Reminiscences: The Story of an Emigrant

Transcriber’s Note: Most variations in hyphenation, capitalization, and spelling have been retained as in the original. Spelling errors have been corrected when most occurrences of the word in question are correct. Obvious typos have been amended. All amendments are underlined in text; original text appears in a mouse hoverbox over each amendment, like this. Minor printer errors (quotation marks, punctuation, etc.) have been amended without note. Mid-paragraph illustrations have been relocated between paragraphs for easier reading, causing some page numbers to be removed. Table of Contents has been added.
saint paul: D. D. MERRILL COMPANY 1891.
Copyrighted 1891 by D. D. MERRILL COMPANY st. paul, minn.
All Rights Reserved
Ancestry and country home in Sweden—Home influences—My first school years—Christmas—Military life—Departure for America.
Arrival at Boston—Adventures between Boston and New York—Buffalo—An Asylum—Return to New York—A Voyage—On the Farm in New Hampshire.
The Arrival of my Father and Brother—Journey to Illinois—Work on a Railroad—The Ague—Doctor Ober—Religious Impressions—The Arrival of my Mother, Sister and her Husband—A Burning Railroad Train—We go to Minnesota—Our Experience as Wood Choppers and Pioneers.
Future Hopes—Farm Life—Norwegian Pioneers—The Condition of the Immigrant at the Beginning of the Fifties—Religious Meetings—The Growth of the Settlement—Vasa Township Organized—A Lutheran Church Established—My Wedding—Speculation—The Crisis of 1857—Study of Law in Red Wing—I am admitted to the Bar and elected County Auditor—Politics in 1860—War is Imminent.
The Beginning of the Civil War—The Scandinavians taking part in it—Appeal in Hemlandet to the Scandinavians of Minnesota—Company D. Organized—The Expressions of the Press—The Departure—The March over the Cumberland Mountains—The Fate of the Third Regiment.
Events of 1863—The Siege of Vicksburg—Anecdotes about Gens. Logan, Stevenson and Grant—Little Rock Captured—Recruiting at Fort Snelling—The engagement at Fitzhugh’s Woods—Pine Bluff—Winter Quarters at Duvall’s Bluff—Death of Lincoln—Close of the War—The Third Regiment Disbanded.