John Nelson

Probably born Jonas Nilson to Nils Iverson and Susan Jonasdatter, he came to America with his parents and siblings in 1854 and began using the name John Nelson. By then 23 years old and living in Wanamingo, Goodhue County, MN, he enlisted at nearby Red Wing, MN on 14 February 1862 and mustered as a Private in Company H of the First Minnesota Infantry on 28 February.

He was wounded in action at Antietam on 17 September 1862, later writing:

... my left thumb was shot off, as well as my right eyebrow, so I was taken to the [field] hospital where I also developed a fever, and lay for a long time.

But as soon as I was well I had to go to the front again - this time as a stretcher bearer. We carried the wounded soldiers out from the rain of falling musket balls as fast as we could. It happened occasionally that a wounded was hit by a deadly bullet while he lay on the stretcher, and in such cases there was nothing else to do but tip him off and go after another. And as soon as any of the bearers fell, they had to be replaced with new ones. Even the houses that the doctors had taken to use for hospitals were not spared. We could see the balls go straight through them. - I have seen thousands of arms and legs thrown in heaps outside these so-called hospitals. Alas, I cannot think of it without shuddering. The misery we had to go through and also be witness to - was indescribable. I went into the war with fair hair, but returned with dark. When I was at the hospital I lost all my hair and that which grew back again was of a different color ...

He returned briefly to Wanamingo, but in June 1866 he and fellow veteran John Thompson, their wives, and Nelson's 6-month old daughter Solina traveled west by ox-cart to claim farmland near Sioux Falls in the Dakota Territory. He was Postmaster after 1872 and also farmed there to 1883, then moved to Arlington, Kingsbury County, SD and continued farming to at least 1910. By 1920, then age 81, he had retired and was living with his son Arnold (1887–1957) and family, still in Arlington.

His service basics and other details from the First Minnesota database,1 with research from descendant Donald Nelson. The quotes above from Martin Ulvestad's Nordmaendene i Amerika (1907). Further details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1870-1920. His gravesite is on Findagrave. His picture from a c. 1866 photograph in the FamilySearch database. Thanks to Tom V.G. Nilsen for bringing Nelson to my attention and for his birthplace.

He married Anne Marie Andersdatter Dalemoe (1845-1915) in June 1864 while on a furlough and they had 13 children. Their youngest, Niel James (b. 1889) was mortally wounded in action during World War I in the St. Mihiel Offensive of August 1918. His father died about 2 years later.

01/31/1839; Meråker, Trøndelag, NORWAY

11/09/1920; Kingsbury County, SD; burial in Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, SD