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Here are a few notes on Ludwig A. Forsberg, a Confederate officer from Sweden.
FORSBERG, Ludwig August[us] Born in Stockholm, Sweden, on 13th January 1832. 5’ 9”. Educated at Stockholm School of Engineering. Engineer in the Swedish Army. Came to America on an engineering contract in c. 1854. At the outbreak of war the Danish Consul warned him to leave the North, where he had moved after the completion of his engineering contract in S.C., because of his “well-known southern sympathies.” He set out in a fishing vessel, reaching Charleston during the bombardment of Sumter. Here he was appointed to topographical work in the harbour area. Lieut. of Infantry, P.A.C.S.: 11th November 1861. Volunteer aide to Gnl. Floyd: July to October 1861. Lt-Colonel, 51st Va. Inf.: 26th May 1862. Colonel: 8th July 1863. Married Mrs. Mollie Otey, whom he met while recuperating in hospital from a wound received at Winchester. Captured at Waynesboro on 2nd March 1865. Took the oath on 24th July 1865. Engineer in Lynchburg City. Died there on 15th July 1910. Buried in the Presbyterian Cemetery. [Krick, Lee’s Colonels; Lonn, Foreigners in the Confederacy, pp.244-5.]
Bill, I want to thank you for setting me upon this direction of research. I'd done some digging into the immigrant experiance/contribution of the Civil War before and while I knew that probably most of 25% of the Union Army was made up of first generatiomn immigrants I didn't realize the full extent of their experiance.
Imagine if you will being in command of a regiment where less than half of the men can understand your commands, many of which cannot even read or write their own language. The sergeants and NCO's being elected from their rank not because of any quality other than the ability to understand and speak English. Or being appointed as a Captain over a Company of men made up of Veterans of various European conflicts.
Now how is this: "You will be made Sergeant. Your knowledge of the French drill is excellent and your command of two languages other than English also add merit to your rank." It was only later that the man realized that none of the men placed under him spoke either Dutch or French which were the tounges he spoke besides English. They were Swedes, Norwegians a few Danes and Germans...
I was shocked to learn that while fully 80% of the immigrants to the US knew how to write... but that was their native languge... many if not most had not yet learned how to read/write their native language. What touched my memory was reading two letters where it was written in both English and then the native language... One in German and the other in Norwegian. What troubled me for a long time was why write something twice? tHe answer was simple... so that all in the family could read it and translate it if needed.
I recently came across a bit of fascinating information. A banker in Northern Iowa paid for no less than three substitues. he was not of the age or physical structure to be able to handle military life. So to ease his conscience he hired three recent immigrants to the area to enlist in his stead. He agreed to match their Army Pay, so that while they were paid one mos wage he would match it by paying it to their family while they were away and he would further sweeten the pot by agreeing to help the family if they should be killed while in service to their country. The man kept his word and even went so far as to enlist the aid of his own lawyer (now I'm going to regret this) who decided to copy the bankers patriotic scheme. AN honest and apparently patriotic lawyer... I'm stunned.
Each man was required to send home at least half of his pay to support the family and also to post a letter weekly to insure that they would not desert the Army. THese two aged men managed to enlist six men in their sted, four of whom survived the War. Two becoming prosperous farmers, one a College Professor and later University head. The fourth would study law and eventually serve in the Iowa state house. Of the two who did not survive the war one was killed at Raseca and the other died of disease in 1863.
__________________
Shane Christen
American Legion Post 352
SUVCW Camp Abernethy# 48
Lifetime NRA member
3rd MN VI
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Eccl 1:18
On the note of the international flare of the War... some CS veterans provided their own international flare to other places.
At the epic siege of Plevna during the war between Turkey and Russia, a last Confederate Battle Cry of the Confederate Nation was heard. Several Confederate mercenaries serving with the Turkish army dropped their Henry rifles picked up colt revolvers and knives as they engaged in the fierce hand to hand combat with the Russian troops swarming over their redan. They died to the man but their rebel yell made a lasting impression upon the attacking Russian soldiers.
