Otto F. Steen Sergeant in Company K 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry The Scandinavian Regiment

Photo shows him with Corporal stripes on his sleeves
Believed taken in January, 1864, while on recruiting duty
Image courtesy of the Norwegian-American Historical Association
Picture shown above has been electronically enhanced by Deep Vee Productions

Born January 21, 1846, Kristiana (Oslo), Kingdom of Norway
Parents were Throne (Thrond) Steen (1802-1866) and Ingeborg Terptad (Thorstad) (1804-1888)
Immigrated to America with his parents and 6 brothers, 1853, on the sailing ship 'Argo'
Married July 22, 1874, to Emma C. Hough Young, at Town of Eldorado, State of Iowa
Died September 3, 1930, City of Boise, State of Idaho
Buried in Morris Hill Cemetery, Boise, Idaho 

Otto F. Steen was one of 6 brothers who volunteered for the Union Army during the American Civil War. Otto was a 16 year old apprentice saddle maker when he was enlisted on January 21, 1862, by 2nd Lieutenant Olaus Solberg for 3 years service in Company K of the 15th Wisconsin. Company K called itself "Clausen's Guards" in honor of the 15th's first Chaplain, Claus L. Clausen. 

Otto was the youngest soldier in the 15th and was nicknamed "The Baby of the Regiment." He was mustered into Federal service at the rank of Private (Menig) on February 11, 1862, at Camp Randall near the City of Madison, Dane County, State of Wisconsin. At the time he was not married. The Army listed his residence as Winneshick County, State of Iowa.

After only a few weeks at Camp Randall learning to be a soldier, Private Steen left there on March 2, 1862, with his company and regiment to join the war. He then 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 early April, 1862. 

After the surrender of Island No. 10 on April 7, 1862, Companies A, F, H, I, and K were sent to occupy the island.  There was much hard, physical work to be done on the island, and quickly.  The fortifications contained some 80 cannons, which the Confederates had installed to defend against a Union attack coming down the Mississippi River from the north.  These had to be moved and the fortifications changed so they could be used to defend the island against a possible Confederate assault coming up the river from the south.  This task was made even more difficult due to the unhealthy nature of the island, and with problems getting an adequate supply of rations.  These conditions caused many complaints, sickness, and even death amongst the soldiers there.

On June 11, 1862, Private Steen left Island No. 10 with Company K and 7 other companies of the 15th to take part in a summer campaign through Tennessee and the States of Mississippi and Alabama.  Private Steen became the 15th's youngest Corporal (Korporal) when he was promoted to that rank in July, 1862.  Steen later claimed to be the youngest Corporal in the U.S. Army at that time.  In August and September, 1862, Corporal Steen participated in the grueling 400 mile retreat from the Town of Iuka, Alabama, up to the City of Louisville, State of Kentucky.  The latter half of this forced march was led by U.S. Major General Don Carlos Buell, and the last 2 weeks were made on half rations and with very little drinking water. Corporal Steen was then present at the October 8, 1862, fighting at the Village of Perryville, Boyle County, Kentucky, which is also called the Battle of Chaplin Hills. While this was the first big battle for the 15th, it emerged without any fatalities. 

On December 26, 1862, Corporal Steen took part 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.  Corporal Steen then fought at the long, cold, wet, and bloody Battle of Stone River, Tennessee, which some called the Battle of Murfreesboro, on December 30-31, 1862, and into early January, 1863.  It is there that the 15th first suffered serious battle casualties, and was cited for bravery.  Buslett's 1895 history of the 15th tells this about Corporal Steen and his comrades.

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.  Starting June 23, 1863, the regiment took part in the Tullahoma campaign led by U.S. 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.  There Otto developed a boil under his right arm. 

