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Lewis Swenson

15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
The Scandinavian Regiment

Database Record Change Request

Name at Enlist

Lewis Swenson

Birth Name
Other Names

Lars, Skjeie

Lived

24 May 1839 – 23 Dec 1915

Birth Place

Skeie, Hardanger

Birth Country

Norway

Resident of Muster-In

Clinton, Rock County, WI

Company at Enlistment

G

Rank at Enlistment

Private

Muster Date

8 Jan 1862

Death Location

Montevideo, Chippewa County, MN

Immigration

1861

Spouse

Siri

Spouse Lived

17 Jan 1841- 28 Apr 1923

Lewis Swenson was born on May 24, 1839 in Skeie, Hardanger, Norway. He immigrated in 1861. He joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company G. The men of the company called themselves the “Rock River Rangers.”

The army listed him a living in Clinton, Rock County, WI, age 23, and unmarried. He enlisted for three years on January 7, 1862 at Beloit, WI, and mustered at Madison, WI on January 8, 1862 as a Private (Menig). On June 17, 1863, he was promoted to Corporal (Korporal). He was taken prisoner at Cairo, IL, but escaped and returned on September 7, 1863. He was put into Pioneer Corps on May 1, 1864 and was a standard bearer sometime that year. He mustered out with Company G at Chattanooga, TN on January 13, 1865.

After the war, he and his wife, Siri (also called Sarah, immigrated 1865) lived in Chippewa County, MN. They had 4 children: Mary (1867), Lawrence L.(1870), Swen L. (1874), and Christian L. (1878). He died on December 23, 1923 and is buried in Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery, Chippewa County, MN.

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-9; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin; Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.98; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] by Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), .p543; Nordmaendene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.265; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.313; Kenneth A. Peterson, San Jose, California; findagrave.com; 1880 Census, Roll: 617, Family History Film: 1254617, Page: 344A, Enumeration District: 033, Image: 0091; 1910 Census, Roll: T624_693, Page: 1B, Enumeration District: 0019, FHL microfilm: 1374706; 1905 MN Census, Roll #MNSC_112, line 29.