The American mercenaries, nearly one hundred men, were all veterans of the American Civil War most if not all former Confederates who refused to live in a country controlled by the United States. Like their Turkish counterparts each man carried a Peabody rifle with a Henry rifle close to hand for close in fire power, though several insisted upon adding the firepower of Colt pistols, a short shotgun or a keen knife to their arsenal.
While other mercenaries in Turkish employ were known for their smart dress these Americans, who insisted upon being called Confederates, wore simple but practical gray garb with a comfortable but very unmilitary wide brimmed hat of the Mexican style upon their head.
The Turkish soldiers admired their superb markmanship and the ferocious reputation gained from the practice of scalping fallen foes which several of these Confederates regularly accomplished. These men were battle hardened veterans who had served in the Civil War and later in a score of smaller wars tending their services as superb fighting men. THey made such an impression upon their Turkish comrades that remained decades later. A Turkish Officer who had survived the Plevna campaign as a youth remarked that at least the fierce fighting Australian troops in the trenches of Gallipoli. "...were not Americans."
__________________
Shane Christen
American Legion Post 352
SUVCW Camp Abernethy# 48
Lifetime NRA member
3rd MN VI
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Eccl 1:18
LATHAM, Frederick Graham Born at Latham, Perthshire, in 1833. Youngest son of Lieut. John Latham of the 32nd Gordon Highlanders. Resided in S.C. from 1854. Married [or at least had children by] Rebecca Eleanor Ramsey. 1st Lieut., Co.G, 5th S.C. Inf.: 13th April 1861. On 6th June 1861, at night, he was travelling on a troop train which derailed in the path of a following train: “[Latham] alertly grabbed a lantern from one of the cars and ran down the track toward the approaching train…its engineer caught a glimpse of the dim, moving light on the track ahead and immediately pulled back on the throttle. As his locomotive slowly steamed forward, he saw Latham standing on the tracks and waving a lantern.” After 1st Manassas he was appointed Lieut. & A.A.A.G. to D.R. Jones, "to officiate at all social events." Fellow staff officer Asbury Coward recorded Latham’s discomfiture on an occasion at around this time: “On a Sunday afternoon, after completing some reports, I stepped onto the piazza. Latham was bowing over Mrs. Jones’ hand. He took three steps backwards and sat on a chair that was on the part of the porch that had no banister rail. Both the chair and he took a backward swan dive and landed in the dust below the piazza. All of us hurried to his assistance, fearing he was hurt. But though red of face, he managed to laugh and say: ‘Pon my word, General, I never had but three!’, holding up three fingers as proof of his assertion.” After a year he became 1st Lieut., Co.M, Palmetto Sharpshooters. Slightly wounded at Frayser's Farm & 2nd Manassas. Promoted Captain after Seven Pines. In the winter of 1863 he was granted a furlough of six weeks to be spent in Scotland, exclusive of time spent in going and coming, and he was unable to rejoin his command until July 1864. He succeeded his brother, Alexander, as superintendent of the magnetic iron works at Union, S.C. Then became a planter until he move to Charleston in 1881, where he engaged in mining phosphates; he was proprietor of the St Andrews phosphate mines at the end of the century. He died in Scotland in 1903. Frederick Street in Gaffney, S.C., is named after him. A message posted on the web by a descendant states that “he was from Scotland and it is said he returned there under stress. Also he had many families. My grandmother…said she knew of five… Frederick had chldren by Rebecca Ramsey and others by the other women. They used to visit each other.” [Baldwin, The Struck Eagle, p.47; Krick, Staff Officers In Gray, pp.197-198; Coward, The South Carolinians, pp.22-23; http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read...-05/1020954198 ]
Sarah Emma Edmonds was born in December 1841 in New Brunswick, Canada ,(probably in York County) Sarah Edmonson, or Edmondson, received scant education as a child, and sometime in the 1850s she ran away from home. For a time she was an itinerant seller of Bibles, dressing as a man and using the name Frank Thompson. She gradually made her way west and by 1861 had established residence in Flint, Michigan. She enlisted as a private in the Second Michigan Infantry in Detroit on May 25, 1861 as Frank Thompson--in a volunteer infantry company in Flint that became Company F. Her disguise was a complete success for nearly 2 year.
