Civil War Soldiers Record Database

Rolfe Thykesson was enlisted on January 20, 1862 under the name Rollef Tykeson by 1st Lieutenant Ole Peterson for 3 years service in Company K of the 15th WI. The men of the company called themselves “Clausen’s Guards” in honor of the 15th’s first Chaplain, Claus L. Clausen.

Rollef was mustered into Federal service at the rank of Private (Menig) on February 11, 1862 at Camp Randall near Madison, Dane County, WI. Army records note that at the time he was 25 years old and not married. His residence was listed as Manchester Township, Freeborn County, MN.

After only a few weeks at Camp Randall learning to be a soldier, Private Tykeson left there on March 2, 1862 with his company and regiment to join the war. From then until November 1862, he was listed as “present” with the 15th. As such he would have participated in the successful siege of Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River in TN and the surprise raid on Union City, TN in March and April 1862.

Starting June 11, 1862, Private Tykeson left Island No. 10 with his and 7 other companies of the 15th to take part in a summer campaign through TN, MS, and AL. In August and September he would have participated in the grueling 400-mile retreat led by U.S. Major General Don Carlos Buell from AL up to Louisville, KY, with the last 2 weeks being on half rations and short of water.

Private Tykeson would have then been present at the October 8, 1862, fighting at Perryville, Boyle County, KY, which is also called the Battle of Chaplin Hills. While this was the 15th’s first big battle, it emerged without any fatalities. Starting November 26, 1862, he was then listed as ” absent” from the 15th on ” detached duty” with the Pioneer Corps. They were the field engineers of the Army, building roads, bridges, and fortifications.

Private Tykeson returned to the 15th before April 1, 1863 when the regiment recorded that he was “left sick” at Murfreesboro, TN. It is not known if he ever returned to the regiment. On September 1, 1863, he was transferred from the 15th to the Veterans Reserve Corps (VRC) at Stevenson, AL. The VRC, also known as the Invalid Corps, was a part of the Army where men who were too disabled for field service, but who were still physically able to do useful work, served out the rest of the terms of service. Rollef is said to have served for a time at Camp Douglas, near Chicago, IL, which was a prisoner of war camp for Confederate soldiers. It is said that Rollef was mustered out of the Army in 1865.

After the war Rollef returned to Manchester Township, resumed farming. He married to Anna Ellingson on July 25, 1867 in Freeborn County, MN. They had 14 children, including: Gunnild (1868), Kristi Josa (1869), Thyke Wm. (1871), John Aldred (1872), Ingeborg (1873), Clara Anda (1875), Swen Oscar (1877), and Helga Amanda (1880). He was elected as a Town Supervisor, joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post in Albert Lea, MN and served as President of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. He was 76 years old when he passed away.

Sources: ; Ole A. Buslett, Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] (Decorah, Iowa, 1894); Oberst Heg og hans gutter [Colonel Heg and His Boys] by Waldemar Ager (Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 1916); Regimental Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Vol.20, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office (Madison, Wisconsin, 1885); and, Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, Volume 1 by the Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1886); 1880 Census, Roll: 620, Family History Film: 1254620, Page:129A, Enumeration District: 100, Image: 0260; Wisconsin Marriage Index, Batch # M53036-1, GS Film # 1315836.Genealogical data provided by his great, great grandson Craig Sigurdson, and by Tove D. Johansen; Lunde Herad med Flaabygd by Olav Stranna (1921); Veterans of the Civil War who served from Freeborn County, lived in Freeborn County after the War, are buried in Freeborn County compiled by Jean R. Legried (Oakland, Minnesota, 1990) from an index started by L.W. Spicer; History of Freeborn County by Franklyn Curtis-Wedge (Chicago, Illinois, 1911).