Peter Erickson
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| Name at Enlist | Peter Erickson |
| Birth Name | |
| Other Names | Peder Erikson |
| Lived | ca. 1839 – 1 Dec 1863 |
| Resident of Muster-In | Viroqua, Bad Ax (Vernon) County, WI |
| Company at Enlistment | E |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Muster Date | 20 Dec 1861 |
| Cause of Death | wounds |
| Death Location | Libby Prison at Richmond, VA |
| Burial Location | Richmond National Cemetery |
Peter Erickson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company E. The men of the company called themselves “Odin’s Rifles.”
The army listed Erickson as living in Viroqua, Bad Ax (Vernon) County, WI, a farmer, age 22, and unmarried. He had brown eyes, dark hair, fair complexion, and stood 5’9”. He enlisted for three years on December 16, 1861 in La Crosse County, and mustered on December 20, 1861 at Madison, WI as a musician and Private (Menig). He was missing from a train on September 20, 1863 at Dug Gap, GA, and found to have been taken prisoner. He died of his wounds in Libby Prison at Richmond, VA on December 1, 1863. He was buried in Richmond National Cemetery.
Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-7; Regimental Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.72; Payroll muster rolls of WI 15th Co E, saved by Captain T. A. Rossing; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett, Decorah, IA, 1894, p.475; Nordmændene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.279; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Publ. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.303.