Ceremony to honor last Union soldier buried in Carlton County
May 21—ATKINSON — The public is invited to a ceremony honoring the last Civil War Union soldier to be buried in Carlton County.
Pvt. Charles "Carl" B. Oswell, 90, died Jan. 12, 1938, in Aztec, New Mexico.
He is buried next to his wife, Juliana, in Atkinson Community Cemetery.
The volunteer nonprofit Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is conducting a ceremony, with the assistance of the Carlton County Historical Society and Cloquet Combined Veterans Honor Guard, at 3 p.m. June 1 at the cemetery, 2589 County Road 144, Carlton.
The Sons of Union Veterans reported that the ceremony is open to "veterans, those with an interest in Civil War history, and the general public. Wearing Civil War era attire is encouraged." Oswell's descendants are invited to attend as special guests.
According to the website Find a Grave and the Sons of Union Veterans,
Oswell was born in Oslo, Norway, on Feb. 18, 1847.
He enlisted at age 18 in the 14th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry Regiment on Feb. 15, 1865, and served as a private with Company C. Oswell was with the regiment at Savannah, Georgia, while they performed provost duties and marched with them to Augusta, Georgia, and then back to Savannah in June 1865. He was discharged July 8.
Oswell married Juliana C. Norin in 1871 in St. Paul and they settled in Bethel and Isanti, Minnesota, before moving to Twin Lakes, Carlton County, in 1900. The couple raised eight children together before Juliana died June 29, 1914. Oswell then lived with a son and family in Coleraine.
Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War William Colvill Camp 56, Department of Wisconsin, will preside over the ceremony June 1. It will include its Last Soldier dedication ritual and the placing of a Last Soldier Marker on Oswell's grave.
"Camp #56 of the Department of Wisconsin, whose territory is the entire states of Wisconsin and Minnesota supports the national goal of identifying and placing a marker on the grave of the last Union veteran buried in each of Minnesota's 87 counties," Sons of Union Veterans reported.
The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is a national veterans organization of descendants of Union soldiers. It has over 6,000 members across the U.S. and is the successor to the Grand Army of the Republic, the veterans organization formed after the Civil War by soldiers who served in the Union Army.
The last Union soldier and last member of the Grand Army of the Republic,
Albert Woolson,
of Duluth, died in 1956.
