Eventually, Gustav and his son Charles found a likely area that would eventually become the towns of Sauk Centre and St Cloud. While there were a few farmsteads already established by Swedish families, there was still plenty of fertile land available. The first step was to file a claim on the land. The last thing they wanted was to have someone come and file a legal claim on land that they had already established. It may sound far-fetched, but it did happen. There were a lot of unscrupulous land developers out there.

In 1850, to establish a homestead in Minnesota, a settler would typically need to: file a claim at a land office, pay a small fee, physically settle on the land, build a dwelling, cultivate a portion of it, and continuously reside there for a set period (usually several years) to prove their intent to improve the land before receiving a legal title (patent) from the government; however, the specific details of the process could vary depending on the land laws and regulations in place at the time, which could include preemption rights or other land acquisition methods prior to the full implementation of the Homestead Act of 1862. 

Key points about homesteading in Minnesota around 1850: 

• Land Availability:The land would need to be surveyed and available for settlement, often through treaties with Native American tribes that opened up new areas. 
• Claim Filing:Individuals would need to file a claim at a local land office, indicating their intention to settle on a specific parcel of land. 
• Residency Requirement:Once a claim was filed, the settler had to physically occupy the land and build a dwelling to demonstrate their commitment to establishing a homestead. 
• Improvements:Beyond building a dwelling, the settler would need to cultivate a portion of the land, showing active efforts to improve it. 
• Proof of Settlement:After a specified period of residency and improvement, the settler would need to provide proof to the land office to receive a legal title (patent) for the land. 

Important Considerations: 

• Preemption Act:Before the Homestead Act, settlers might have been able to utilize the Preemption Act, which allowed them to claim land they were already occupying and improving, but with a fee to finalize the title. 
• Homestead Act of 1862:This later act significantly impacted homesteading in Minnesota by allowing individuals to claim 160 acres of public land for free with a residency requirement, making it easier for people to settle on the land

Gustav Anderson and Brigitta Larson 1827 wedding photo

Gustav and Brigitta Anderson family photo with Albert, Eva Annika first row, Abbas, Hans and Charles back row

Since land development and the indigenous indian population living in Minnesota all played important roles in the settling of the state and directly or indirectly affected the lives of many of the Anderson clan, I think that it’s imperative that we spend some time discussing the history of the disposal of public land in the state.

The Minnesota land patent records of the U.S. General Land Office (GLO) documented the first transfer of title of public lands within the boundaries of Minnesota from the federal government to private individuals, corporations, tribes, and the State of Minnesota. The patent records for the State of Minnesota cover the period of 1848 to 1930. In 1848, the first land in what would become the State of Minnesota was opened for entry; in 1930, the public domain was declared closed within the state. The GLO records are the basis of all land titles in the state and are valuable for a wide range of geographical, historical, genealogical, and land law research.

The first Continental Congress framed the federal government’s land disposal policies within the Articles of Confederation and, with the Land Ordinance of 1785, called for a method of survey to systematically define disposition of the lands beyond the boundaries of the first 13 colonies. Because there were differing views of the proper role and purposes for disposal of the public domain — either as a source of revenue for the insolvent national government or as a means of getting the western lands into the hands of individual families for actual settlement and development — some have referred to the federal land policy as an “incongruous system.” However, the basic Cadastral Survey System, established for purposes of disposal of the public domain, provided for an orderly system of measuring and defining the boundaries of these lands.

After the first surveys were completed in Ohio, the first public domain lands were sold from a one-room office of the Board of Treasury in the Federal Building located in lower New York City. That office was moved to Philadelphia in 1790. The deficiencies of Land Ordinance policies included the requirements that all public lands be paid for in cash, which brought widespread demands for a reform of public land laws. Congress responded. On May 10, 1800, President John Adams signed a new public land law meeting most of the demands of the settlers, including that land sales were held near were the tracts being offered.

The land offices became the primary administrative units for sales; in fact, the GLO established a policy that land sales could be entered on (or filed on for acquisition) only in the land office of the district in which the tract was located. {N.B. “To enter,” “to locate,” or “to file on” were terms used to describe the process of acquiring government land by “private entry” as opposed to public auction. Thus, the person locating land was an “entryman.”} In order to keep the sales orderly, Congress authorized the establishment of new land districts to the West and, in some cases, specified the location of the first land office in each district.

