Martin A. Erickson
Database Record Change Request
| Name at Enlist | Martin A. Erickson |
| Birth Name | |
| Other Names | Erikson |
| Lived | ca. 1840 – 1869 |
| Birth Place | Hurdalen |
| Birth Country | Norway |
| Resident of Muster-In | Sparta, Monroe County, WI |
| Company at Enlistment | D |
| 2nd Company | H |
| 3rd Company | Field Officers & Staff |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Muster Date | 13 Nov 1861 |
| Burial Location | North Coon Prairie Lutheran Church and Cemetery, Westby, Vernon County, WI |
Martin A. Erickson was born in Hurdalen, Norway. He joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company D. The men of the company called themselves the “Norway Wolf Hunters.” They were also known as the “Waupun Company” because so many of its members were from Waupun.
The army listed Erickson as living in Sparta, Monroe County, WI, age 22, and unmarried. He enlisted for three years on October 21, 1861 at Sparta and mustered at Madison, WI on November 13, 1861 as a Private (Menig). He was promoted to Sergeant (Sersjant) on January 17, 1862. Then, he was promoted to First Sergeant on May 18, 1862. On May 28, 1862, he transferred to WI 15th Infantry Company H. He was promoted to Sergeant Major on January 1, 1863 and transferred to the Regimental staff. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant (Løytnant) on June 8, 1863 with rank from May 27, 1863. He was missing and found to have been taken prisoner at Chickamauga, GA on September 20, 1863. He was sent to Libby Prison, Richmond, VA. He had not been mustered as an officer before his capture and so was imprisoned as an enlisted man. He was then imprisoned at Danville, VA and escaped from there, but was recaptured and held until April 1865 when he was exchanged. He mustered out as a Sergeant in Madison on May 27, 1865. The War Department orders dated January 9, 1868 corrected his muster out to be as a Second Lieutenant.
After the war, he became a merchant in Sparta. Gangrene developed in a leg he had injured during the war, and he had to have it amputated. He did not survive the amputation and died in 1869. He is buried in North Coon Prairie Lutheran Church and Cemetery, Westby, Vernon County, WI. His tombstone reads, “Co H 15th Vol Wis Inf Civil War.”
Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office boxes 76-6,10; 78-1; Regimental Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.4, 58, 112 ; Det Femtende Regiment. Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett, Decorah, IA, 1894, p.552; Nordmændene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.257; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Publ. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.290, p.309; findagrave.com.