|
|
Nils (Niels) J. Gilbert1st Lieutenant of Company A |
Believed taken October, 1864, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Photo
Collection PH2361, State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Picture shown above has been
enhanced electronically by Deep Vee Productions
To view the original, un-retouched
image, click
HERE
Born circa 1842, Engen farm, Østre Slidre, Valdres,
Kingdom of Norway
Parents were Iver Gulbrandsen (1___-1857) and
_____________________ (1___-18__)
Immigrated to America with his Mother and 7 siblings, 1857
Married on ________, 18__,
to _________________ at _____________________________
Died on ___________, 1___, of
_________________ at _____________________________
Buried at
__________________________________________________________________
Nils J. Gilbert was enlisted in Company F of the 15th Wisconsin by Captain Charles Gustaveson. Nils joined up at the Town of Manitowoc, Manitowoc County, State of Wisconsin, on October 2 or 20, 1861, for a 3 year term of service. The men of Company F called themselves "K.K.'s Protectors" in honor of the 15th's first Lieutenant Colonel, Kiler K. Jones. They were also known as the "Valdres Company" because a large number of them hailed from that area of Norway. Nils was mustered into Federal service as a Private (Menig) on December 12, 1861, at Camp Randall, near the City of Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin. The next day he was appointed to the rank Sergeant in Company F. At the time he was listed as 19 years old and not married. His residence was recorded as the Town of Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
On January 14, 1862, the soldiers of the 15th were issued Belgian rifle muskets. After several months at Camp Randall learning to be a soldier, Sergeant Gilbert left there in early March, 1862, with his company and regiment to join the war. From then until December, 1862, 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. Here is an incident at Island No. 10 that he related in Buslett's 1895 history of the 15th Wisconsin.
| "The day we captured Island No. 10, I got command over a Rebel hospital ship that lay on the Tennessee bank. I had twelve men with me to look after the boat, which was full of Rebels -- 96 sick, drunken, noisy pigs...With loaded weapons and bayonets set, and with pistols, we forced the Rebels to disarm. While we were doing that, some of the prisoners had set the boat free and before we knew it we were floating far out in the river, going with the current, and quickly...A Rebel yelled, "We fooled you after all! We'll soon be out of your claws and go down to Memphis; I can engineer the boat." "Good," I said, "so get the engine running or you'll get a bullet." He evidently thought then that it would be best for him to get the engine running, and two of my boys stood next to him with bayonets pointed at him while Corporal Brown took the wheel and got the boat turned against the current...While I was acting as boat captain I forgot everything else, and meanwhile the Rebels had broken open a whole barrel of liquor and drank like _____. Some of my men also got drunk so they had to be sent ashore, and those of us who were sober had to fight like tigers with the drunken Rebels -- we had to send two of them off into the long hereafter, and they were easily buried in the Mississippi." |
That summer Sergeant Gilbert 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. He would 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, Sergeant Gilbert 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 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. Here is what is said in Buslett about Sergeant Gilbert's conduct during the battle.
"He is one of the men who, pursuant to orders from General Rosecrans, was entered on the Roll of Honor because on the night of 30 December 1862 he and three comrades sneaked behind the Rebel lines to recover a wounded soldier who had been left lying on the battlefield that day." |
The next morning Sergeant Gilbert was wounded in action. On January 23, 1863, he wrote this letter about it.
"Dear Friend Harald Torrison! On 31 December 1862 we were attacked before daybreak, and the right flank withdrew. I was wounded in the right hip when the regiment and the 25th Illinois and 101st Ohio fell back over a large cotton field, and I was left behind between our lines and the Rebels', exposed to bullets and shells from both sides; I was expecting a bullet with tidings of death, 'double quick,' to end both my suffering and my life. I couldn't see any escape from the fire, since the loss of blood had made it impossible for me to move. After awhile I recovered enough so that I could stand up, and I hopped between the lines on one leg towards our line. As soon as some of them saw me, they came to my aid. I fainted and was put into an ambulance with other wounded men, driven back about a mile, and laid on the ground. Soon the order came that the wounded had to be removed from there since our right side had been flanked and was falling back. I heard the order and hopped on one leg towards a wagon, but when I got close I fainted again. This was around 10 o'clock in the morning, and from now until after dark I lay as if I were dead. I was then moved three or four miles and put in a hay barn. I came to again when a man stepped on my chest as he walked over me in the dark. I felt then that my right leg and side had been frozen solid with the blood in my clothes and the rain; it had rained and snowed the whole night and I was lying next to the door, so it poured in on me. One man from the 25th Illinois, who knew me, heard my groans and came and rolled me in a wool blanket, dragged me into a corner, and left me there with my pain. I cannot describe that night. In the meantime I gradually thawed out, and when daylight came we wounded were taken to a building called White House Hospital on the Nashville and Murfreesboro Pike. On the third day we got some hard-tack, which tasted good after the three-day fast without anything to eat and drink; but my digestive organs were so weak that for several days I couldn't keep any of my food down. I must stop here. God knows if I will survive; I am not living, but existing. Farewell!" |
But survive he did, in part with the help of a wounded comrade, Private Ole Christenson. On February 11, 1863, Sergeant Gilbert was appointed as the 1st Sergeant of Company F. He filled the vacancy created when 1st Sergeant John Oberg was wounded and taken prisoner at Stone River. 1st Sergeant was the highest non-commissioned officer (NCO) position in a Civil War company. The 1st Sergeant ran the company for the officers. At the time of his appointment, the commander of Company F was Captain Gustaveson, the second-in-command was 1st Lieutenant Thor Simonson, and the third-in-command was 2nd Lieutenant Svend Samuelson.