Many things combined to increase the workload. In 1803, President Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, adding more than 500 million acres of public lands west of the Mississippi River. From 1800 to 1812, Congress created 14 new districts besides those established in 1800. For each new district, a land office had to be set up and two new officials appointed to run the district. By law, the land offices were to be closed, and districts consolidated when less than 100,000 acres of land in a district remained open for entry.

The GLO was established within the U.S. Department of the Treasury by an act of Congress of April 25, 1812. It was responsible for managing the disposal of the public domain. Prior to this time, three government departments were responsible for the disposal of government lands. The Treasury Department oversaw the sale of land, the War Department managed military bounty land warrants, and the State Department countersigned all patents. The GLO became the central authority for disposal of the public domain. The primary means by which land was conveyed out of the federal domain were public auctions, private cash purchases, warrant and scrip entries, homestead and timber culture entries, and grants to the states and railroads.

The Office of the Surveyor General was established by the Act of May 18, 1796, within the GLO. The Surveyor General was charged with overseeing the systematic survey of the public domain lands. However, the survey and land disposal activities were directed independently of one another. In 1849, the GLO became part of the newly established Department of the Interior, established to expand settlement into the West while generating revenue for the federal government. In 1946, the GLO became part of the newly created Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within the Department of the Interior. The BLM retains the Secretary of the Interior’s copies of the GLO records (patents, warrants, grants, survey plats, and field notes).

Despite the enduring differences in perspectives on the purposes of the public domain, by the time the first land in what would become the State of Minnesota was opened for entry, the GLO had developed standardized administrative structures and procedures for disposal of the public domain. As westward settlement expanded, Congress authorized the creation of new land districts. There were eleven land districts in Minnesota: Alexandria, Cass Lake, Crookston, Duluth, Minneapolis, Ojibway (no records exist for this district), Red Wing, Root River, St. Cloud, Stillwater, and Winona. The boundaries of some of the districts changed considerably over the years as new districts were carved out of old, land was transferred from one district to another, and districts were closed and consolidated.

When the land office of a district was transferred to a new location, the records were simply carried forward. As land districts were closed, their records were transferred to the land office of the successor district. By 1908, only Cass Lake, Crookston, and Duluth land districts remained in existence. The records of all other districts had been transferred to Duluth. The Crookston and Duluth districts were closed in 1925, and the first copy of the records was transferred to the Minnesota Historical Society. Society also acquired the records of Cass Lake when that district was closed in 1933. The Secretary of the Interior’s copy of the records is in the Bureau of Land Management’s ES in Springfield, Va.

By law, all land that had been surveyed and was to be opened for entry had to be offered for sale at public auction; this was “offered land.”Unoffered land” was public domain, both surveyed and unsurveyed, that had not been put up for sale at public auction. The date of each auction was set by a presidential order listing the tracts to be sold. Each 40-acre parcel was sold to the highest bidder with a minimum price of $1.25 per acre. The sale continued until all of the listed tracts were offered for bid; any land that did not receive a minimum bid was then subject to private sale.

Prior to 1841, it was illegal to settle on unoffered land. A series of laws prohibited illegal settling on public land, and an act of 1807 permitted forcible removal of “squatters” or “pre- empters.” In reality, these laws proved ineffective as settlers moved onto and improved unoffered and unsurveyed land. Once the pre-empted land was surveyed and about to be offered for bid and auction, the settlers were often faced with the prospect of losing their claim to the highest bidder. In order to forestall removal from their claim, the pre-emptors frequently organized “claim clubs” that worked to delay the scheduling of sales or attempted to prevent bidding on pre-empted claims. These settlers also lobbied Congress for legislation recognizing their claims and permitting them to enter the land at the minimum price. While several pre-emption acts were passed during the early 19th century, they were limited in scope. Finally, in 1841, a general and prospective pre-emption law was passed; it recognized the claims of settlers on surveyed but unoffered land. An act of 1854 extended pre-emption rights to settlers on unsurveyed land in Minnesota. By filing an intention to purchase with the local land officer, the pre-emptor could protect his claim and later purchase it at the minimum price of $1.25 per acre. Settlers claims were shown on original survey plats.Disposal of public land in Minnesota

In Minnesota, very few acres of land, except for sales of prime timber land, were sold at auction. Those acres that were auctioned brought only the minimum bids. This was partially because of the successes of the claim clubs and cooperation among potential bidders to control the cost of land. Additionally, most buyers in Minnesota were quite hesitant to risk bidding up the price of a tract that could have been bought at $1.25 per acre in a private transaction. Private cash purchases, scrip and warrant entries, and homestead and timber culture entries were all singular transactions by individuals; auctions were openly public purchases.

