15th Wisconsin Infantry  
Local Troops part of Scandinavian unit   

“In 1861, when Wisconsin’s leading Norwegian-American issued a call to arms, Stoughton responded, sending a company of immigrants and immigrants’ sons to fight for their newly-adopted land.  The Stoughton men became Company B of the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry – the “All Scandinavian Regiment,” led by its founder, Hans Christian Heg, who resigned as state prison commissioner to become colonel of the regiment.

Heg had been born in Norway near Kristiana in 1829, coming to America with his family in 1839.  Settling in Muskego, Wisconsin, the Heg family’s homestead became one of the stopping-off places for the many other Norwegian immigrants who were then coming into Wisconsin.

As a teenager, Hans guided many of these parties to the burgeoning Norwegian settlements, including the fertile Koshkonong Prairie near Stoughton.  In 1848 he joined the California gold rush, returning home in 1851 after the death of his father. 

Heg soon became a leading citizen, joining the new Republican Party.  Defeated in his first campaign, in 1860 he was elected Wisconsin prison commissioner, the first Norwegian-American to win a state office. 

When the Civil War broke out Heg determined to found an all-Scandinavian unit and found a ready response among the Wisconsin immigrant community.  The regiment was officially mustered into the army on Feb. 14, 1862. 

The regiment was predominately Norwegian, and many of the new soldiers had not yet learned English.  The regimental history, compiled after the war, is written in Norwegian.

There were more than 128 men named Ole in the regiment, including three Ole Andersons in the Stoughton company, one from Stoughton, one from Dunkirk and one from Door Creek. 

The captain of Company B was also an Ole, the Norwegian-born Ole Johnson of Stoughton, who would assume command of the regiment when Heg was promoted to lead the brigade. The regiment and its commanders compiled an admirable record for courage and bravery throughout the war, starting along the Mississippi in the Island #10 and Fort Henry and Donelson campaigns.

When the Confederate General Braxton Bragg and his Army of Tennessee invaded Kentucky in September, 1862, the 15th was transferred to the Army of the Cumberland, fighting with distinction at Perryville, Stone’s River and later in the Atlanta campaign. 

The regiment’s most dramatic role came in the battles around Chattanooga in the fall of 1863, when the Army of the Cumberland underwent its great tragedy and redemption.

In August, 1863, General William Rosecrans led his army out of its base in Chattanooga, determined to match the great July victories of the eastern and western Union armies at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. 

The soldiers, too, were anxious to do their share, and were ready for battle when the two armies met near Chickamauga Creek in northern Georgia. 

The first day’s battle on Sept. 19 went well for the Union forces, as they withstood many furious Confederate attacks.  There was tragedy for the Scandinavian regiment, however, as their own Colonel Heg fell mortally wounded while leading the brigade in a counterattack. 

Heg had earned a great reputation for personal bravery, always at the head of his men and regardless to the bullets flying around him.  A statue now stands at the southeast corner of the Capitol square in Madison.

More tragedy would follow on Sept. 20, when the Scandinavians and the rest of the army fell victim to their own leader’s blunders.” 

Excerpted from Stoughton Courier Hub, Syttende Mai Section One, Insert, May 12, 1994  


The 15th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry was organized at Madison, Wisconsin and mustered in February 14, 1862.  Company B mustered out December 1, 1864.

The Regiment lost during service 8 Officers and 86 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded.  Also 1 Officer and 241 Enlisted men were lost by disease.   National Park Service, The Civil War, Battle Unit Details


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