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Paul M. Paulson

15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
The Scandinavian Regiment
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Name at Enlist

Paul M. Paulson

Birth Name

Paul Mikkelsen Slaatten

Other Names

Peter Michelsen Paulsen Slatten; Paul Mikkelson

Lived

29 Sep 1842 – Mar 1864

Birth Place

Slaaten, Ål parish in Hol, Buskerud fylke

Birth Country

Norway

Resident of Muster-In

Worth County, IA

Company at Enlistment

K

Rank at Enlistment

Private

Muster Date

11 Feb 1862

Cause of Death

Disease

Death Location

Libby Prison, Richmond, VA

Mother

Thuri Knudsdatter Sletto

Mother Lived

1819-1905

Father

Mikkel Paulsen Slaatun

Father Lived

1812-1903

Immigration

1853

Paul M. Paulson was born “Paul Mikkelsen Slatten” about 1842 in Hol, Hallingdal, Norway. He was a grandson of Dannebrogsman Paul Mickelsen Slaaten. His parents were Mikkel Paulsen Slaatten and Thuri Knudsdatter Sletto. His siblings were Guro, Kari, Helge, Knute, Engebret, Anne, Guri (Julia), and Inga (Helga).

He came to America in 1853. Paulson 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 Worth County, IA, age 19, a farmer, and unmarried. He had blue eyes, red hair, fair complexion, and stood 5’6”. He enlisted for three years on December 10, 1861 in Worth County and mustered at Madison, WI on February 11, 1862 as a Private (Menig). Paulson was on Military Police duty in October 1862. He was taken prisoner at Chickamauga, GA on September 19, 1863, and died of disease in Libby Prison, Richmond, VA sometime in March 1864. He is entered on the Roll of Honor for the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 20th Army Corps. After his death, his parents had a second son who they named Paul.

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; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p. 638; Nordmaendene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p. 321; Regina Gibson; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p. 284, photo, p. 319; Lars Gjertveit, Bodo, Norway; Civil War Records and Profiles, 1861-1865; Ål parish register #I5, born and baptised, p. 118, #I6, out-migrated, p. 234, digitalarkivet.no.