The methods for applying to acquire public land were similar for all the different types of entries. If the entryman did not pre- select a tract or parcel, he could look at the available survey plats and tract books to determine what land was available for entry. The survey plat gave prospective entryman a good indication of the topography of the land. After selecting a parcel for entry, he filed an application with the register of the land office. The register cross-checked the plats and tract books to determine if the selected parcel was open. The entryman then paid the purchase price and other fees and commissions due. The receiver in the land office issued a receipt and recorded the transaction in the register of receipts. The receipt was then recorded by the register in the tract book, on the plat, and in the appropriate register of entries. Finally, the entryman was given a “certificate” that established his claim to the parcel, pending the issuance of a patent.

Warrants and scrip were government “IOUs,” entitling the owner to enter a specified acreage of land within specified localities. The warrants were issued as bonuses or salaries for military service; scrip of various types were issued as substitutes for actual land grants or as repayment for certain dispossessed claimants. The warrants and scrip were issued in denominations generally ranging from 40 to 160 acres. Warrants could be used only to enter offered land while some scrip could also be used to enter unoffered and unsurveyed land. Most warrants and scrip could be assigned or transferred. In fact, there was an open and recognized market in land paper, particularly in the land office towns. The warrants and scrip had a face value of $1.25 per acre, but many were discounted by brokers at considerably reduced rates. Many large-scale land speculators and dealers made broad use of warrants and scrip in acquiring their holdings.

Homestead and timber culture entries were means of distributing free public land. Homesteaders could obtain up to 160 acres of land by living on and improving their claim for five years. The Timber Culture Act allowed individuals to acquire an additional 160 acres by planting a specified proportion in trees. Homestead and timber culture entries could be made on offered land and surveyed unoffered land. Notations showing homestead entries in the Tract Books can be identified with the notation HD in the Part of Section field.

Federal land grants to the states were conveyed either by direct legislation or by a sequence of selections and approved lists. The Minnesota statehood act transferred title to sections 16 and 36 of each township to the state for school purposes. For other categories of trust fund land, the state chose the tracts it wanted by filing selection lists with the local land offices. The selection lists were examined by the registrars and receivers and the commissioner of the GLO for conflicting claims. If none existed, the Secretary of the Interior approved the selected land for patenting to the state.

The federal government granted lands to several railroads to aid in the construction of their lines in Minnesota. The State of Minnesota served as a go-between in the administration of these grants. The granted lands were patented to Minnesota, and the state then deeded the land to the railroad as prescribed by the terms of the grant.

While archaeologists have recorded settlements of Native Americans in Minnesota dating back to at least 10,000 years ago, the Dakota (also known as Sioux) and the Ojibway (also known as Chippewa) are the Native American people who were confronted by European fur traders and explorers and white American settlers as they moved into traditional lands. Actually, the Assiniboin and several other historic tribes moved to the west during the early 1600s, soon after the French explorers and traders entered the lands that would become Minnesota.

In the late 1830s, Governor Henry Dodge of the Wisconsin Territory (containing Minnesota East) obtained cession of all of the Ojibway lands on the St. Croix River and the Dakota ceded their land east of the Mississippi to the United States government. In the late 1840s and early 1850s, by the time early white settlement took place, the Dakota lived on the prairie and bottomland hardwood forests of the southern portion of the state and the Ojibway lived in the pine forests of central and northern Minnesota. Both societies had a mixed woodland subsistence economy that required scheduled and seasonal movement to hunt, fish, and gather and harvest their foods.

During the 1850s and 60s, both tribes were forced to give up most of what is now Minnesota in treaties. Treaties signed at Traverse des Sioux and Mendota in 1851 left the Dakota with only narrow reservations along the upper Minnesota River. In 1854, the Mississippi, Lake Superior, and Bois Fort bands of the Ojibway ceded their lands surrounding the western tip of Lake Superior and north to the Canadian border In 1855, the Mississippi, Pillager, and Winnibigoshish bands relinquished their claims to the lands from Mille Lacs Lake north to the Canadian border and west to the Red River. In 1863, the Red Lake and Pembina bands gave up their land on both sides of the Red River north to the Canadian border. In 1866, the Bois Fort ceded additional territory south of the Rainy River.

