Hans C. Heg papers, 1849-1998

Biography/History: 

Hans Christian Heg was a known abolitionist, journalist, anti-slavery activist, politician and soldier. He was born in Lier, Buskerud, Norway (December 21, 1829). He was the eldest of the four children of Even Hansen Heg (1790–1850) and his wife Sigrid "Siri" Olsdatter Kallerud Heg (1799–1842). The family moved to America in 1840, settling in the Muskego Settlement in Wisconsin. 

He joined the "Forty-Niners" and spent two years prospecting for gold in California. Upon the death of his father, he returned to the Muskego area in 1851. He married Gunhild Einong (1833–1922). With the outbreak of the Civil War, Heg was appointed by Governor Alexander Randall as colonel of the 15th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. He died of the wounds he received at the Battle of Chickamauga.

Scope and Content: 

A typescript copy of a letter by Heg; a letter by Olaf I. Rove to Waldemar Ager, quoting August Reymert concerning Heg's contribution to the Civil War effort; a speech by Julius E. Olson; clippings concerning the Heg monument in Madison, Wisconsin; genealogies; Historic Heg Memorial Park, pamphlet, 1975; typescript copy of a Heg letter from Weaverville, California, October 7, 1849; Photo of a monument to the 15th Wisconsin at Chicamauga Creek; and photocopies of an article by Kevin Die-Zimmel about Heg's contact with Sherman M. Booth, an abolitionist opponent of the Fugitive Slave Law, and transcriptions of contemporary newspaper articles concerning the "Booth affair." "The Civil War Letters of Colonel Hans Christian Heg" was published by NAHA in 1936.