Knud Olson
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| Name at Enlist | Knud Olson |
| Birth Name | |
| Other Names | Knut Bagaason |
| Lived | ca. 1822 – |
| Birth Country | Norway |
| Resident of Muster-In | Freeborn County, MN |
| Company at Enlistment | K |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Muster Date | 11 Feb 1862 |
| Spouse | Elena/ Eline Hanson |
Knud Olson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company K. The company called itself “Clausen’s Guards” in honor of the 15th’s first Chaplain, Claus L. Clausen. Most of the company was recruited from Scandinavian communities in MN and IA, with the rest from WI.
The army listed him as living in Freeborn County, MN, age 39, and unmarried. He enlisted for three years on December 18, 1861 in Freeborn County, and mustered at Madison, WI on February 11, 1862 as a Private (Menig). Olson was left sick at Mississippi River Island No. 10 on June 11, 1862. He was in the hospital in Farmington on July 21, 1862 and then sick in Corinth, MS. Olson became unfit for service and was discharged for disability in Cincinnati, OH on November 12, 1862.
After the war, he married Elena Hanson and farmed in Bancroft Township, Freeborn County, MN. Elena had been married previously and had at least four children: Julia, Louise, Anne Maria, and Hans Thomas. They had several children together, as well: Ole (1868), Martina (1870), Georgine (1873), and Kaire (1876). In 1898, Elena filed a pension as his widow.
Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-12; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.148; FCHS; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.637; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.319; Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T288_355; 1870 Census, Roll: T132_4, Page: 918, Image: 340, Family History Library Film: 830424; 1880 Census, Roll: 620, Family History Film: 1254620, Page: 75C, Enumeration District: 095, Image: 0152.