The history of the 15th Wisconsin Volunteers.
The only non-English-speaking Union regiment in the Civil War, the 15th Wisconsin Volunteers, was formed by Scandinavian immigrants. It was organized and commanded by Norwegian Hans Christian Heg from Muskego, and included both Norwegians and Swedes. The regiment’s chaplain was a Dane, Claus Lauritz Clausen, pastor of the Lutheran church in Heart Prairie and editor of the first Norwegian-language newspaper in the United States, Emigraten, which was an early champion of abolition. At the battle of Chickamauga, nearly two-thirds of the regiment were killed, wounded, or captured, and Colonel Heg was killed—the highest-ranking Wisconsin officer to die in the war. A statue of Heg, donated by the Norwegian Society of America, was placed facing the state capitol in Madison in 1925. Serving in the Civil War helped integrate Scandinavians from across the Union into American society and paved the way for many to play prominent roles in Midwestern politics.
To learn more about the 15th Wisconsin Volunteers, including rosters to see if your ancestors belonged, see www.nagcnl.org/civilwar/rosters and www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS2137.