemar Ager (Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 1916); 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 January 24, 1999. Last updated December 23, 2000.

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