Civil War Soldiers Record Database

Jul Julsen was enlisted under the name James Julson for a 3-year term of service in Company E of the 15th WI by Captain Edwin Julson in the same company on the same day. The men of Company E called themselves Odin’s Rifles. James was mustered into Federal service on January 6, 1862 at Camp Randall near Madison, Dane County, WI. At the time he was 23 years old and married. His residence was listed as Perry, Dane County, WI.

After several months at Camp Randall learning to be a soldier, Private (Menig) Julson left there in early March 1862, with his company and regiment to join the war. From then until September 1862, he was recorded as “present” with the 15th. As such he would have been at the successful siege of Island No. 10 in the Mississippi River in TN and the surprise raid on Union City, TN, in March and April 1862. That summer he would have been on the campaign though TN, MS, and AL. In August and September, James would have been on the grueling 400-mile retreat with General Buell up to Louisville, KY, with the last 2 weeks being on half rations and short of water. Starting September 17, 1862, he was left sick at Bowling Green, KY.

Private Julson was listed as absent until sometime in March or April 1863. As such he was not present with the 15th at the October 8, 1862 Battle of Perryville, KY; the late December 1862 fighting at Knob Gap, TN; or at the long, cold, wet and bloody Battle of Stone River, TN near Murfreesboro. Private Julson rejoined the 15th in its camp near Murfreesboro and was then present with the regiment until October 1863.

Starting June 23, 1863, the regiment took part in General Rosecrans’ Tullahoma campaign. On July 3, 1863, it camped at Winchester, TN. On August 17, 1863, the 15th left there to participate in General Rosecran’s Chickamauga campaign. Private Julson would have taken part in the daring early morning crossing of the Tennessee River on August 28th, which the 15th led. He would also have been present at the September 19-20, 1863 Battle of Chickamauga, GA — the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War. There he survived the vicious fighting around Viniard’s Farm on the first afternoon, as well as the near capture of the regiment around midday on the 20th during Longstreet’s Breakthrough. Some 63% of the 15th’s soldiers who were at Chickamauga were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.

Private Julson would have then served with the regiment during the Confederate siege of Chattanooga, TN, which began right after the battle. The siege resulted in severe shortages of food and firewood which, together with cold, wet weather, caused much suffering, sickness, and death. Beginning October 11, 1863, Private Julson was listed as “absent sick” in Chattanooga, TN. On November 11, 1863, he was moved to a hospital in Nashville, TN. From there he was transferred December 9, 1863 to a hospital in Evansville, IN.

On January 2, 1864, Private Julson’s brother, Edwin Julson, died of “chronic diarrhoea” at an Army hospital in Chattanooga.

On April 23, 1864, Private Julson was “furnished transportation from Chicago, Ill. to Madison, Wis.” valued at $2.70. After recovering his health, he returned to the 15th sometime in July or August 1864, and took part in the last half of General Sherman’s campaign to capture Atlanta, GA. In early October 1864, he served with the regiment on Provost (police) duty in Chattanooga, followed by duty guarding a railroad bridge at Whitesides, TN near Chattanooga. On December 20, 1864, Private Julson was mustered out of Federal service at Chattanooga along with most of the other surviving members of Company E upon the expiration of his 3-year term of service.

After the war, Julson returned to WI. There, he married Martha Halvorsdatter Aalberg on February 9, 1862. Together, they had at least eight children: Hannah (1865), Emma (1866), Bernhart (1869), Albert (1871), Joseph (1875), Ferdinand (1878), Julius (1879), and Nora (1883). Before the birth of Emma in 1866, they moved to Blooming Grove, Waseca County, MN where he worked as a farmer. Before Julius was born in 1879, they moved to Flandreau, Moody County, SD. Both he and Martha are buried in Union Cemetery in Flandreau.

Sources: Genealogical information provided by Marty Gale; Oppland fylke, Nord-Aurdal, Ministerialbok nr. 3 (1828-1841), Fødte og døpte 1839, page 103; Oppland fylke, Svennes i Nord-Aurdal, Ministerialbok nr. 5 (1842-1863), Inn- og utflyttede 1849-1858, page 262; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894); Civil War Compiled Military Service Records, Office of Adjutant General of the United States (Washington, DC); and, Regimental Descriptive Rolls, Volume 20, Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1885); findagrave.com; 1870 Census, Roll: M593_717, Page: 633B, Image: 519, Family History Library Film: 552216; 1880 Census, Roll: 114, Family History Film: 1254114, Page: 38B, Enumeration District: 039; 1900 Census, Roll: 1553, Page: 13B, Enumeration District: 0272, FHL microfilm: 1241553;  Norwegian Immigrants to the United States. A Biographical Directory, 1825-1850. Volume Four 1849, Gerhard B. Naeseth and Blaine Hedberg, 2008, Anundsen Publishing Co., Decorah, IA, p. 23, ID 283.