Christian Nissen
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| Name at Enlist | Christian Nissen |
| Birth Name | Christian Nissen |
| Other Names | Nessen |
| Lived | Oct 1838 – Feb 1841 |
| Birth Place | Schleswig |
| Birth Country | Denmark |
| Resident of Muster-In | Hartland, Waukesha County, WI |
| Company at Enlistment | B |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Muster Date | 16 Nov 1861 |
| Death Location | Adams County, Nebraska |
| Burial Location | Scandinavian Lutheran Cemetery, Pauline, Adams County, Nebraska |
| Mother | Metta |
| Father | Claus Nissen |
| Immigration | ca. 1860 |
| Spouse | Maria (Mary) T. Holzer |
| Spouse Lived | Feb 1841-1928 |
| Married On | 17 Nov 1861 |
| Marriage Location | Madison, Dane County, WI |
Christian Nelson was born in Schleswig, Denmark to Claus and Metta Nissen in October 1838. He immigrated to the U.S. in about 1860 and came to WI.
Nelson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company B. The men of the company called themselves the “Wergeland Guards” in honor of Henrik Wergeland, the famous Norwegian writer and poet.
The army listed Nelson as living in Hartland, Waukesha County, WI, and age 23. He enlisted for three years on September 28, 1861 at Madison, WI, and mustered there on November 16, 1861 as a Private (Menig). Nelson married the next day to Maria (Mary) T. Holzer in Madison. Her parents were Joseph H. and Maria E. Holzer.
He was sick in hospital at Jacinto, MS on July 28, 1862 and then sick in hospital at Farmington, MS on the same day. Nelson was discharged from the service for disease on October 22, 1862 in Cincinnati, OH.
After the war, he returned to Waukesha County, WI. He and his family lived in Summit and he worked as a farmer. They went by the surname, Nissen in census records. He and his wife at least 12 children, including: Louis (1864), Mattie (1866), Joseph, August, Nicholas, Louisa (1873), Mary (1877), Nellie (1878), Christian (1879), Jennie (1882), Minnie and John (1885). The family relocated to NE in the early 1870s. They lived in Adams County: in 1880 in the town of Little Blue; 1900 in Hanover; and 1910 in Roseland.
Christian died in 1922 and is buried in Scandinavian Lutheran Cemetery, Pauline, Adams County, NE. Maria died in 1928 and is buried in the same cemetery.
Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-4; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20, p.34; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.392; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.296; Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, Vol I & II, compiled under direction of the Adjutant General, Madisonc WI, 1886, p.809; Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T288_349; Wisconsin Marriages, Batch #M00342-5, GS Film #1275923, Ref ID #02845; findagrave.com; 1870 Census, Roll: M593_1743, Page: 440B, Image: 598, Family History Library Film: 553242; 1880 Census, Roll: 743, Family History Film: 1254743, Page: 107A, Enumeration District: 063, Image: 0217; 1900 Census, Roll: 916, Page: 4A, Enumeration District: 0005, FHL microfilm: 1240916; 1910 Census, Roll: T624_838, Page: 9B, Enumeration District: 0020, FHL microfilm: 1374851.