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Captain S. M. Eaton, Signal Officer/Military Division of West
Mississippi, to Lt. Col. C. T. Christensen, Assistant Adjutant
General/ Military Division of West Mississippi, from New Orleans,
La., 18 January 1865:
"...Lars Larsen, a deserter from [O. G.] Jones' (rebel)
battery, Brownsville, Tex., makes the following statement -
He left Brownsville January 5, 1865. States that there were
about 1,100 soldiers at or near Brownsville and 700 at or near
Ringgold Barracks. All are mounted. At Galveston (which he visited
in September, 1864) there were about 1,400 infantry acting as
heavy artillery, and two batteries containing 8 guns and about
170 men. There were four forts, viz. Jackson, Fort Point, Magruder,
and South Battery, each mounting two guns. Two forts (Bankhead
and Moore) had no guns at that time. There were breast-works
around the city. He states also that the crops in Texas during
the past year have been heavy..."
ibid., dated 26 January 1865:
"...A further examination of the deserter Lars Larsen
discloses the fact that there are four gun-boats in and around
Galveston Bay, viz. the Colonel Bell, mounting two guns; the
Diana, well armed; the Bayou City, mounting two guns; and the
John F. Carr. There is a small supply boat (the Island City)
in the bay. There is at the mouth of the Brazos River a stern-wheel
steamer, the Lucy Gwin, and at Sabine the Josiah H. Bell, mounting
one 32-pounder and two mountain howitzers (sixpounders)."
[Official Records, series I, volume 48, part 2, p. 574]
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The State of Texas
County of Cherokee
On this day the 8th of January 1863 personally appeared before
the undersigned, an acting Justice of the Peace in and for the
county and State aforesaid; Torger Anderson, who, after being
duly sworn according to laws, deposeth and sayeth that he, Torger
Anderson, is the father of Anton, deceased a Private in Captain
[R. H.] Gaston's Company [H], First Regiment of Texas Volunteers,
commanded by Col. [Alexis T.] Rainey, in the service of the
Confederate States in the present war with the United States.
That the said Anton Anderson entered the service at Kickapoo
in Anderson county, Texas, on or about the 30th [20th] day of
March, 1862, and that the aforesaid Anton Anderson died on or
about the 15th [17th] day of September, 1862, somewhere in Maryland,
leaving Torger Anderson, the father, the only surviving heir,
he, Anton Anderson, having no wife or children. And that Torger
Anderson makes this deposition for the purpose of obtaining
from the government of the Confederate States, whatever may
have been due the said Anton Anderson at the time of his death,
for pay bounty or other allowance for his service as volunteer
as aforesaid.
Subscribed and sworn to Torger Anderson (signed)
Before me this 8th day of January, 1863 N. M. Lain (signed)
J. P.
And on the same day and year as aforesaid also appeared before
me a Justice of the Peace as aforesaid, Thomas Smith, who is
well known to me and whom I hereby certify to be a person [of]
veracity and credibility, who, having been by me duly sworn,
says on oath that he is well acquainted with Torger Anderson,
the claimant, and also well knew Anton Anderson, the deceased
soldier herein mentioned; and that the statements made under
oath by the said Torger Anderson, the claimant, as to relationship
to the deceased soldier is true and correct in every particular
to the best of his knowledge and belief, and that the said Thomas
Smith is wholly disinterested.
Sworn to and subscribed Thomas Smith (signed)
before me this the 8th day of January, 1863 N. M. Lain (signed)
J. P.
The State of Texas
County of Cherokee
I hereby certify that N. M. Lain, before whom the aforegoing
affidavits of Torger Anderson and Thomas Smith appear to have
been made, and whose genuine signature is subscribed thereto,
was at the time of making and signing the same, a Justice of
the Peace in and for the County and State aforesaid, duly commissioned
and sworn, and to all whose official acts as such full faith
and credit is and ought to be given, as well in Courts of Justice
as thereout.
Given under my hand and seal of office in the Town of Rusk
this the 12th day of January, 1863
M. P. Rittain (signed) of Cherokee County
Torger Anderson received $ 53.25 from
the C.S. Treasury Department on June 9, 1863.
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Pass Hospital, Tyler, Texas, April 9th, 1864
I certify that I have carefully examined Private A. M. Linberg,
Co (B), 31st Dismounted Cavalry and found him incapable of performing
the duties of a soldier because of varicose veins of both legs,
extensive on the left. Said Linberg says that he has worked
in the shoemaker trade. I recommend that he be detailed in Quarter
Masters Department to make shoes.
