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Thomas Sampson

15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
The Scandinavian Regiment

Database Record Change Request

Name at Enlist

Thomas Sampson

Birth Name
Lived

ca. 1841 – 23 May 1862

Resident of Muster-In

Boone County, IL

Company at Enlistment

A

Rank at Enlistment

Private

Muster Date

15 Nov 1861

Cause of Death

Disease

Death Location

Mississippi River Island No. 10

Burial Location

Mississippi River Cemetery near Memphis, TN

Thomas Sampson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company A. The men of the company called themselves the “St. Olaf’s Rifles.” They were also known as the “Sailor Company” because of the large number of seamen in its ranks, and as the “Chicago Company” because so many of its members were residents of that city.

The army listed him as living in Boone County, IL, age 20, unmarried. He enlisted for three years on October 16, 1861 in Boone County, and mustered on November 15, 1861 at Madison, WI as a Private (Menig). He died of disease at Mississippi River Island No. 10 on May 23, 1862 and buried in Mississippi River Cemetery near Memphis, TN.

According to News of Norway:

“Samuel and Thomas Sampson, young brothers from Boone County, Illinois, enlisted together, mustered at Madison together, and died within a week of each other, of disease, at Island No. 10. They are buried in the National Cemetery at Memphis.”

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-3; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.20; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.365; Nordmaendene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.327; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.293; News of Norway, No. 2/03, Vol. 60, p.9.