WI 15th Inf Co F. Residence: Manitowoc, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Born “Nils Iversen Vaarum” at Vaarom farm, Østre Slidre, Valders, Norway, 1842. To US in 1857. Civil War: Age 20. Unmarried. Enlisted for three years on 2 Oct 1861 at Manitowoc. Mustered 12 Dec 1861 at Madison, Wisconsin, as Sergeant. Transferred to WI 15th Inf Co A on 13 Jan 1862. Promoted First Sergeant 11 Nov 1862. Wounded in his hip in the battle of Stone’s River, Tennessee, 31 Dec 1862. Prisoner of war (?). In hospital at Nashville, Tennessee. Commissioned First Lieutenant in WI 15th Inf Co A on 19 Oct 1864. Discharged from the service 20 Dec 1864. Entered on Roll of Honor for leading three men through rebel lines to recover a wounded soldier who had been left on the battlefield. [Letter describing his wounding is in Buslett, p341).] Post war: He lived in South Dakota and Montana, as postmaster and merchant. In 1893, he returned to Wisconsin, to Blair. Later he lived at Eleva, Wisconsin. Sources: (WHS Series 1200 box 76-3,8; red book vol 20 p14, p84) (Buslett p 341) (Ulvestad p257) (Ager p74, photo; p80, photo; p232, photo; p290; p306) (Meeker) (Hedberg) “Gilbert, Nels I”
