John S. Opdahl
Database Record Change Request
| Name at Enlist | John S. Opdahl |
| Birth Name | |
| Lived | ca. 1843 – 22 Jun 1864 |
| Resident of Muster-In | Leeds, Columbia County, WI |
| Company at Enlistment | B |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Muster Date | 16 Nov 1861 |
| Cause of Death | Diarrhea |
| Death Location | Andersonville Prison, Macon County, GA |
| Burial Location | Andersonville National Cemetery, Macon County, GA; grave 2309 |
John S. Opdahl 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 him as living in Leeds, Columbia County, WI, age 18, and unmarried. He enlisted for three years on September 14, 1861 at Madison, WI, and mustered there on November 16, 1861 as a Private (Menig). Opdahl was taken prisoner at Chickamauga, GA on September 20, 1863, and sent to Libby Prison in Richmond, VA. From there, he went to Andersonville Prison, GA, where he died of diarrhea on June 22, 1864. He was buried in grave 2309.
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.34; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.396; Nordmaendene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.320; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.297; 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.