Thus, by the mid-1860s, much of the Ojibway and Dakota lands had been transferred to the United States government for sale to white settlers. They were paid much less than the government received from later buyers and were allotted reservations and promised various other benefits. Additionally, both tribes suffered tremendous population and economic losses during subsequent decades due, in part, to the United States government policy of consolidating tribes on large reservation tracts during the 1860s and 1870s Then, in the mid-1880s, in the face of pressure to release reservation land for white settlement, the federal government reversed its policy.

For those who have never chopped firewood or chopped down a tree, you have no idea how hard this really is. No imagine making a house utilizing this method and these building materials, and you will begin to realize how tough our ancestors really had it. Even though this trilogy is about fictional work, I have decided to place the family members in a historical context. The purpose of this trilogy is multi-fold. Part of it is to educate the reader on many aspects of our country’s history and to all expose them to horror of trafficking with young children.

Because building a log cabin was such a herculean task, I want to spend a little time discussing the process.

The log cabin is an American icon. The rough-hewn, squat, and humble house has long been lionized in our lore. It was the gritty abode of folk heroes like Daniel Boone. The lowly domicile of one of the nation’s greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln. The shabby shelter of pioneers and immigrants seeking their dreams in the wilderness. It’s a symbol of honesty, hard work, and unvarnished truth central to our national identity.

Even before Lincoln, as early as the 1840s, the U.S. President William Henry Harrison touted the log cabin to promote his bona fides as a tough pioneer and Indian fighter. When his opponents mocked his humble beginnings and ridiculed him, claiming he’d been born in a log cabin (he wasn’t), he very cleverly embraced the image. His friend Daniel Webster, defended Harrison, writing: “At the close of the Revolutionary War… my father erected…a humble cabin amid the snow-drifts of New England, [and] strove, by honest labor, to acquire the means for giving to his children a better education, and elevating them to a higher condition than his own.” A year later, the author of ”The Pioneers” and “Last of the Mohicans,” James Fenimore Cooper, romanticized log cabins and a symbol of the American spirit was born.

Although Harrison was the first President to brag he was born in a log cabin (even when he really wasn’t!), seven other Presidents DID have that ignoble origin: Andrews Jackson was the first, as well as Ulysses S. Grant, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, James Garfield, and, of course, Lincoln.

Americans love the gnarled romance of log cabins, but the reality is far from romantic. Anyone who’s tried to swing an axe and chop wood knows just how back-breakingly hard it is. And that isn’t even the hardest part by far. Try sawing or chopping down 50-70 tall trees first. Then, hitch a horse or mule to each log and drag it miles to your home site. Then, you had to notch out the ends for the interlocking corners. (There were numerous techniques and styles for notching corners.) You also had to chop and plane off the limbs. Many pioneers planed off the bark or split the wood into square posts for a tighter fit. It was best to remove bark because it held moisture and invited rotting and insects.

Then you had to gather tons of stones dug up from the prairie, woods, and stream beds to build a stone foundation. And while you’re carrying stones for the foundation, you’ll also have to move several additional tons of field stone for the fireplace and hearth. Then you have to gather clay, dirt, sand, and carry water to mix it for mortar. Now you have to mortar the heavy stones together to build a fireplace. When you’ve built the chimney walls about two or three feet from the floor, you’ll probably want to insert an iron, oak, or chestnut bar into the mortar across the hearth. You’ll hang pots and Dutch ovens off that to cook over the fireplace fire. (Some pioneers even hung a fancier iron cooking “crane” that could swing out from over the fire, so stews, soups, and other dishes could be spooned straight from the pot.) While building the chimney, when you can’t lift the rocks any farther above your head, you’ll have to build a ladder from tree limbs, so you can stack the rocks at least 8-12 feet high for the stack.

If you were pioneers on the northern plains, you might have trouble finding enough rocks for a foundation and chimney. In this case, a flat stone was often placed at each corner of the log cabin to give the cabin a firm foundation. Or, you could pack the earth very hard and lay base logs on the dirt. But you’d have to coat them in creosote first to protect them from rotting. You’ll have to make the creosote by boiling down pine tar–a nasty, awful job. If you don’t have rocks for the chimney, you’ll have to build it from logs. You would make the chimney with short logs or limbs stuck together with mud or clay and coated inside with mud or clay if you couldn’t find enough stones to line the chimney flue.

