Nobles County MN Archives Biographies.....Paul, Erick B. 1841 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 19, 2006, 11:01 am

Author: Arthur P. Rose (1908)

  ERICK B. PAUL, retired farmer of Worthington and one of the county's pioneers,

has led an eventful life. He was born in Norway April 17, 1841, and came to the

United States with his parents in the fall of 1848. They settled in Wyoming

valley, Iowa county, Wis., where the head of the family preempted a quarter

section of land and engaged in farming. There Erick made his home until the

outbreak of the civil war.



  When the call for volunteers was made in 1861, Mr. Paul enlisted in company C,

of the 12th Wisconsin infantry, and served throughout the war. He received his

discharge at Natchez, Miss., in January, 1864, but immediately reenlisted as a

veteran and received an honorable discharge May 30, 1865. During the fore part

of his service his regiment was on the western plains, but he was soon

transferred to the army of Tennessee and saw considerable fighting. He was with

Grant and Sherman in Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi, and participated in

the capture of Memphis and the siege of Vicksburg. In the battle of Kenesaw

Mountain, Georgia, he played an heroic part. He was the first of fifty men to

volunteer to go up the mountain to ascertain the strength and situation of the

Confederates. This little party was attacked June 15, 1864, by a force from Ben

Hill's division, and, so far as Mr. Paul knows, he was the only one of the fifty

to escape with his life. He was shot twice, and to this day carries one of the

bullets he received. He was taken prisoner, and for five weeks was in the

Confederate hospital at Atlanta, Georgia. Then he was taken to Andersonville

prison, where he remained until the close of the war. With a fellow prisoner he

made his escape from that noted prison, but was recaptured eighteen days later,

near Jacksonville, Florida, and returned to the jail on Christmas day, 1864. The

companion with whom he escaped was shot and killed. At the time of his return to

prison Mr. Paul was without clothing. He was promised a Christmas dinner upon

his return, but did not receive it. Just forty years later he returned to the

scene of his incarceration and took that Christmas dinner.



  After the war Mr. Paul went back to his old home in Wisconsin, but remained

there only a short time. During the next two years he roughed it on the western

plains in company with "Wild Bill." He then returned to Iowa county, Wis., and

engaged in farming on a farm which he had previously bought. Selling out there

one year later, he came to the new country of Nobles county, in May, 1870.



  It was on August 4, 1870, that Mr. Paul preempted the southwest quarter of

section 20, Indian Lake township. Only a few settlers had had the hardihood to

make their homes in Nobles county at that time, and Mr. Paul's neighbors were

not many. He claims to have been the first to receive a deed to a quarter

section of land in Nobles county. He was one of the first Nobles county farmers

to turn attention to apple raising, and his success was the signal for many

others engaging in the business. Mr. Paul lived on his farm until 1902, when he

sold and moved to Worthington, where he has since lived a. retired life. He owns

a residence in Worthington and property in Madison, Wis. He holds a membership

in the G. A. R.



  Our subject was the son of Edward Paul, at one time a body-guard to the king

of Norway and Sweden, and an experienced military man. He was a sergeant in the

same company and regiment of which his son was a member. He was taken sick at

the siege of Vicksburg and died on the hospital boat "Belle of Memphis" on a

trip from Vicksburg to Memphis. He is buried in the National cemetery at

Memphis, and over his grave his son has erected a fitting monument. There Erick

has been several times to see his father's grave, arranged in the bivouac of the

dead.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from:



AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF NOBLES COUNTY

MINNESOTA

BY

ARTHUR P. ROSE



NORTHERN HISTORY PUBLISHING COMPANY 

WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA 

PUBLISHERS

1908

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