Skip Navigation

Elias Halvorson

15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
The Scandinavian Regiment

Database Record Change Request

Name at Enlist

Elias Halvorson

Birth Name

Elias Halvorson

Other Names

Thompson

Lived

ca. 1843 – 29 Oct 1930

Birth Place

Wisconsin

Birth Country

USA

Resident of Muster-In

Norway Township, Racine County, WI

Company at Enlistment

C

Rank at Enlistment

Private

Muster Date

2 Dec 1861

Burial Location

Lake Campbell Cemetery, Volgo, Brookings County, SD, Lot 24, Grave 2

Mother

Singer

Mother Lived

1810-

Father

Halvor Thompson

Father Lived

1804-

Married On

ca. 1878

Elias Halvorson was born about 1843 in WI to Halvor and Singer Thompson. He lived with his parents and siblings in Norway, Racine County, WI. His siblings were Thomas (1842), John (1847), and Even (1860).

Halvorson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company C. The men of the company called themselves the “Norway Bear Hunters,” but they were also known as the Color Company because the regimental Color Guard was attached to their company.

The army listed Halvorson as living in Norway Township, Racine County, WI, age 18, and unmarried. He enlisted for three years on November 11, 1861 at Waterford, WI, and mustered on December 2, 1861 at Madison, WI as a Private (Menig). He was sick in Nashville, TN on November 27, 1862. He was left behind at Manchester, TN on July 1, 1863 because of illness. He was absent again because of illness in Vincon Valley on September 9, 1863, and also at Wincon’s Gap. He was sick in Knoxville, TN on December 16, 1863. He mustered out with the company on January 1, 1865 at Chattanooga, TN.

After the war, he went by Elias Thompson. He married ca. 1878 and had two children: Sophie (1887) and Carl H. (1889). His wife’s name and their marriage location is not known. By 1910, he was a widow living with his children in Medary, Brookings County, SD. He died on October 29, 1930 and is buried in Lake Campbell Cemetery, Volgo, Brookings County, SD, Lot 24, Grave 2.

 

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-5; Regimental Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.46; Det Femtende Regiment. Wisconsin Frivillage [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett, Decorah, IA, 1895, p.414; Nordmændene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.286; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Publ. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.298; U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938, pg.18998; Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T288_195; findagrave.com; 1850 Census, Roll: M432_1004, Page: 147A, Image: 295; 1860 Census, Roll: M653_1427, Page: 789, Image: 407, Family History Library Film: 805427; 1910 Census, Roll: T624_1476, Page: 6A, Enumeration District: 0042, FHL microfilm: 1375489; 1920 Census, Roll: T625_1715; Page: 10A, Enumeration District: 33, Image: 291; 1930 Census, Roll: 2218, Page: 1B, Enumeration District: 0020, Image: 365.0, FHL microfilm: 2341952.