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Olavus Olson

15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
The Scandinavian Regiment

Database Record Change Request

Name at Enlist

Olavus Olson

Birth Name
Other Names

Olaus

Lived

ca. 1842 –

Birth Country

Norway

Resident of Muster-In

Scandinavia, Waupaca County, WI

Company at Enlistment

I

Rank at Enlistment

Private

Muster Date

20 Dec 1861

Olavus Olson was born ca. 1842 in Norway. He joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company I. The men of the company called themselves the “Scandinavian Mountaineers” but were also known as the “Waupaca Company” because so many of them were living in that WI county when they enlisted.

The army listed him as living in Scandinavia, Waupaca County, WI, age 19, and unmarried. He enlisted for three years on November 9, 1861 at Scandinavia, and mustered at Madison, WI on December 20, 1861 as a Private (Menig). Olson was with the provisions transport from Stevenson, AL in October 1863. He was sick for a time in 1864. He mustered out with Company I at Chattanooga, TN on February 10, 1865.

After the war, he filed a pension from MO in July 21, 1891. On July 13, 1894, he was admitted to the NW Branch of Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Milwaukee, WI. He was discharged on September 12, 1895. He was listed as a laborer and single.

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-11; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.132; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.604; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.315, e51; Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T288_355; U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, p.3188.