April 13, 1861 | Peter Goes West
Updated: 13 hours ago
On April 13, 1861, the day after the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter, Peder Pedersen Teigen left his home parish in Hafslo, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway for a new life in America.
Seven months later he was training at Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin, preparing to fight in the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, a regiment made up largely of Scandinavian immigrants.
By the time he was wounded in Georgia in 1864, he had traveled more than 4,500 miles from the fjord farm where he was born.
Early Life in Norway
Peder Pedersen Teigen was born in 1840 in Hafslo parish, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. He was the eldest of six sons, and the first of three who would emigrate to America.
Hans followed in 1864, and Lars in 1882.
Leaving Norway
He departed his home parish on April 13, 1861 (#43 on this page of outgoing records), then likely made his way to Bergen, where he may have boarded Balder (Captain Chr. Olsen).
Balder left Bergen on April 18, 1861 and arrived in Montreal, Canada on June 19, 1861. Passenger lists for arrivals in Quebec were not systematically recorded until 1865, which makes confirming individual passengers from this voyage difficult.
The ship’s name itself carries a hint of symbolism. In Norse mythology, Balder was the god of light and renewal, an appropriate name for a vessel carrying emigrants toward an uncertain future and the promise of a new life.
From Montreal, many Norwegian emigrants continued inland through the Great Lakes and river systems before reaching the Upper Midwest. Wisconsin had already become a major destination for Norwegian immigrants, and it was there that Peder eventually settled.
The Wisconsin 15th
Peder joined the Union cause of the Civil War and enlisted under the name Peter Peterson in Company B of the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry on October 16, 1861 for a three-year term of service.
The Wisconsin 15th was known as the Scandinavian regiment of the Civil War, and the men of Company B called themselves the “Wergeland Guards” in honor of Henrik Wergeland. More than a writer and poet, Wergeland was a defining voice of early Norwegian nationhood, shaped by the ideals of 1814 and the belief that a people should determine their own future. He championed personal liberty, freedom of conscience, and the right to belong, pushing against exclusionary laws and narrow definitions of identity.
For Norwegian immigrants, his name carried a deeper meaning. It spoke to independence, dignity, and the unfinished work of freedom. In taking his name, these soldiers aligned themselves not only with their shared heritage, but with the principles they believed were worth defending on American soil.
Once I learned that Peter had been a member of the Wisconsin 15th, I connected with Madison-based genealogist Dee Grimsrud, whose research helped reconstruct the timeline of his Civil War service.
Camp Randall | Madison, Wisconsin
Peter began his training at Camp Randall in Madison on November 16, 1861, only seven months after leaving his home in Norway. The site had been established as a Civil War training ground for Union soldiers and thousands of recruits passed through its gates during the war.
More than 130 years later, I sat in the stands at Camp Randall as a University of Wisconsin student, attending football games without realizing my own ancestor had once trained there as a Union soldier.
After three and a half months of training, Private Peterson left Camp Randall with his company and regiment on March 2, 1862, heading south with the Army of the Union to join the war.
You can read more about his Civil War service here.
After the War
After serving three years, one month and fifteen days in the war, Peter was mustered out of service (he is #17 on this document).
He returned to Wisconsin in 1865 and settled near West Prairie in the western region of the state, now widely referred to as the Driftless Region.
He married Britha Eriksdotter (Betsey Erickson) and together they took up farming in Freeman Township, Crawford County.
The small cabin I bought in 2020 is located in Freeman Township, about ten minutes from where the farm was located and close to where I grew up.
Peter and Betsey raised ten children, including my great grandfather Erick.
Naturalization
On November 13, 1883, at age 43, Peter became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America.
According to the Certificate of Naturalization, he was required to renounce "all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign Prince, Potentate, State or Sovereignty whatsoever, and particularly to the King of Sweden and Norway."
The United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway was a personal union between the two kingdoms that lasted from 1814 until its peaceful dissolution in 1905.
Later Life
When they retired from farming in Crawford County in 1902, Peter and his wife moved from Freeman to Chaffee, North Dakota to live with their son Peter O. Peterson.
Later they moved into the Old Soldiers Home, where Peter received a $75 per month veterans pension from the government.
Betsey died in 1931 and Peter died in 1932.
Both are buried in Lisbon, North Dakota.
Closing the Migration Loop
Now, 165 years after Peder left Hafslo for America, I am coming home.
As I put the final touches on this post, in April 2026, I step off a boat in Bergen harbor, on the way to a Norwegian language class and my future in Norway.
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