Ole Gunstenson
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| Name at Enlist | Ole Gunstenson |
| Birth Name | |
| Other Names | Gunstensin |
| Lived | ca. 1844 – |
| Resident of Muster-In | Manitowoc, Manitowoc County, WI |
| Company at Enlistment | F |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Muster Date | 11 Jan 1862 |
| Mother | Berit |
Ole Gunstenson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company F. The men of his company called themselves “KK’s Protectors” in honor of the 15th’s first Lieutenant Colonel, Kiler K. Jones. “F” was also known as the Valdres Company because a large number of its members hailed from the Valdres region of Norway.
The army listed Gustenson as living in Manitowoc, Manitowoc County, WI, age 18, and unmarried. He enlisted for three years on January 4, 1862 at Manitowoc, and mustered at Madison, WI on January 11, 1862 as a Private (Menig). He was sick and left behind with the baggage train on December 26, 1862. He was taken prisoner at Chickamauga, GA on September 19, 1863, and was heard from as a prisoner of war on November 6, 1863. He was still absent as a POW at time the regiment mustered out. [Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige wrote that there was a report Gunstenson had been killed at Chickamauga, not taken prisoner.]
In 1866, his mother Berit Gustensin filed a pension in Ole’s name.
Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-8; Regimental Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.88; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett, Decorah, IA, 1894, p.505; Nordmændene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.285; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Publ. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.307; Civil War Pension Index.