She took part in the Battle of Blackburn's Ford, the First Battle of Bull Run, and the Peninsular campaign of May-July 1862. At Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, she was an aide to Colonel Orlando M. Poe. At least twice she undertook intelligence missions behind Confederate lines "disguised" as a woman. Her duties while in the Union army included regimental nurse and mail and despatch carrier.
She accompanied the 2nd Michigan to Kentucky early in 1863.On April 19 Edmonds deserted because she acquired malaria, and she feared that hospitalization would reveal her gender.
Taking the name Sarah Edmonds, she worked as a nurse for the United States Christian Commission. In 1865 she published a lurid and very popular fictional account of her experiences as Nurse and Spy in the Union Army.
In 1867 she married L. H. Seelye, a Canadian mechanic. They raised three children. Thereafter she moved often--to Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Louisiana, and Kansas.
In 1882, living then in Fort Scott, Kansas, she began securing affidavits from old army comrades in order to apply for a veteran's pension, and in July 1884 the pension was granted by Congress to "Sarah E.E. Seelye [her married name], alias Frank Thompson." A letter from the secretary of war, dated June 30 of that year, acknowledged her as "a female soldier who . . . served as a private . . . rendering faithful service in the ranks."
She moved to La Porte, Texas where she became the only woman to be mustered into the Grand Army of the Republic as a regular member.
Sarah Edmonds Seelye died September 5, 1898, in La Porte Texas. She is buried in Washington Cemetery, Houston Texas, in lot G-26. This is a GAR lot that belonged to George B. McClellan Post of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Peter Dibean was born about 1817 in Quebec, Canada.
There is evidence that he took part in what has become know as the "Papineau Uprising of 1837 - 1838" between the French and English.
On 5 December 1840 he married Mary Till DeDroit (Translates to Strait in English) in Burlington Vermont. Here he and Mary Till started their family having two sons, Peter and Alexander.
In the mid 1840's they started a journey west through New York to Michigan, having another son and one daughter that were born in New York and then on to Michigan where a third daughter was born in 1849.
In 1850 the Peter Dibean Family lived in Waterford Township of Oakland County where four more children were born, three sons and a daughter. His occupation was that of a farmer.
By 1860 the family had moved to West Bloomfield Township where Peter continued to work as a farmer. At some time during this period one son, Joseph, and a daughter, Mary, had died. The family now consisted of Peter; his wife, Mary Till; sons Peter, Alexander, Leonard, Frank, and John; and two daughters, Julia and Mary Adeline (Cecelia).
In 1861, 23 August 1861, Peter enlisted in Company "D" of the Michigan 5th Infantry in Oakland County, the same military unit that his son, Alexander, had joined. He mustered with the regiment on 28 August 1861 and departed for Virginia to join the Army of the Potomac on 11 September 1861. On 24 September 1862 Peter was received a discharge for medical disabilities after which he returned to Pontiac Michigan.
In November 1862 he then enlisted in the Michigan 8th Cavalry, serving in both Company "C" and "D". It was while serving in the Michigan 8th Cavalry in Georgia on the "Stoneman Raid", 3 August 1863, that he was taken prisoner and later confined to the infamous Andersonville Prison.
He remained a prisoner at Andersonville Prison until December 1864 when he was released, probably with a pardon. He returned to Pontiac Michigan about 1 January 1865.
When he was released from Andersonville he weighed only 68 pounds and was not able to walk and had to be carried home from the train station, as affidavits in his Civil War Pension File testify to. At the time of his release he was ill with various diseases that were prevalent at the time.
On 14 January 1865, Peter died at his home in Pontiac, Oakland County. He was buried on 16 January 1865 in the Mt Hope Catholic Cemetery in Pontiac. His Civil War Headstone has his name spelled Peter Dibion.
