Civil War Soldiers Record Database

Lars Aslesen was born on the Hagaeie farm, Krødsherad in Sigdal parish, Buskerud, Norway. He left the parish April 26, 1852 with his parents to come to America.

Lars A. Larson was enlisted in Company K of the 15th WI by Chaplain, Claus L. Clausen. Lars was appointed as a Corporal (Korporal) in Company K on February 1, 1862. He was mustered into Federal service at that rank for a 3-year term of service on February 11, 1862 at Camp Randall near Madison, Dane County, WI. At the time he was 29 years old and not married. His residence was listed as Freeborn County, MN.

After several months at Camp Randall learning to be a soldier, Corporal Larson left there in early March 1862, with his company and regiment to join the war. From May 1862 until August 1862, he was recorded as “present.” As such he would have been at the Siege of Island No. 10 in the Mississippi River and in the raid on Union City, TN, in March and April. Starting in June, he would have been on campaign through Tennessee, Missippippi, and Alabama. On July 1, 1862, Corporal Larson was appointed as a Sergeant (Sersjant) in Company K. He was next listed as left sick in hospital starting August 21, 1862. It is unclear how much, if any, he participated in 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. Sergeant Larson did not return to the regiment until sometime in November 1862. He therefore was absent during the October 8, 1862, Battle of Perryville, KY, also called the Battle of Chaplin Hills. He was back with the 15th before December 26, 1862, when it participated in a desperate charge upon a Confederate artillery battery at Knob Gap, TN, just south of Nashville. There the 15th captured a brass cannon. He would next have fought at the long, cold, wet, and bloody Battle of Stones River, Tennessee, also called the Battle of Murfreesboro, on December 30-31, 1862. It is there that the 15th first suffered serious battle casualties, and was cited for bravery.

Sergeant Larson remained with the 15th until mid-September, 1863. The regiment camped in the Murfreesboro area from January until June 1863, except for 2 weeks in February when it was sent to Franklin, TN. 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 Rosecrans’ Chickamauga campaign. Sergeant Larson is believed to have been present at the daring early morning crossing of the Tennessee River on August 28th, which the 15th led. He was present at the September 19-20, 1863 Battle of Chickamauga, GA — the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Some 63% of the 15th’s soldiers who were at Chickamauga were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner, and one of them was Sergeant Larson. On the afternoon of the first day of the battle he was seriously wounded during the vicious fighting around Viniard’s Farm. Buslett’s 1894 history of the 15th WI contains this statement about Sergeant Larson:

“He was close to Colonel [Hans C.] Heg when the colonel fell off his horse [after being shot], and helped him away from the battlefield.”

The next day, Sergeant Larson was taken prisoner by the Confederates, probably when the Union hospital at Crawfish Springs was captured. At some point between September 20 and October 2, 1863, he was paroled to Union forces at Chattanooga, TN, and admitted to a field hospital there. This was during the period of the Confederate siege of Chattanooga, TN, which began right after the battle. The siege caused severe shortages of food and firewood which, combined with cold, wet weather, caused much illness and death. It was not until the Union Army’s victorious charge up Mission Ridge on November 25, 1863, which the 15th took part in, that the siege was finally broken.

Sergeant Larson was next listed as being in the Cumberland Hospital in Nashville, TN, in February, March, and May 1864. After this he was noted as being present at Benton Barracks near St. Louis, MO, from August 1864 until sometime in early 1865. Sergeant Larson was mustered out of Federal service on February 20, 1865, at Madison, WI upon the expiration of his 3-year term of service.

After the war, Larson returned to Freeborn County, MN. He married Martha Nelson on July 11, 1866 (church records, July 3, state records) in Nunda, Freeborn County, MN. In 1867, he was commissioned by Wisconsin Governor Fairchild as a Brevet 2nd Lieutenant (Secondløitnant) with rank from November 10, 1864. Brevet ranks were awarded for bravery in battle.

In 1880, Lars and Martha were living with their children in Hamden, Becker County, MN. He worked as a farmer. They had at least 8 children including Andrew (1868), Torsten (1870), Simon E. (1872), John G. (1874), Martha L. (1877), Henriette Julia (1879), Anne M. (1883), and Lauris (1885). Martha filed a pension as his widow on November 2, 1896 in ND.

Sources: 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); Regimental Descriptive Rolls, Volume 20, Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1885); Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T288_274; 1880 Census, Roll: 615, Family History Film: 1254615, Page: 136A, Enumeration District: 185, Image: 0276; MN 1885 Census, Roll# MNSC_20, Line 32; Minnesota Marriages Index, FHL Film #1315836; Krødsherad parish register #2, born and baptised, p. 10, Sigdal parish register #I8, in- and out-migrated, p. 440, Hamre parish register #A12, born and baptised, p. 110, digitalarkivet.no; Norwegian Immigrants to the United States. A Biographical Directory, 1825-1850. Volume Five 1850, Blaine Hedberg and Gerhard B. Naeseth, 2004, Anundsen Publishing Co., Decorah, IA, p. 82, ID 915; “Norwegian Immigrants 1850 and Later”, NAGCNL database, #23770; ELCA records, ancestry.com.