Thomas Olson
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| Name at Enlist | Thomas Olson |
| Birth Name | |
| Lived | ca. 1836 – 10 Mar 1863 |
| Resident of Muster-In | Decorah, Winneshiek County, IA |
| Company at Enlistment | F |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Muster Date | 29 Dec 1861 |
| Cause of Death | Chronic diarrhea |
| Death Location | General hospital at Murfreesboro, TN |
| Burial Location | National Cemetery at Stones River, TN; section J, grave 110 |
| Mother | Aagot Togersdatter |
Thomas Olson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company F. The men of the company called themselves “KK’s Protectors” in honor of the 15th’s first Lieutenant Colonel, Kiler K. Jones. “F” was also known as the Valdres Company because a large number of its members hailed from the Valdres region of Norway.
The army listed him as living in Decorah, Winneshiek County, IA, age 25, unmarried, and a painter. He had blue eyes, blond hair, and stood 5’8”. Olson enlisted for three years on December 20, 1861 at Decorah, and mustered at Madison, WI on December 29, 1861 as a Private (Menig). He was sent to the hospital in Nashville, TN on December 9, 1862. He died of chronic diarrhea in a general hospital at Murfreesboro, TN on March 10, 1863. Olson was buried in National Cemetery at Stones River, TN; section J, grave 110. It was said his body was brought to the cemetery “from the battlefield”. This may be a reference to another soldier with this name. After the war, his mother Aagot Torgersdatter filed a pension in his name in 1890 from Norway.
Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-8; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.90; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett, Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.515; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.307; 1870 Census; Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T288_355.