Torbjorn Halverson (Abt.1822-1893)

The following is from the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum website:

HALVERSON, Torbjorn

WI 12th Inf Co A. Residence: Martell, Pierce County, Wisconsin. From Modum parish, Buskerud, Norway. Married 1848 in Watertown, Dodge County, Wisconsin, to Anna Ericksdatter. Civil War: Age 39. Farmer. Blue eyes, light hair, fair complexion, 5’9”. Enlisted for three years on 25 Jan 1864 at Martell. Mustered 9 Feb 1864 at Madison, Wisconsin. Private. Taken prisoner 22 Jul 1864 and confined at Andersonville, Georgia. Exchanged at Atlanta, Georgia, on 19 September and paroled at Rough & Ready, Georgia, on the 18th (or 22nd) of September, 1864. Wounded “dangerously” at a skirmish near the Pocotaligo River near Beaufort, South Carolina, on 13 Jan 1865. Wounded in his left thigh. Mustered out 23 May 1865 at Madison, Wisconsin, a private. Post war: He died 6 May 1893 at River Falls, Wisconsin. (Sources: Wisconsin Historical Society Series 1200, box 58-13; Red Book vol. 17, p. 16. Copies of federal records held by Dorothy Lindseth, Olympia, Washington. Ulvestad, p. 287.)

From Edwin D. Leavings’ letter of September 24, 1864:

Will you have the kindness to inform Mr. Roberts’ family that the Co. has received some intelligence about him which, perhaps, they have not heard.  Private Halverson whom we thought was killed in the battle of the 21st July, returned to the Co. last night.  He was taken prisoner and sent along with Mr. Roberts to Andersonville Ga., and the other day was exchanged.  Mr. Roberts a few days before, thinking Gen. Sherman’s men were not to be exchanged soon managed to be sent off for exchange to Charleston or Belle Island.  He was well and kept up good courage.  If he had waited a few days he would have been exchanged here.  Mr. Halverson confirms the stories about the shocking treatment our men receive in the rebel prisons.  He said there were 35,000 of our men there huddled together in one inclosure.  That they died at the rate of 120 to 130 per day, that their daily ration consisted of but  pt. meal, a bit of bacon and a little salt.

Obituary in the May 11, 1893, issue of the River Falls Journal:

DIED.

HALVORSON.—At home in Martell, May 6, 1893, Torbjorn Halvorson, aged 71 years.

— Mr. Halvorson was one of the early settlers of Pierce county, coming here in the fifties.  He enlisted as a recruit in Co. A, 12th Wisconsin, and took part in several engagements, in one of which he was reported as “missing.”  For many months his frief-stricken family mourned him as one of the unknown buried on the battle-field, when news came of his exchange, he having suffered all the agonies and torments of a sick prisoner at Andersonville.  He was an honest, unassuming citizen, industrious and frugal in his habits.  He leaves surviving him his widow and eight children, two sons and six daughters.  He was a member of the G. A. R. Post of this city.