Civil War Soldiers Record Database

Christian Johanneson was born in Norway about 1812. His father was Johannes Christiansen. He was one of five sons and he owned the family’s former croft turned family farm. On February 17, 1835, in Vestre Toten, Oppland, Norway, he married Berthe Maria Halvorsdatter. Together, they had four children before immigrating in 1853 from Vestre Toten. The children were: Johanne (1840), Johannes/John, Peder/Peter, and Jorgine/Georgiana. The children went by Americanized spelling of their names once in the U.S. When they immigrated, he sold the farm to his brother Ole and sailed to American on the Deodata. They arrived in Quebec on June 15 and traveled to Racine, WI where a fifth child, Gustavus, was born.

By 1857, the family had relocated to Spring Grove near Wilmington, Houston County, MN. Christian had bought a 280 acre farm. They had another child, Claus, born in 1857 in MN.

Johanneson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company A. The men of the company called themselves the “St. Olaf’s Rifles.” They were also known as the “Sailor Company” because of the large number of seamen in its ranks, and as the “Chicago Company” because so many of its members were residents of that city. The army listed him as living in Houston County, MN, age 49, and married. He enlisted for three years on February 16, 1862 at La Crosse, WI and mustered on February 25, 1862, at Madison, WI as a Private (Menig). On October 20, 1862, he disappeared during a march from Crab Orchard to Lebanon, KY, and was listed as absent without leave. On December 20, 1862, he is listed as being on military police duty. He was absent sick and sent to convalescent camp at Murfreesboro, TN on May 17, 1863. He was then sick in hospital at Chattanooga, TN on November 5, 1864. He transferred to Company H at Whiteside, TN on December 20, 1864. He then transferred to 24th Infantry. Johanneson mustered out in Huntsville, AL on March 13, 1865, at end of his term of service.

After the war, he returned to Spring Grove, MN where he continued to farm. He died on October 15, 1886 and is buried in Houston County, MN.

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-3; Regimental Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.18; Regimental Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, compiled circa 1885, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.16; Ole A. Buslett, Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.357; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.292; Martin Ulvestad, Nordmændene i Amerika, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.295; MN Historical Society, Veteran’s Grave Index, Identifier: 38659; Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T288_244; 1860 Census, Roll: M653_571, Page: 54, Image: 58, Family History Library Film: 803571; 1870 Census, Roll: T132_6, Page: 1274, Image: 303, Family History Library Film: 830426; MN 1885 Census, MNSC_30, line 28; Norway Digital Archives, Vestre Toten, Oppland, Ministerialbok, p.251 and p.326; “Why Christian Glasrud Immigrated to America,” by J.R. Christianson, 2002, http://www.springgrovemnheritagecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/GlasrudbyChristianson.pdf.