Two Immigrants for the Union.' Their Civil War Letters - Norwegian ...

Lars and Knud Dokken
[Mississippi] to Alabama and is named luka. We are not
far from the state line between Alabama and Mississippi.
I have heard that we will go farther toward the Southeast,
but just where we are headed we don't know. We
have not seen any Re bel troops yet, but they say they are
in flight southward as fast as they can go.
I must tell you about an order that was announced at
dress parade one day. We should scout around the country
and round up all the Negroes we could find and we
could then place one Negro for every eight men to cook
and wash for us and to do clean-up duty around the
camp. We have not found any yet. But our regiment has
quite a few [Blacks] who are cooks for the officers, and
there are some in other companies. 25 We also go around
the country gathering corn and apples, as much as we can
use every day, and also chickens and other things that
the soldiers like to eat. Many farmers have deserted the
land. They are in a sad state in many places, because
when the soldiers find that the owner is a Re bel, they take
all he has. Also he loses his Negroes, who are set free.
They now work for the regiments at a salary of $8 to $10 a
month.
Lars Olsen Dokken.
ll. WANDERING THROUGH THE SOUTH
Nashville, Tennessee September 5, 1862
Now I must tell you about our wanderings through the
land. We have covered about 180 miles since we left
luka on August 21. We left shortly after noon that day
and marched to the Tennessee River to a small town
named Eastport. We crossed the river with all our gear
on a steamer- both the First and Second Brigades- so
we were not ready to leave there until the afternoon of
the 23rd. On the 24th we arrived at Florence, Alabama,
where we lay over for one day. On the 26th we marched
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