On August 17, 1863, Corporal Steen left Winchester with the 15th to participate in General Rosecran's Chickamauga campaign.  During the march the boil became infected and he was reduced to riding in a horse-drawn baggage wagon.  Nevertheless, Corporal Steen is believed to have been present at the daring early morning crossing of the Tennessee River on August 28th, which the 15th led.   And Corporal Steen forced himself to rejoin his company just before it went into the September 19-20, 1863, fighting at Chickamauga, Georgia -- the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War.  Buslett contains this about Otto's experiences during the vicious fighting around Viniard's Farm on the first afternoon.

To see a painting of the 15th fighting near Viniard's Farm, click HERE.  Corporal Steen survived the first day, as well as the near capture of the regiment around midday on the 20th during what is now called Longstreet's Breakthrough.  By the end of the battle he was the only non-commissioned officer (NCO) present with Company K who had not been killed, wounded, or captured.  Some 63% of the 15th's soldiers who were at Chickamauga were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. 

Corporal Steen then served with the regiment during the Confederate siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee, which began right after the battle. The siege resulted in severe shortages of medicine, food, and firewood which, together with cold, wet weather, caused much suffering, sickness, and death.  Starting October 13, 1863 Corporal Steen served as a guard with the vital Army supply wagon train from the City of Chattanooga, State of Tennessee to the Union supply base at the Town of Stevenson, State of Alabama, and back.  By all accounts it was a physically challenging and dangerous assignment.  Corporal Steen was once again back with the 15th in early November, 1863.  The Confederate siege was finally broken by the Union Army's victorious charge up Mission Ridge on November 25, 1863, which the 15th took part in.

On December 23, 1863, Corporal Steen was detached from the regiment and sent back to Wisconsin on recruiting duty.  Here is what Buslett says happened when Otto got back to Madison and was given an 8 day leave to visit his home. In those days it was a 6 day round trip from Madison to where his family lived in Iowa, leaving him just 2 days at home.

In April, 1864, shortly after his return to the regiment in Tennessee, Corporal Steen was promoted, becoming the youngest Sergeant (Sersjant) in the 15th.  Starting the next month Sergeant Steen and the 15th took part in the campaign led by U.S. Major General William T. Sherman to capture the City of Atlanta in the State of Georgia.  This campaign was marked by almost daily marching and/or combat for 4 months.  Sergeant Steen took part in the regiment's fighting in early May at Tunnel Hill, Georgia, at Dalton, Georgia, and on May 14-15 at Resaca, Georgia.  

On May 27, 1864, Sergeant Steen was captured with a number of his comrades during the disastrous fighting at Pickett's Mill, Georgia (also referred to as New Hope Church or Dallas).  There the 15th suffered 50% casualties, including 29 soldiers taken prisoner (to see a list of these men and their fates, click HERE).  Sergeant Steen then spent some 11 months as a prisoner of war, of which 5 months were spent in the notorious Andersonville Prison Camp in Georgia.  Buslett contains this about what happened when Steen and other Union prisoners were being transferred between prisons.

Buslett also contains this narrative of Sergeant Steen's months in captivity.

Sergeant Steen was finally paroled to advancing Union forces near Wilmington in the State of North Carolina, on February 26, 1865.  Upon his release Otto was described as "a bunch of skin and bones."  He mustered out of Federal service on April 14, 1865, at Madison, Wisconsin, just after the end of the war, and 2 months after his term of service had expired.

After the war Otto worked as a mail clerk in the Town of Decorah, Iowa, and later on the Union Pacific railroad before going into the hardware business in the Town of Wahoo, State of Nebraska.  Still later he lived in Boise, Idaho, where he was elected State Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the Union army veterans' organization.  In 1917 he attended one of the very last reunions of the 15th Wisconsin (to see a photo of him there, click HERE).  Otto was one of the very last surviving members of the regiment when he passed away 13 years later at age 84.

Sources: Genealogical data by Otto's Great Great Grandson Justin Potts; History of the Steen Family by Orlando C. Scholl (Long Beach, California, 1964); 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, 1861-865, 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 August 4, 2002.

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