I. H. M. Gregor (signed)
Surgeon, P.A.C.S.
PS. Said A. M. Linberg desires to be ordered to report to Waco
if there is a shoe establishment there, if not to the nearest
post to his county for duty.
Lindberg received his detail and was
sent to work in the shoemaker shop in Tyler, Smith county. However,
he had apparently not obtained a proper leave, as he was apprehended
in late October, 1864, and taken to Rusk (Cherokee county).
Two months later (22 Dec 64) he was brought back to his regiment
at Minden, La., under arrest. He must have been released shortly
afterwards, though, and the March 1865 regimental return shows
him to be harness maker in the regiment (31st Texas Cavalry).
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State of Texas
County of Galveston
Before the undersigned Justice of the Peace within and for
the County and State aforesaid personally appeared Oliver Dahle,
who, upon oath, does say that he is a mariner, that from the
age of fifteen he has been following the sea in the character
of a seaman upon various vessels, and in different parts of
the ocean. That on about the 22d day of May 1862, being on board
the steamer Lafayette, belonging to Mr. Marke of Galveston and
preparing to run the blockade, in the capacity of mate of said
schooner, afficiant was conscripted by the enrolling officer
of the county of Galveston illegally, and was turned over to
Capt. Thomas Chubb in command of the Bay Police in the harbour
of Galveston. Afficiant says that he remained on board the guard
boat to which he was assigned to duty for about the space of
three months, during the service required of him as a sailor,
when he was turned over to "Co. B", Cook's Regiment
of Artillery [1st Texas Heavy Artillery Regiment], in which
Company he has been held to service since said time. Afficiant
says the conscription was unlawful, because he was at the time
a mate on board of a merchant vessel in the Confederate States
merchant marine service, that he is a sailor from his youth,
and that he is now desirous of reentering upon that duty, by
which, under the law, he believes that he can be of more advantage
to the country which he is serving than by soldiering, of which
he knows but little and of which his past life upon the sea
has not qualified him for. Afficiant further states that others
upon the same schooner who were only seamen before the mast
have been discharged upon application, upon the grounds on which
afficiant seeks his own - amongst whom he mentions the name
of Andrew Nelson. Afficiant further states that he is a good
navigator as well as seaman, and that it is difficult to procure
for the merchant marine service one who is qualified both to
superintend the working of a vessel and the navigation.
Oliver Dahle (signed)
Subscribed and sworn to this first day of November A.D. 1863,
before me,
J. W. Moore (signed) Justice of the Peace, Galveston County,
Texas
F. Marke being sworn says that he fully confirms the foregoing
statement of Oliver Dahle - that at the time of the conscription
of said Dahle, he was mate on board of the schooner Lafayette
owned by me in the Confederate States Merchant Marine Service,
and prepared to run the blockade, said schooner being regularly
cleared at the Custom House and the usual bonds given.
F. Marke (signed)
Subscribed and sworn to this first day of November A.D. 1863,
before me,
J. W. Moore (signed) Justice of the Peace, Galveston County,
Texas
State of Texas
County of Galveston
Before the undersigned Justice of the Peace within and for
said county personally appeared Sidney Sendder, who, being sworn,
upon oath does depose and say that he is well acquainted with
Oliver Dahle and has been so acquainted for the last four years.
That he knows said Dahle to be a mariner by calling, and that
for some time this afficiant had said Dahle in his employment
as such in the Confederate States Merchant Marine Service on
board a vessel of which this afficiant was Captain, and that
he found said Dahle to be in all respects a faithful and skillful
seaman. Afficiant further says that he is now and has been for
some time past the enrolling officer for the County of Galveston,
and that said Dahle was conscripted by his predecessor in office.
Sidney Sendder (signed)
Subscribed and sworn to this 2d day of November A.D. 1863, before
me,
J. W. Moore (signed) Justice of the Peace, Galveston County, Texas
Galveston, Nov. 3d/63
Capt. Edmund P. Turner
A. A. Gen'l.
SIR: I herewith enclose to you certain papers upon which I ask
a discharge from the service in Co. "B", Cook's Regt.
Artillery, and a transfer to the Merchant Marine Service of the
Confederate States, to which I belonged when unlawfully conscripted.
I respectfully ask immediate attention to the papers herewith
submitted, as my services are at once required as a navigator
on board one of the Merchant Marine vessels, now about to run
the blockade.