After all this, you’re nearly dead with exhaustion, but you’ll sit on a tree stump and admire your hard work and feel a sense of accomplishment. But you’re not even half done. The hardest part is yet to come. Now, you must begin building the log walls, setting the largest logs on the stone foundation so they don’t sit in moisture and rot at the bottom. Then you have to lift each log into place, piling each one higher and higher and fitting the ends into the alternating “saddle notches.” The logs—usually 8-10 inches in diameter and 14-18 feet long—were most often of pine, fir, spruce, or tamarack for their straight, lodgepole shape. An 18-foot log could weigh 500 pounds and was not easily lifted and maneuvered into place. Not only that, logs were never perfectly round, had limbs and knots, and were thicker at one end than the other, so they had to be pieced together like a puzzle for a snug fit. (Many cabins had low roofs limited by the height a man or two could lift the logs.

Once the walls are up, you’re ready to build the gable ends for the roof, but you’ll have to lay rafters running crosswise between the gables. There were lots of ways to build gables with horizontal logs or upright logs, or even covered with wood shingles. But whichever way you built them, the steeper the gables, the dryer your roof and the longer it will last because the water will run off quickly and your shingled, sod, barked, or thatched roof won’t retain moisture, which will help prevent it from collapsing.

Although construction techniques differed, many pioneers built the walls solid, then cut out the openings for the doors and windows. When the walls reached the height of the opening, square holes were sawed out, and then another log lay above for the top sill. Glass windows were a luxury most pioneers didn’t have. They used greased paper or canvas instead to allow in a little light, with shutters they kept shut during winter. Doors were often hung with leather hinges unless pioneers brought hardware with them. Sometimes, area blacksmiths could forge door hinges.

Doors and windows were usually framed with boards cut from logs. Planking was also used for the roof across the gables. Commonly, roofing was made with shingles cut from logs. Cedar was used if available because the natural resins in the wood protected the wood from moisture. But roofs were also covered in sod, bark, or prairie-grass thatch, as well. If gables were steeply angled, a loft under the roof could serve as a second story for sleeping.

Many pioneers actually brought flashing with them in their covered wagons or purchased them to seal the gaps between the chimney and roof and prevent water leaks. It was also crucial to keep the roof from rotting. If flashing wasn’t available, they would use tar to waterproof and plug gaps.

One of the final steps was chinking to fill in gaps between logs, stone, and window openings. This was important not only to keep out the cold but also insects, vermin, and snakes. A wide variety of materials could be used for this process, from small sticks or pebbles, to clay, mud, grass, swamp moss, oakum, livestock hair, corn cobs, leaves, or all the above. Recipes for chinking mortar often included mud, clay, sand, mixed with water (or “spit” as some pioneer recipes called for), hog, goat or cow hair, and even livestock manure or buffalo chips. Contrary to some popular beliefs regarding log cabin building, logs were not fitted together as tightly as possible. The wood expanded or constricted with variances of heat and moisture from season to season. Chinking provided some flexibility in movement and enabled the cabin to withstand changes in wood or flexing from tornadoes or earthquakes. Chinking was also easily repaired from year to year, was cheap and made from readily available raw materials. Gaps between logs could also be filled with wood in the form of shake shingles, wedges, or slender poles made from long limbs, but mortar was usually used to cement all pieces together and block air holes.

Usually, cabins faced the south for sunlight and faced away from the west wind. Location was important for water accessibility, runoff, proximity to crops and livestock, and, sometimes, defensibility. Styles of log cabins varied wildly, based on the ethnicity or heritage of pioneers, availability of materials, the contour of the land, and the size of the family. The “four-square” was the simplest construction. Some had lofts or second stories, some had multiple rooms or wings, some had porches, cellars, or summer kitchens. Some even had open porches called “dog trots” or “possum trots” between two living areas, all under one roof. (Sort of like the pioneer version of a duplex.) Some even were built as housebarns that housed livestock in the lower level and people in the upper level, built especially by Austrian, Flemish, German and Swiss immigrants. This construction had special advantages: animal warmth rose up to the second level, only one structure had to be built for both human and beast and feeding and caring of livestock did not require going out in the frigid cold.

Whatever the style of log lodging, it was a monumental accomplishment to carve even the most humble home out of the wilderness. It was hard work, and there was honor in it. Families raised many children and lost many too, started new lives, and built their dreams—and a nation—from the ground up in the American frontier.