As a result of Peter's diseases being passed on to other family members, his wife, Mary Till, died on 4 February 1865 and a daughter, Julia, died on 13 March 1865.
The remainder of the family was then placed with other families or other family members.
DILGER WAS BORN MARCH 5, 1836 IN EUGEN, A BLACK FOREST TOWN. NAMED HUBERT ANTON CASIMIR DILGER, TAKING THE TWO MIDDLE NAMES FROM THE BOYS PATERNAL AND MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS. HUBERT'S MOTHER DIED NOT LONG AFTER THE BIRTH OF DILGER'S BROTHER OR EMMELINE'S THIRD CHILD. EDUARD (HIS FATHER) WAS DEVASTATED AND NOT KNOWING WHICH WAY TO TURN, THOUGHT OF PUTTING DILGER IN AN ORPHAN ASYLUM. BARELY A YEAR OLD, HIS FATHER PREPARED A BAPTISMAL CERTIFICATE STATING 'FOR THE PURPOSE OF ADMITTING HUBERT DILGER TO THE PUBLIC COMMUNITY INSTITUTE OF KARLSRUHE.'
EMMELINE'S PARENTS HEINRICH DUERR AND HIS WIFE CAROLINE TOOK THE BABY INTO THEIR HOUSEHOLD AND HE BECAME THE DARLING OF HIS AUNTS AND UNCLES. WHEN DILGER WAS THIRTEEN, HIS AUNT MARIE MARRIED AUGUST LAMEY AND MOVED IN WITH THE NEWLYWEDS. YOUNG DILGER WAS RAISED BY THEM AS IF HE WERE THEIR OWN SON.
DILGER'S CHARACTER REFLECTED THE REFINEMENT, TASTE, AND ARISTOCRATIC ATMOSPHERE OF THE LAMEY HOME. HIS HIGH SPIRITS, INTELLIGENCE, ENERGY, CONGENIALITY AND ZEST FOR LIFE ENDEARED HIM TO THE FAMILY AND TO ALL WHO MET HIM. A NATURAL INCLINATION, POSSIBLY STRENGTHENED BY THE EXAMPLE OF A FRIEND LED HIM TO A MILITARY CAREER.
HUBERT BECAME A CADET, WAS COMMISSIONED, AND SERVED IN THE GRAND DUKE'S HORSE ARTILLERY AT GOTTESAU, KARLSRUHE, AND RASTATT. THE YOUNG OFFICER ACHIEVED RECOGNITION AS AN OUTSTANDING HORSEMAN AND LOYAL COMRADE. HIS ELEGANT APPEARENCE AND BEARING GAINED HIM ACCEPTANCE IN THE HOMES OF PROMINENT MEMBERS OF THE BADISCHER OFFICER CLASS.
LT. DILGER AFTER SERVING A FEW YEARS IN THE GRAND DUKE'S HORSE ARTILLERY, DEVELOPED ORIGINAL AND UNCONVENTIONAL THEORIES ABOUT THE USE OF ARTILLERY. MOBILITY, ACCURACY OF FIRE, AND CLOSE SUPPORT OF THE INFANTRY BECAME HIS WATCHWORDS. CONVINCED HE WAS RIGHT, HE EXPRESSED HIMSELF DIRECTLY AND FORCEFULLY TO SUPERIORS AND WERE NOT ALWAYS APPRECIATIVE OF SUCH ORIGINAL THINKING FROM A JUNIOR OFFICER. HIS FRANKNESS AND FAILURE TO GAIN ACCEPTANCE OF HIS IDEAS DOGGED HIS ENTIRE CAREER. LIKE BILLY MITCHELL OF THE ARMY AIR CORPS, HUBERT DILGER BECAME AN ARCHTYPE BURR UNDER THE SADDLE OF THE HORSE ARTILLERY.
DILGERS GRANDCHILDREN RECALL HEARING THAT GRANDFATHER THEN FELL IN LOVE WITH THE BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER OF THE GRAND DUKE. SOME SAY IT WAS THE OTHER WAY BUT THERE SEEMED TO BE A MUTUAL ATTRACTION EITHER WAY. ANYWAYS SUCH AN AFFAIR MUST OF LED TO FRUSTRATION, CONSIDERING CLASS STRICTURES AND THE POLITICAL NATURE OF MARRIAGE ARRANGED BY GRAND AND LESSER DUKES FOR THEIR OFFSPRING.