Respectfully,
Oliver Dahle
Oliver Dahle
apparently did not receive the discharge he asked for, although
he was detailed to serve aboard various steamers in Galveston
Bay, and, in January 1864, placed on duty with the engineering
department
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(1858/4) Aadne Holverson - Private,
Co E, Frontier Texas Cavalry Regiment
"It is said that he was always slow. When he was escaping
from the army, he got on his horse without untying it and Skimland
came up and cut the rope. They stayed hidden away in the mountains
near Norse [Bosque county] to escape detection. Jacob Olson
brought them something to eat. One time he could not find them.
They got tired of sneaking away and went back to the army. On
the evening of their going back, Mrs. Olson put a table on the
yard and gave them something to eat. - which Jacob Olson says
was not much. Just a few minutes after they had left, Judge
Schrutchfield [sic] came to get them. It seemed that he did
not care to get them. He took a candle and went into one of
the rooms to look around and found it half full of wheat. He
said there was a lot of wheat. A short time afterwards, the
boys deserted again. They had a hard time."
- Jacob Olson, Early Scandinavian
Pioneers of Bosque County, Texas
(1851/20) Otto B. Swenson -
Corporal, Co E, Frontier Texas Cavalry Regiment
"..Knowing very little about the nature of the conflict,
Swenson simply had no interest in the fighting. Since he had
not been issued a uniform, Swenson solved his problem by walking
away from his company, drifting around in enemy and neutral
territory until the war officially ended, and then leisurely
walking back to Bosque county."
- William C. Pool, History of Bosque
County, Texas, p. 42
(1841/3) Peter Norboe
"After the outbreak of the Civil War, he drove a herd
of 225 big steers to the east, selling a few at Memphis and
the rest to the Confederacy."
J. Evetts Haley, Charles Goodnight:
Cowman and Plainsman, p. 130 note
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Some of the Norwegians who did not serve in the Confederate military,
were employed as civilians for the CS Army or Government. The
names of five of these men have been recorded.
(1858/21) Andrew ALBERTSON
-Shoemaker for the Army, Tyler (or Mt. Sylvan), Texas
B: Anders Andersen Berge 21 Apr 1830, Holt, Norway. D: 187?,
Smith county (Mt. Sylvan?), Texas.
[could have been at Jefferson QM Depot or Mound Prairie]
(1859/17) Ole J ARNEBERG -
Blacksmith & Gunsmith for the Army, Mound Prairie QM Depot
[?], Texas
B: Ole Jensen Arneberg 9 Jul 1811, Romedal, Norway. "...He
was a blacksmith and gunsmith [for] the army...at home, exempt..:"
- Early Scandinavian Pioneers of Bosque County, Texas, undated
typescript by Jacob Olson. Description (according to emigration
records): 5'4" tall, slender, blue eyes, dark hair. D:
Jun 1884, Bosque county, Texas (Norse?).
(1850/102) Canute CANUTESON
- Postmaster at Norman Hill, Bosque county, Texas
B: Knud Knudsen 1802 in Norway. Canuteson "had
served as postmaster at Norman Hill since its establishment
[and] was retained in that capacity by the Confederate government
throughout the war" - Ella Lonn, Foreigners
in the Confederacy, p. 88 (Gloucester, Mass., 1965). Note,
however, that Lonn erroneously states that it was Ole Canuteson
(nephew of Canute and a private of Co C, 30th Texas Cavalry
Regiment) who was postmaster at Norman Hill. D: 11 Jul 1886,
Bosque county, Texas (Norse).
(1850/94) John HANSON - Blacksmith
& Gunsmith for the Army, Mound Prairie Armory
B: Hans Jensen Øvernes 11 Jun 1831, Nes Verk, Holt,
Norway. "..At Mound Prairie, where
there is established a large gunfactory, and where my partner,
John Hanson, is employed.." - letter from John
R. Reierson to Oscar Reierson, dated Prairieville, Texas, 22
Dec 1862. D: ?
(1850/38) Ole M OLSON - Wagonmaker
for the Army, Jefferson, Texas
B: Ole Olsen Schulestad 16 May 1832, Østre Vimme, Åmli,
Norway. Employed in the army's wagon factory at Jefferson. Listed
in Martin Ulvestad, Nordmændene i Amerika, vol. I, p.
318. D: 1897, Bosque county, Texas (Clifton).
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