Now you know Would old man Gustav and his son Charles were up agianst when they built there log cabin house. It seems to be an insurmountable task when all they had were hand tools and their own sweat equity to get the work done. Well, they did it because they had no choice. In two months, they had the land cleared and the cabin built. Now, they needed to survive the winter. After all the trees they cut down to build their house, they now needed to chop down more trees this time for firewood. Anybody who lives in Minnesota can attest to the fact that it gets cold in the winter. So they needed plenty of fuel for heating. They also needed food to eat. Because the area was starting to get built up, wild animals were pretty scarce. So they had to travel quite a distance to hunt. Besides using the deer for food, they also had to use the hides to make coats, leggings, and foot gear to keep them warm during the frigid winter that was ahead of them.

Once they had their most immediate needs taken care of, shelter, food, and warm clothing, they now had to take care of building beds and other furniture. This is what they did during the long and dark winter nights. When they stockpiled firewood, they set asode the best lumber to build their furniture. So you can see that there was little downtime for the frontiersmen in the mid-1850s.

Finally, the snow started to melt, and the weather began to warm up some. It was now time to go and get the rest of the family so that they could start planting their crops. Once they were together, the hard work had only just begun. They still had to expand their log cabin, so everyone had room to live. They also had to build a barn to protect their livestock from the bitter winters. It did no good to purchase plow horses and other farm animals only to have them freeze to death in their next winter. The priority was, of course, planting their crops. Because they did not have any plow horses, they struck up a deal to help their neighbors in exchange for using their livestock to plow their fields. They were hoping that this would be the only year that they had to do this. Once the fields were ready and the seeds had been planted, they returned to the building. Now, you have an idea why the lifespan of many of these farmers was so short. They just wore themselves out. Big families were a necessity because the children provided much needed free labor.

To raise much needed revenue, the Andersons chopped extra firewood for local storeowners in the newly established towns in the area. While they still had some money left after buying seeds, they needed more money to buy their livestock. At the bare minimum, they needed plow horses to plant their crops, cows for milk, and chickens for eggs. Besides they firewood they sold, they also had found several bee hives, so they started selling honey to raise further funds. The problem arose in that gold was the only truly secure form of currency. A disturbing trend had started to grow, and that was the appearance of Wildcat money and wildcat banking practices.

Wildcat money was paper currency issued by poorly capitalized banks in the United States during the Free Banking Era from 1836 to 1865. These banks were chartered by states without federal oversight and were often located in remote areas. The term “wildcat banking” suggests that opening a bank was similar to drilling for oil. 

Here are some characteristics of wildcat banking: 

The National Bank Act of 1863 ended note circulation by state banks. The act provided for the incorporation of national banks under federal law and the issue of bank notes secured by government bonds.

Gustav was able to side step this issue because he insisted on payment with gold. He did not trust paper currency. Thanks to these conservative views and practices, the Andersons began to thrive, so much so that Charles, the oldest remaining son living at home, was able to take a lovely bride named Emily King in 1856. Two years later, they had their one and only child Albert. Due to complications at his birth, she was unable to have any more children. They lived in a small cabin next to the main family quarters. In Sweden, Charles had been a Luthern minister. When he came to the United States, he chose mainly out of necessity the life as a farmer. His father just needed him too much, as siblings were just not old enough to be of much help in establishing the homestead. Frankly, as the years passed, he gave his past little thought, so when he married Emily, he was quite content with their life on the farm. Even though he was no longer a practicing minister he still had a strong sense of what was right and wrong, and he knew that the practice of enslaving Africans was enherently evil, so when war broke out and Lincoln put out his call for volunteers he quickly joined the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Company D.

Unfortunately, by the end of the 1850s, a dark cloud began to appear on the horizon. A level of division and devisiveness never before seen in this country started causing real problems between Northern and the Southern states. These divisions lead to sons and brothers fighting each otherover irreconcilable differences. The secession of Southern states from the United States occurred in stages between December 1860 and South Carolina held a convention to discuss secession. On February 1, 1861, seven states seceded starting with South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

April 12, 1861: The Confederacy attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. After April 12, 1861: Four more states seceded after the attack on Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s call for troops. Minnesota was the first state to respond to President Lincoln’s call. Swedish citizens were at the forefront of this movement. The Anderson family was no less patriotic. Two of Gustav’s sons would heed the call, His two oldest sons would join. Hans would join the navy, and as stated above, Charles would join the infantry. Their stories will continue in chapter eight.