DILGERS UNCLE LUDWIG HAD BECOME A SUCCESSFUL ART COLLECTOR AND JEWELER IN NEW YORK. HE TRIED TO GET THE YOUNG DILGER TO COME TO AMERICA. BUT LOGIC DOES NOT FUNCTION WHEN SURROUNDED BY ROMANCE AND THE YOUNG LOVER REMAINED IN GERMANY.
IN 1848 A REVOLUTIONARY CALL TO ARMS IN BADEN WAS ISSUED BY FRIEDRICH HECKER. HECKERS MOVEMENT WAS THE GERMAN COUNTERPART OF THE UNREST THAT SWEPT EUROPE IN THE LATE 1840'S. THE GRAND DUKE'S LOYAL ARMY PUT THE INSURRECTION DOWN WITH THE AID OF HESSIANS. MANY OF THE LEADERS OF THE INSURRECTION ESCAPED TO NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES AND EITHER HELPED IN THE INSURRECTION OF 1849 OR FLED TO AMERICA WHERE THEY WERE GIVEN THE TITLE FORTY-EIGHTERS BY THE GERMAN COMMUNITY. IN 1849 THE GRAN DUKE'S ARMY REVOLTED AGAINST HIM AND THE DUKE HAD TO GET ASSISTANCE FROM THE PRUSSIANS AND CIVIL DISORDER WAS FINALLY SUPPRESSED.
DILGERS UNCLES LUDWIG, WHO CHANGED HIS NAME TO LOUIS, AND ADOLF HAD FLED TO AMERICA TO ESCAPE THE HANGMAN'S NOOSE. OTHERS THAT ESCAPED INCLUDED FRIEDRICH HECKER WHO CALLED FOR THE INSURRECTION OF 1848. FRANZ SIGEL WHO PUT DOWN THE 48 INSURRECTION BUT HEADED THE ARMY AGAINST THE DUKE IN 1849. CARL SCHURZ WHO ESCAPED AFTER THE 1948 FAILURE. AND OTHERS THAT WOULD BECOME PART OF THE UNION ARMY KOLTES, BLENKER, SCHIMMELFENNIG, VON GILSA, PLEISNER, AND ROLSHAUSEN.
ONE MONTH AND EIGHT DAYS PAST HIS TWENTY FIFTH BIRTHDAY, ON APRIL 13TH, 1861, BEAUREGARD ACCEPTED MAJOR ANDERSONS SURRENDER OF FT. SUMTER. WITHIN A WEEK, VIRGINIA PASSED THE ORDINANCE OF SUCCESSION. THE FEDERAL ARSENAL AT HARPERS FERRY AND NAVY YARD IN PORTSMOUTH VIRGINIA WERE SET AFIRE TO PREVENT THEM FROM FALLING INTO CONFEDERATE HANDS. NEWS OF THESE EVENTS DID NOT REACH EUROPE UNTIL THE BEGININNG OF MAY.
THEN CAME THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN. REPORTS OF THE BATTLE REACHED GERMANY ABOUT AUGUST 5TH AND MAY HAVE CONVINCED LT. DILGER THAT THE REBELLION WOULD DEVELOPE INTO A REAL FIGHT. DURING WHICH HE COULD USE HIS SKILLS FOR WHICH HE HAD BEEN TRAINED. HE APPLIED FOR A LEAVE OF ABSENCE, WHICH THE GRAND DUKE GRANTED AUG 8TH. PERHAPS WITH ENTHUSIASM FOR IT WOULD END HIS DAUGHTERS LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE HANDSOME, SPIRITED COMMONER.
