WI 15th Inf Co B. Residence: Koshkonong, Jefferson County, Wisconsin. Born in Sogndal, Sogn, Norway, in 1842. Brother to Nels Barsnes. Came to America on 19 Jul 1861. Civil War: Age 20. Unmarried. Blue eyes, light hair, light complexion, 6’½”. Enlisted for three years on 2 Dec 1861 at Madison, Wisconsin. Mustered there on 24 Jan 1862. Private. He was a flag bearer. In May and June 1862, he was detached to serve with a commissary train. Wounded in his right breast at Stone’s River, Tennessee, 31 Dec 1862, and taken prisoner. Paroled 3 Jan 1863 and sent to Camp Benton Banks, Missouri, near St. Louis. Was in Convalescent Hospital at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 7 May 1863. Wounded in a hand in the Battle of Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga, Tennessee. 23-25 Nov 1863. Lost a finger. On 9 Apr 1864, he was transferred to the Invalid Corps. Promoted to Corporal on 1 Sep 1864. Mustered out with Company B at Chattanooga, Tennessee, on 1 Dec 1864. Re-enlisted on 11 Feb 1865 at Madison, Wisconsin, as a veteran in Company K, 2nd Regiment, US Veterans Inf Volunteers. Bounty $400. Mustered on 16 Feb at Madison. Assigned to Hancock’s Corps, in the Wisconsin First Army Corps, 1st Company. He was stationed in Washington, DC. He was a guard at the hanging of Mary Surratt and other conspirators accused of being accomplices in the assassination of President Lincoln. In Nov 1865, Barsness was on duty with the quartermaster department. Mustered out 11 Feb 1866 at Elmira, New York. Post war: He took a farm in Barsness Township, Pope County, Minnesota. Assigned a pension of $4 per month on 1 Oct 1876 because of a wound to his right breast; increased to $8 on 15 Jan 1880. Sources: (WHS Series 1200 boxes 76-4, 256-1,2; red book vol 20, p28) (Buslett p378) (Ulvestad p270) (Ager p198. Photo) (RWV p808) (Pensioners on the Roll as of January 1, 1883, living in Minnesota, publ. 1994, Park Genealogical Books, Brooklyn Park Minnesota) (“Descendants of Ole Berntsen Barsness and Kari Mikkelsdatter Olstad” by Katherine Barsness Evenson, p22. Copy in DCHS) (“The Barsness Family”, by Barbara Barsness Swedenburg, publ. 1979, p15-21) (“Norwegians in Wisconsin” by Richard J. Fapso, publ. The Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Madison, 2001, p21 photo) “Basness, Erick M.” “Barsness, Erick”
