Olaf Olson
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Name at Enlist | Olaf Olson |
Birth Name | |
Lived | ca. 1842 – |
Resident of Muster-In | Chicago, Cook County, IL |
Company at Enlistment | A |
Rank at Enlistment | Private |
Muster Date | 15 Nov 1861 |
Olaf Olson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company A. The men of the company called themselves the “St. Olaf’s Rifles.” They were also known as the “Sailor Company” because of the large number of seamen in its ranks, and as the “Chicago Company” because so many of its members were residents of that city.
The army listed him as living in Chicago, IL, age 19, and unmarried. He enlisted for three years on October 8, 1861 at Chicago, and mustered on November 15, 1861 at Madison, WI as a Private (Menig). He was in jail at Mississippi River Island No. 10 on May 17, 1862. Olson was then sick in Nashville. He transferred to the Navy near Ringgold, GA on May 5, 1864.
Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-3; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.20; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.364; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.293.