1st Sergeant Gilbert was again listed as "present" with the regiment from sometime in March or April, 1863, until October, 1863. The 15th was camped in the Murfreesboro area until June 23, 1863, when the regiment left to take 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. 1st Sergeant Gilbert would have been present at the daring early morning crossing of the Tennessee River on August 28th, which the 15th led. He would also have been present at the September 19-20, 1863, fighting at Chickamauga, Georgia -- the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War. He survived the vicious fighting around Viniard's Farm on the first afternoon, as well as the near capture of the regiment around midday on the 20th during Longstreet's Breakthrough. Some 63% of the 15th's soldiers who were at Chickamauga were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.
1st Sergeant Gilbert then served with the regiment during the Confederate siege of the Town of Chattanooga, Tennessee, which began right after the battle. The siege caused severe shortages of medicine, food, and firewood. Starting October 13, 1863, he was temporarily detailed to guard the Army supply wagon train that went from Chattanooga over the mountains to the Federal supply base at the Town of Stevenson, Alabama, and back. This was a physically challenging and dangerous assignment. 1st Sergeant Gilbert was back with the 15th in time to be assigned to recruiting duty back in Wisconsin starting November 21, 1863. He is recorded as having been in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on December 30, 1863.
1st Sergeant Gilbert remained in Wisconsin until sometime in March or April of 1864. He was then listed as "present" with the 15th until December, 1864. Starting in May, 1864, the 15th participated in the famous Atlanta Campaign led by U.S. Major General William T. Sherman to capture the City of Atlanta, Georgia. This campaign was marked by almost daily marching and/or combat for 4 months. He and the 15th took part in the fighting at Rocky Face Ridge, Georgia, in early May, at the bloody Battle of Resaca, Georgia, on May 14-15, and at the disastrous Battle of Pickett's Mill (often called Dallas or New Hope Church), Georgia, on May 27, 1864. It was there that the 15th suffered fearful casualties, including some 25 men taken prisoner, many of who died in the infamous Andersonville Prison Camp, Georgia. The 15th also fought at Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, on June 23, before Atlanta on July 22, at Jonesboro, Georgia, on September 1, and at Lovejoy Station, Georgia, on September 4, 1864.
After a rest following the capture of Atlanta in early September, 1864, the 15th was briefly assigned to Provost (police) duty in Chattanooga at the beginning of October, 1864. On October 8, 1864, 1st Sergeant Gilbert was transferred from Company F to Company A. At the recommendation of the 15th's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ole C. Johnson, 1st Sergeant Gilbert was then commissioned on October 19, 1864, by the Governor of Wisconsin as the 1st Lieutenant (second-in-command) of Company A. He filled the vacancy created when 1st Lieutenant Henry Siegel was commissioned by the Governor that same day as the new Captain of Company A.
1st Lieutenant Gilbert spent the remainder of his Army service guarding a railroad bridge at Whitesides, Tennessee, with the rest of the regiment. The period at Whitesides was considered by many of the 15th's soldiers to have been the easiest duty of their 3 year term of service. 1st Lieutenant Gilbert was mustered out of Federal service along with most of the other surviving members of Company A on December 20, 1864, at Chattanooga, upon the end of his 3 year term of service. Nils was officially mustered out at the rank of 1st Sergeant because he had not yet been mustered in at the rank of 1st Lieutenant by the Army. After being mustered out the men of Company A were sent to Madison, Wisconsin, where they were paid off and the company disbanded. Buslett says this about Nils J. Gilbert's later life.
"Since the war he has been a postmaster, a merchant, etc. He lived for a time in Montana and for awhile in Warner, South Dakota, but in 1893 he moved to Blair, Wisconsin, to join his brother's business there." |
On December 2, 1886, the Army retroactively mustered Nils in as a 1st Lieutenant as of October 19, 1864, with an honorable discharge at that rank effective December 20, 1864. In 1917 he attended a reunion of the Scandinavian Veterans Association where he was photographed with the attendees under the Civil War memorial arch at Camp Randall.
Sources: Genealogical data from Peg Currie; Genealogical data from Dee Anna Grimsrud, MLIS, CGRS;Civil War Compiled Military Service Records by Office of Adjutant General of the United States (Washington, DC); Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillage [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] by Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1895); 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 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 December 4, 1999. Last updated
December 31, 2001.