Civil War Soldiers Record Database

Andrew Ellicksen enlisted under Captain Fredrick Berg in Company C of the 15th WI on March 14, 1862, at Madison, Dane County, WI. That same day he was mustered into the Army at the rank of Private (Menig). This was 2 weeks after the 15th had left Wisconsin for the war. Company C was the regimental Color Company, but its members called themselves the “Norway Bear Hunters.” At the time he was 23 years old and not married. He is recorded as having blue eyes, dark hair, fair complexion, and standing 5 feet 10 inches tall. His residence was listed as Pleasant Spring, Dane County, WI.

Private Ellicksen was listed as “present” with his company from sometime in late March 1862 until August 31, 1863. As such he would have participated in the successful siege of Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River in Tennessee, and the surprise raid on Union City, TN, in March and April 1862. That summer he would have been with the 15th on campaign through Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. In August and September he would have 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.

Private Ellicksen would have also 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. On December 26, 1862, he would have participated in the 15th’s desperate charge upon a Confederate artillery battery at Knob Gap, TN, just south of Nashville. There the 15th captured a brass cannon. He would have also fought at the long, cold, wet, and bloody Battle of Stones River, TN, 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. The following is from Buslett’s 1894 history of the 15th WI.

“After the battle General Rosecrans issued an order to the various regiments’ commanders to submit to headquarters a list of one sergeant, two corporals and four or five privates in each company (altogether no more than six from each company), who had shown the greatest courage and ability during the battle. These would be entered on the Roll of Honor.”

The 15th’s commander, Colonel Hans C. Heg, submitted Private Ellicksen’s name to headquarters and he was subsequently entered on the Roll of Honor for the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 20th Army Corps for his actions in the Battle of Stones River.

The 15th camped in the Murfreesboro area for the next 6 months, 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, the 15th went into camp at Winchester, Franklin County, TN, for 6 weeks.

On August 17, 1863, the 15th left Winchester to participate in General Rosecrans’ Chickamauga campaign. Private Ellicksen 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, fighting at Chickamauga, GA — the second bloodiest battle of the Civil War. There on the afternoon of the first day of the battle Private Ellicksen was taken prisoner during the vicious fighting around Viniard’s Farm. Some 63% of the 15th’s soldiers who were at Chickamauga were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.

Following his capture, Private Ellicksen was transported by railroad train to Atlanta, GA, and on to Richmond, VA, the Confederate capital. There he was confined in the notorious Libby Prison beginning September 29, 1863. On December 12, 1863, Private Ellicksen was transported to a prison in Danville, VA. On June 9, 1864, he was admitted to the prison hospital there with “Variola” (Smallpox). He was released back into the prison on June 26, 1864.

Private Ellicksen is said to have then been transported to the infamous Andersonville Prison Camp in Georgia sometime in the summer of 1864, and then, some 4 months later, to a prison at Florence, SC. On December 10, 1864, Private Ellicksen was finally paroled to Union forces at Charleston, SC, where the Civil War began. He had been a prisoner nearly 15 months.

After his release Private Ellicksen was reported as “present” at Camp Parole in Annapolis, MD, on December 16, 1864. From there he is said to have been sent home to Wisconsin on furlough, after which he reported to Camp Chase in Columbus, OH, on January 27, 1865. He is noted as having reported to the Provost Marshal in Columbus on March 16, 1865. This was at the end of his 3-year term of service, at which point he should have been mustered out of the Army. However, he was not mustered out until June 12, 1865, in Madison, WI. The reason for this 3-month delay is not known, but it may be because he still needed medical treatment due to his imprisonment.

During the months between Private Ellicksen’s release from prison and his belated muster out, the Army transferred him several times. These were paper changes and had no effect on his physical location. First he was transferred within the 15th from Company C to Company H when the former was mustered out at Chattanooga, TN, on December 31, 1864. When Company H, the last remaining company in the 15th, was mustered out in mid-February 1865, the Army transferred him to I Company of the 13th WI Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

After the war Andrew Ellicksen worked as a farmer and lived in the Dane County towns of Pleasant Spring, Dunn, Dunkirk, Rutland, and Windsor before settling in Stoughton, WI. In 1885, he submitted an application for an Invalid Pension, which stated “That while in each prison from severe hardship and exposure he contracted rheumatism and heart disease.” In 1890 he amended his application to add “partial deafness and defective eyesight.”

In response to a 1898 questionnaire from the government, Andrew started that he and his wife had had 10 children: Annie Marie, born December 25, 1868; Ellick, September 7, 1870; Emma Sophia, September 17, 1871; Mary Ana, March 31, 1873; Julia Jensina, September 3, 1876; Louisa (Lovina), February 4, 1879; William (Willie) Severt, February 4, 1881; Millie Edia, April 4, 1883; Victor, May 12, 1885; and Nora Belinda, April 18, 1889.

Sources:  Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett, 1894, Decorah, IA;  Regimental Descriptive Rolls, Volume 20, Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1885); Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, Volume 1, Office of the Adjutant General State of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisconsin, 1886). Genealogical data provided by Milt Brickson; Hafslo parish register #A5, born and baptised, p. 32, #A18, out-migrated, p.15.