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BOYSEN, Henry 1837-1909

BOYSEN, NORTON, BAILEY

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 9/25/2016 at 07:59:53

Another Old Soldier Answers Last Call

Henry Boysen, a Survivor of First Minnesota, Dies Sunday Night

Took Part in 17 Hard Battles of the Civil War

C. H. Boysen died at his home in this city at 5:30 Sunday morning. He had been troubled with asthma for several years and it was this ailment that caused his death.

Funeral services conducted by Rev. H. P. Chaffee were held at the home at 1:30 Wednesday and at the Baptist church at two o'clock. The G.A.R. Post and the Sons of Veterans attended the funeral in a body and accompanied the remains to their last resting place.

In the death of Henry Boysen the Grand Army loses one of its members who took part in much of the heaviest fighting of the great war. From the First Battle of Bull Run to Gettysburg the army of the Potomac in which the deceased was enlisted covers a period of nearly three years. During this time the army of the Potomac fought seventeen bloody battles and Mr. Boysen was in every one of them. It is not far short of miraculous that he never received a scratch in any of them.

Mr. Boysen enlisted in the historic First Minnesota in answer to the president's first call for troops. The First Minnesota reported for duty in Washington long before any other western regiment came upon the scene of hostilities. Of the thousand men who marched under the banner of this regiment less than fifty live to tell the story of its many arduous campaigns. It was at the battle of Gettysburg that this regiment rendered its country a service that will hold a conspicuous place for it in history for all time.

Obituary
Charles Henry Boysen was born June 4, 1837 at Pummon, Schleswig, Holstein, Germany and died in Grundy Center, November 21, 1909, having attained the age of 72 years, 5 months and 17 days.

His early years were spent in Germany. He was given a common school education, but at the age of 16 years his father gave him $25.00 and paid his fare to America. He came immediately to Chicago and made his home with a German family. Soon after this the family moved to Davenport, Iowa, taking young Boysen with them. He stayed here for a number of years and then removed to Winona, Minn. remaining in that place until the Civil war broke out when he enlisted at Ft. Snelling in 1861. He was attached to the 1st Minnesota Vol. and saw service in the Eastern Campaign taking active part in the following battles: Bull Run, Bail's Bluff, Yorktown, West Point, Fair Oaks, Peach Orchard, Savage Station, Glendale, White Oaks Swamp, Malvern Hill, Vienna, Antietam, Charleston, Fredricksburg Haymarket, Mine Run, and that awful carnage at Gettysburg. The hot July sun had reached its zenith on that fateful day. The Union lines were being forced backwards when Gen. Hancock reaching the spot called out "What regiment is this?" The 1st Minnesota. "Charge those lines" A charge into eternity that order meant. At double quick without discharging a gun, with the concentrated fire of the enemy pouring a leaden rain of death upon them, then at full speed they charged into the enemies advancing ranks. Gen. Hancock saw that five minutes respite meant the arrival of reinforcements and a turning of the tide of the battle. He sacrificed this noble regiment in those fearful five minutes, and the position was held. The charge saved the day, but 82 per cent of the men who made the charge were left on the fields. Nearly every officer was dead or mortally wounded. Of the 262 men who made the charge 215 were shot down by the bullets of the enemy, 47 were still in line. Through a beneficent providence, Mr. Boysen was among those 47 who survived that awful death.

He was mustered out in 1864 and went to Winona, Minn. where he remained for several years. In 1889 he came to Grundy Center where he made his home until the day of his death.

In 1863 he was united in marriage to Frances Norton at Indianapolis, Ind. To this union four children were born, Theodore Boysen, drowned at the age of 11 years; F. A. Boysen, Webster City; Arthur M. Boysen, St. Louis, Mo.; H. A. Boysen, Waterloo, Ia.

On March 9th, 1896 he was united in marriage to Laura A. Bailey. The wife and sons are left to mourn his death.

--Grundy County Democrat (Grundy Center, Iowa), 25 November 1909, pg 1


 

Grundy Obituaries maintained by Tammy D. Mount.
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