HIS DECISION TO FIGHT FOR THE UNION SIDE MUST BE BASED ON SEVERAL INFLUENCES. THE CONFEDERATES HAD SOME GERMANS IN ITS RANKS NOTABLY TEXAS. BUT THE UNION HAD THOUSANDS. AND BY LATE 1861, THERE WERE MANY GERMANS IN THE HIGH COMMAND. 1 OUT OF 3 NORTHERN SOLDIERS WOULD BE OF GERMAN EXTRACTION BEFORE THE WAR ENDED.
HIS UNCLES LUDWIG AND ADOLPH WERE LIVING IN THE NORTH AND BOTH FOUND SLAVERY STRONGLY UNACCEPTABLE. LUDWIG ALSO STILL OFFERED DILGER THE SHELTER OF HIS HOME IF HE CAME.
DURING DILGERS CHILDHOOD, LIVELY LOCAL DISCUSSION OF REPUBLICANISM, LIBERTY, AND FREEDOM STIRRED THE IMAGINATION OF THE SPIRITED BOY. TEENAGE YEARS SPENT IN HIS UNCLE LAMEY'S HOME REINFORCED CLASSIC LIBERALISM IDEALS. PRESERVATION OF A REPUBLIC DEDICATED TO LIBERTY FORCED HIS SYMPATHIES WITH THE NORTH.
IN MARCH OF 1862, DILGER WAS STILL SEEKING A COMMISSION. CARL SCHURZ HAD JUST RETURNED FROM SPAIN WHERE HE WAS AMBASSADOR. HE NOW WAS MADE A BRIGADIER GENERAL BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND WAS WAITING ON CONGRESSIONAL CONFIRMATION. DILGER PAYED HIM A VISIT. HE MET HECKER AND HECKER'S BROTHER-IN-LAW HEINRICH TIEDEMANN. TIEDEMANN'S UNCLE HAD HELPED PUT DOWN THE INSURRECTION OF 1849 AND TIEDMANN'S BROTHER GUSTAV WAS EXECUTED, WHILE HEINRICH WAS ABLE TO ESCAPE.
ON APRIL 1ST, 1862, A MONTH BEFORE WEST VIRIGINIA FORMALLY CLAIMED SEPERATE STATEHOOD, DILGER WAS COMISSIONED A CAPTAIN OF THE 1ST BATTALION OF VIRGINIA LIGHT ARTILLERY. THE BATTALION WAS A STATE MILITIA UNIT. IT WAS COMPOSED OF A BATTERY OF MOUNTAIN HOWITZERS. HE WAS COMMISSIONED BY GOVERNOR PIERPONT.
DILGER SAW HIS FIRST ACTION ON JUNE 8TH AT CROSS KEYS. DILGERS ARTILLERY WAS ASSIGNED TO FREMONT'S ARMY. FREMONT WROTE OF THE BATTLE: "A LOUSIANIA REGIMENT OF TAYLOR'S BRIGADE, UNDERTAKING A CHARGE ON DILGER'S BATTERY WAS RECEIVED WITH FIRE OF CANISTER AND GRAPE, DELIVERED WITH SUCH PRECISION, AND RAPIDITY AS NEARLY DESTROYED IT. EVERY ATTEMPT OF THE ARMY TO EMERGE FROM THE COVER OF THE WOODS WAS REPULSED BY THE ARTILLERY AND COUNTER-ATTACK OF THE INFANTRY." RAPIDITY OF FIRE AND PRECISION WOULD BECOME DILGER'S TRADEMARKS.
AFTER THE FAILURE OF MCCLELLAN'S PENNINSULA CAMPAIGN, GENERAL POPE WAS ORDERED EAST TO TAKE CHARGE OF THE ARMY. POPE ASSIGNED FRANZ SIGEL TO TAKE CHARGE OF FREMONT'S ARMY. FREMONT RESIGNED IN A HUFF AT HAVING TO TAKE ORDERS FROM A MAN TO WHOM HE WAS SENIOR. CARL SCHURZ, RECEIVED A DIVISION UNDER SIGEL AND DILGER'S BATTERY SOON CAME UNDER THEIR CONTROL. THE STAGE WAS SET FOR DILGER'S NEW COMMAND, BATTERY I.
