BIOGRAPHIES:  Gustavus F. HEADSTROM, Stockholm, Pepin Co., WI

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Submitted by Nance Sampson, Pepin Co. Archives File Manager on 19 November 2004
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**Posted for informational purposes only - submitter is not related to the
subject of this biography and has no further information.

Gustavus F. Headstrom, Stockholm, Pepin county, was born in Wermland,
Sweden, February 27, 1830.  His father, Joseph Headstrom, was a lawyer.
Gustavus F. came to America and worked at blacksmithing in Chicago. 
That place was then a swamp, in which travelers were liable at almost
any time to get mired.  He married Miss Caroline Ericson, in 1855, and
the following year he and wife came to Stockholm, Pepin county, and
built a house in the village.  In 1863 he enlisted in Company A, First
Wisconsin volunteers, but was afterward transferred to the Twenty-first
Wisconsin regiment.  He served under Gen. Sherman, marching to Atlanta,
thence to the sea, and from there to Washington, where he took part in
the grand review.  Mr. Headstrom recalls many interesting and some very
sad incidents of that famous campaign.  At Kenesaw Mountain he was
obliged to march with the regiment over the bodies of their fallen
comrades, many of whom were still living and calling for water, but he
was unable to render them any assistance.  He served a month in the
siege of Atlanta and was present at the burning of that city.  For
eight days before the capture of Savannah he waded about the swamps,
living on rice and fresh beef without salt; immediately after the fall
of that city, Christmas Eve, 1864, he was ordered out five miles on
picket duty, where he held his post all night through the rain without
obtaining any rations.  The next day he and his comrades picked up the
kernels of corn which had been trampled in the mud by Confederate
troops, and had a Christmas dinner of fried corn.  After two weeks
spent in working on fortifications at Savannah, they began the march
northward.  After the engagement at Bentonville, N. C., Mr. Headstrom
and his comrades were employed for three days in burying the dead. 
Although his clothing was often riddled with bullets, he escaped
without wounds, and was discharged at Louisville, Ky., July 18, 1865,
and returned to Stockholm.  In 1878 he removed to Maiden Rock, Wis.,
and thence to Devils Lake, Dak., in 1882.  At the latter place he
homesteaded a farm, but not liking the climate, he returned to
Stockholm and built his present residence, about one mile from the
village, in 1890.  Mr. Headstrom is a republican in politics and has
served the town as constable and supervisor.  He is a member of the
Lutheran church and Lake City Post, G. A. R.

-Transcribed from the "Historical & Biographical Album of the Chippewa
Valley Wisconsin, 1891-2," page 505


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