Civil War Soldiers Record Database

Iver Monson was born August 28, 1843 in Vik, Sogn og Fjordane fylke, Norway, the son of Mons Simonsen Halfrund and Inga Jensdatter Refsdal. He came to America aboard the Kong Sverre out of Bergen and into NY on August 1, 1844.

Monson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company B. The men of the company called themselves the “Wergeland Guards” in honor of Henrik Wergeland, the famous Norwegian writer and poet. The army listed Monson as living in Christiana, Dane County, WI, age 18, and unmarried. He had brown eyes, brown hair, dark complexion, and stood 5’8”. Monson enlisted for three years on January 11, 1862 at Madison, WI, and mustered there the same day as a Private (Menig). He was sick at home in Christiana on February 28, 1862 “and has since not been heard from”. He was listed as a deserter. He was found on November 9, 1863, was court-martialed, found guilty, and sentenced to forfeit all pay and compensation from November 1, 1861 to September 1, 1863. Monson was present for the regiment’s final year of marches and battles. He was discharged from the service on December 2, 1864.

After the war, he became a successful farmer in Dane County, WI. Monson married Karen Hanson on December 21, 1875 and they had five children. They included: Martin (1877), Cora J. (1880), Ida (1883), and Henrietta (1889). In 1880, they lived in Pleasant Springs and by 1905, they were living in Windsor. He died on December 20, 1911. His wife filed a pension in his name in 1912.

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-4; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.32; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.391; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.274, photo, p.296; Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, Vol I & II, compiled under direction of the Adjutant General, Madison, WI, 1886, p.809; Nordmaendene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co.,Minneapolis, MN, p.310; Norwegian Immigrants to the United States. A Biographical Directory, 1825-1850. Volume Two 1844-1846, Gerhard B. Naeseth, 1997, Anundsen Publishing Co., Decorah, IA, pp. 61, 62, IDs 759, 760, 764; History of Dane County, 1906; Vik parish register #A7, born and baptised, p. 75, digitalarkivet.no; Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T288_332; 1880 Census, Roll: 1422, Family History Film: 1255422, Page: 283A, Enumeration District: 084; WI 1905 Census, Roll #CSUSAWI1905_7, Line 27.