AFTER RECEIVING HIS DISCHARGE, DILGER RETURNED EAST AND MARRIED ELISE ON SEPT. 25, 1865 IN PHILADELPHIA. WITH BACK PAY AND A HALF IN HIS POCKET, HE COULD TAKE HIS TIME LOOKING FOR A JOB. IN 1867 HE TOOK A POSITION AS SUPERINTENDANT OF CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW UNITED STATES COUTHOUSE AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.
IN 1869, DILGER WAS APPOINTED ADJUTANT GENERAL OF ILLINOIS. HE WAS PAID $1500 A YEAR AND OBTAINED THE RANK OF GENERAL. IN 1873, HE RESIGNED HIS POSITION AND MOVED BACK TO PHILADELPHIA.
SCANDINAVIANS IN THE 1st TEXAS HEAVY ARTILLERY REGIMENT
Co B (Labuzon's Battery; Wier's Texas Heavy Art.) Org. 7 Dec 61 in Galveston.
(186?/19) Oliver DAHLE - Private
B: [Oliver Dahle] ab. 1830-35 in Norway. Enlisted at Galveston 22 May 62 for the war.
Detached on a shell bank at Sabine River Nov-Dec 62, on board steamer Josiah H. Bell (Galveston bay) Jan - Feb `63, on board steamer Diana 8th Oct - ca. Dec `63 (tender for gunboat in Galveston bay). On extra duty in engineering department Jan - Feb (?) 64. Detailed as Harbour Police 27 Dec 64 - spring 65. Paroled at Galveston 7 Jul 65 (parole no. 849).
D: ? (alive 1880)
Co B (Labuzon's Battery; Wier's Texas Heavy Art.) Org. 7 Dec 61 in Galveston.
(185?/3) Benjamin DOLSON - Private, Norway
Transferred from Co F, 26th Texas Cavalry Regiment 7 (16?) Jul `62. Detached at shell bank on Sabine River Nov - Dec `62. Absent on furlough 10th Apr - 5th May 63. Detailed on steamer Diana in Galveston bay 8th Oct - ca. Dec `63, on despatch boat at Galveston 25th Mar `64 - spring `65. Paroled at Galveston 28 Jun 65 (parole no. 419).
D: 1917, Galveston, Texas.
Co D (Mason's Battery, Nichols' Battery) Org. 3 Oct 61, in Nov 64 became 15th Texas Field Battery
(1850/17) Ole A ANDERSON - Private / 1st Sergeant
B: Ole Andersen Sundet 7 Dec 1826, Еmli, Norway. Name appears on Aug `64 Regimental Return. Remarks: "Sick in Houston since Aug. 29/1864." Our Parents, undated typescript by Mrs. O. T. Nystel (1855-1937, daughter of Ole Anderson): "When the Civil War came, father was called. He was in the service two years and mother at home with four children." Family History of Ole Anderson and Berget Tergerson, as compiled from Bible and other Authorized History by J. P. Nystel, grandson of this couple (dated 28 Jan 1965): "Ole Anderson served in the Confederate Army, enlisted as a Private in Cook's [regiment] in Henderson County, Texas, and served two years until captured by the Northern forces, kept a prisoner until the end of the Civil War, and was then sent home. He attained the rank of a Master Sergeant in Cook's [regiment]."
D: 2 May 1914, Bosque county, Texas (Norse).
Co E (Von Harten's Battery, McMahon's Battery) Org. 4 Oct 61, in Nov 1864 became 2d Texas Field
Battery
(186?/15) Ole Christian TELLEFSON - Private
B: Ole Christian Tellefsen 5 Nov 1836, Kristiansand, Norway.
According to biographical sketch in History of Texas together with a Biographical History of Houston and Galveston (Chicago 1895), he first served (1861) in the Confederate Ordnance Department, then joined Von Harten's battery of Cook's Regiment of Heavy Artillery. With this unit he took part in the recapture of Galveston 1st Jan `63, and was subsequently transferred to the Texas Marine Department.
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