Island No. 10 Memories

"It is now 3 days since we arrived.  We are 3 miles from the enemy.  Our cannonboats fire at them every day, and they fire back at us.  So we are not safe at any time.  We think we will attack when we are all assembled.  We don't know how many [Confederate soldiers] there are, but there seem to be a great number...  Whether we see one another again we do not know.  That remains in the Lord's almighty hand.  He guides us on our way."

--Private Lars O. Dokken of Company H
March 18, 1862, letter to his parents
written from near Island No. 10

"The North has seven cannon boats, and they are being used, and then two days ago there was one that stole past the island, going south, she had a big freighter along side loaded with hay, so that the Rebels would not do her any harm, and she was lucky, and I have hopes that still another one has done the same thing this night.  It was so awful, the cannons roared.  They shot twenty-one shots at the first one, but not one cannonball hit her."

--Private Halver Anderson of Company B
April 6, 1862, letter from near Island No. 10
 

--Captain Mons Grinager of Company K
May 24, 1862, letter to his family
about the raid on Union City, Tennessee

"That night we encamped in a grain field.  The next morning we were out early and reached the enemy camp when they were about to have breakfast.  Our Cavalry and Artillery began to fire, which surprised them so that they took flight like bewildered sheep.  They left everything behind, guns and clothing and many other things."

--Private Lars O. Dokken of Company H
April 18, 1862, letter to his parents
about the raid on Union City, Tennessee

--Private Oscar Thompson of Company G
April 7, 1862, letter to his father
written from 3 miles north of Island No. 10

"We left after burning everything on the ground, Tents, Barracks, etc. -- provisions & powder -- and started for Hickman [Kentucky] again about 10 o'clock, with what mules, Horses & waggons we had, loaded with plunder...  Although this was no fight, as only a very few Rebels were killed, and they ran away before hardly a shot, still it was a splendid victory, as the Rebels lost at least 40 or 50 Thousand Dollars worth of property..."

--Colonel Hans C. Heg of Field & Staff
April 1, 1862, letter to his wife
about the raid on Union City, Tennessee

"Thus ended our second skirmish with the Confederates, and we thought things were going very well.  We began feeling like the old Vikings who never shunned a fight."

--Private Ben Nilson (Bersven Nelson) of Company I
in his post-war Civil War Notes
about the raid on Union City, Tennessee

--Private Oscar Thompson of Company G
April 7, 1862, letter to his father
written from 3 miles north of Island No. 10

--Private Johannes H. Stokke of Company E
letter to his wife about the capture of Island No. 10

"Island No. 10 is ours, and your humble servant was one of the first to raise the American Flag over the fortifications."

--Colonel Hans C. Heg of 15th Field & Staff
April 9, 1862, letter to his wife

"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."

--Sergeant Nils J. Gilbert of Company F
interview in Buslett's 1895 Femtende Regiment Wisconsin Frivillage

"Island No. 10 is more beautiful than what I have seen elsewhere in America.  Where we have put up our tents is a beautiful plantation with the finest fruit orchard I have ever seen, and the fields around the tents are clad in their fine clothing of green.  The house belonging to the plantation is used as the camp headquarters."

--Sergeant Iver Torkelson of Company H
April 16, 1862, letter from Island No. 10
 

"I was a sergeant and had been put on guard duty and while I was gone the boys of my platoon had found a beehive and set it inside a tent without my knowledge.  The intention was to close all openings and smoke the bees out.  I did not know this and was standing outside having some coffee.  The boys had just made coffee and it tasted good after my watch.  In the meantime the farmer who had lost his beehive came to the camp and before we knew it, [the 15th's commander] Colonel [ Hans C. ] Heg came striding forward on his long legs, followed by the farmer.  He asked me about the beehive and I knew nothing.  Of course the boys knew nothing either.  Unfortunately, he went over to search the tent along with the farmer, and no sooner had they stuck their heads in the tent when both were attacked by furious bees.  Heg was angry and I got a proper overhauling, though I was innocent.  As none of the boys could explain how the bees got there, nothing more was done about it."

--Sergeant Nils J. Gilbert of Company F
interview in Ager's 1916 Oberst Heg og hans gutter

"The Rebels left behind a great deal of provisions, including pork, meat, flour, rice, sugar, coffee, and - in other words - all kinds of food one would need.  I remember back home people said the Rebels would soon starve, but as far as I can see now, the soldiers there have much better board since we enlisted in the army than we have now after coming here.  And we expect to eat as well as long as this supply lasts.  There are ammunition shelters filled with ammunition worth several thousand dollars, as well as horses, mules, wagons, and a good supply of bed linen and other clothing."

--Private Johannes H. Stokke of Company E
letter to his wife about the capture of Island No. 10

--1st Lieutenant Andrew A. Brown of Company H
April 22, 1862, letter to his mother from Island No. 10

"When this place fell into our hands, everything the Rebels had, also fell into our hands.  Among other things there were 500 barrels of old salt pork and when our quartermaster was just about out of pork and meat, he immediately went to the Rebel meat in barrels.  The first promised to be tolerable but you knew right away that most of it was not entirely fresh because it had been rolled out on the river bank and laid there without shade and thus was spoiled.  The quartermaster wanted to compel us to take our ration of that meat but nothing came of it because the soldiers threw the meat into the river."

--Private Rollin Olson of Company E
April 30, 1862, letter from Island No. 10

"I must tell you that our officers voted to give us the 17th of May [Norwegian Constitution Day] as a holiday, so our regiment could have a little fun. Our company got some beer which we sent to Cairo [Illinois] for.  But some of the men in Co. A got quite drunk and rowdy and started a fight.  They were put in the guardhouse.  But several of their friends set out for the guardhouse, shoved the guard out of the way, and freed the prisoners.  But then our captain [George Wilson], who was officer of the day, arrived and he tried to get these fellows under control.  But there was one chap who struck at our captain, and the whole company went wild.  Then came an order that our 4 companies should bring them to order.  The command "Fall in, fall in" was called out, and so we assembled as quickly as possible.  We were told to load our guns quickly and were marched to the guardhouse in formation.  Company A was lined up and we ringed them in.  The major [Charles M. Reese] came to question them.  All of them had to turn in their guns to the major and 6 of the men were put under arrest.  Their Lieutenant [Emanuel Engelstad?] was also arrested.  They have not been sentenced and so we don't know what will happen.  I am afraid it will go hard with them."

--Private Lars O. Dokken of Company H
June 4, 1862, letter from Island No. 10

Private Torger Torgerson of Company F
June 5, 1862, letter to his father from Island No. 10
about the new dress uniforms they were issued there

"I was in charge of guard duty that day [June 6, 1862].  We heard a sudden peculiar sound like a long rolling thunder and the earth began to shake.  The shaking was over immediately and was a lesser rocking and everything on the ground swayed back and forth.  The whole thing lasted 3 minutes.  It was a real earthquake and the first I have ever known or felt in my life...  It was cloudy and the air, for a couple of days, was strange."

--Private Rollin Olson of Company E
June 8, 1862, letter to his wife from Island No. 10