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Svend Samuelson (Samuelsen)2nd Lieutenant of Company F |
Photograph shows him wearing his officer's uniform
Believed to have
been taken in early 1862 at Madison, Wisconsin
Photo Collection PH2361, State Historical
Society of Wisconsin
Picture shown above has been enhanced electronically by Deep Vee
Productions
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Born January 24, 1825, Mitsum farm, Krogstad (Kråkstad) parish,
Akershus county, Kingdom of Norway
Parents were Samuel Svendsen (circa 1780-18__) and
Johanne Arnesdatter (circa 1795-18__)
Immigrated to America, 1854, with his mother
Married
August 16, 1864, to Hanna Fredrikke (18__-1___) at _________________________
Died on ___________, 1___,
of _________________ at _____________________________
Buried at
__________________________________________________________________
Sven Samuelsen and his mother settled at Liberty in Manitiwoc County, State of Wisconsin, where they took up farming. On October 21, 1861, Svend enlisted at the Town of Manitowoc, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, for a 3 year term of service in Company F of the 15th Wisconsin. The men of Company F called themselves "K.K.'s Protectors" in honor of the 15th's first Lieutenant Colonel, Kiler K. Jones. It was also known as the "Valdres Company" because of the large number of its members who were from that region of Norway.
At the recommendation the 15th's commander, Colonel Hans C. Heg, Samuelson was commissioned by the Governor of Wisconsin as the 2nd Lieutenant of Company F on January 15, 1862, to rank from January 11, 1862. 2nd Lieutenant Samuelson was mustered into Federal service at that rank on January 14, 1862, at Camp Randall, near the City of Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin. At the time he was 36 years old and not married. His residence was listed as the Town of Eaton, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, where he was working as a Farmer and had been elected as Town Clerk and Justice of the Peace. It was from there that 6 months earlier he had written the following to his brother back in Norway.
| "You most likely have seen in the newspapers that we here are headed for a very serious and uncompromising war... The reason for this war I will try to describe to you briefly. As you know, we elect a president for the United States every four years. Last fall an election took place...and it was a terrific campaign, one of which they have never seen the like in America before... The southern states worked hard to get a man who was in favor of Negro slavery. We in the north worked hard to get a good president, who was against slavery spreading further than it now exists; we believe that no man's government has the right to go to Africa and steal Negroes and bring them to America to be sold or traded like goods or beasts of burden or worse. In short, the northern states won the victory and elected Abraham Lincoln president. Right away some of the southern states wanted to withdraw from the Union and elect their own president. That the North would not tolerate, so war was declared and both sides have armed themselves mightily, and some small military encounters have already taken place." |
Company F was commanded by Captain Charles Gustaveson with 1st Lieutenant Thor Simonson as second in command and 2nd Lieutenant Samuelson as third in command. The fourth in command was 1st Sergeant, John Oberg, the highest ranked non-commissioned officer (NCO) in the company.
After about 6 weeks at Camp Randall learning to be an officer, Lieutenant Samuelson left there on March 2, 1862, with his company and regiment to join the war. In April, 1862, he was listed as "absent sick" at the settlement of Birds Point, on the State of Missouri side of the Mississippi River. 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.
Starting June 11, 1862, he would have left Island No. 11 with his company on a steamboat up the Mississippi River to go on a summer campaign with the 15th through Tennessee and the States of Mississippi and Alabama. In August and September, 1862, Lieutenant Samuelson would have participated in the grueling 400 mile retreat with US Major General Don Carlos Buell up to the City of Louisville, State of Kentucky, with the last 2 weeks being on half rations and short of water. Lieutenant Samuelson would have then 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. This was the 15th's first big battle, though it did not have any of its soldiers killed there.
On December 26, 1862, Lieutenant Samuelson was "left sick" at the City of Nashville in the State of Tennessee. This strongly suggests that he was not present 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 casualties included Captain Gustaveson and Lieutenant Simonson, both of who were wounded in action, and 1st Sergeant Oberg, who was wounded in action and taken prisoner by the Confederates. This left Company F without any of its top 4 leaders present with it on the battlefield.
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. Captain Gustaveson and Lieutenants Simonson and Samuelson were back with the 15th at some point during that period. Starting June 23, 1863, the regiment took part in the Tullahoma campaign led by US Major General William S. Rosecrans. 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. Lieutenant Samuelson is believed to have been present at the daring early morning crossing of the Tennessee River on August 28th, which the 15th led. Lieutenant Samuelson was present with Company F at the September 19-20, 1863, fighting at Chickamauga in the State of 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, including Captain Gustaveson who was taken prisoner. To see a roster of Company F at the time of Chickamauga, click HERE.
Beginning the next day, September 21, 1863, Lieutenant Samuelson was listed as "absent sick" in the City of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and later at Nashville, Tennessee. On November 15, 1863, Lieutenant Samuelson resigned from the Army due to disability brought on by "chronic diarrhea." After resigning Samuelson returned to Eaton in Manitowoc County, got married, and eventually resumed farming. On January 1, 1865, he wrote the following to his sister back in Norway.
| "...I returned from the war a year ago. I had served over two years and in that time I was lucky, as I had taken part in many of the worst battles without being wounded, while many of my best friends and comrades fell by my side. I am now married to a daughter of Bore Christianson of Borebakken near Christiania and was very fortunate in my choice... I wonder a great deal about what I see in the Norwegian newspaper reports by those who clearly support the South. One can hardly believe one's eyes that a people who speak of having the freest nation with a free constitution should take the side of the rebels and the most barbaric aristocrats and slave traders in the world. True, slavery was not the foremost reason for this war; but if slavery had not existed, I am sure this war would never have started..." |
Svend Samuelson and his wife eventually had at least 8 children: Josephine Marie, born June 4, 1865; Emilie Christine, born November 4, 1866; Oscar Johan, born December 27, 1867; Albert Samuel, born October 23, 1869; Fredrik Anton, born August 1, 1871; Alfred Christian, born December 6, 1872; Jensine Lovise Regine, born February 12, 1875; Julia Helena, born March 27, 1876; and (perhaps) Olive, born circa 1881.
Buslett's 1895 history of the 15th Wisconsin contains this about Svend Samuelson.
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"He served faithfully and was always at his post." |
Sources: Genealogical data from Tove D. Johansen; Manitowic-skogen by Robert A. Bjerke (1994); Oberst Heg og hans gutter [Colonel Heg and His Boys] by Waldemar Ager (Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 1916); Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillage [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] by Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1895); and, Regimental Descriptive Rolls, Volume 20 Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1885).
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2002.