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After 1861, the year emigration had reached its highest point, it once again diminished drastically. In 1863-64 no one from Tinn crossed the Atlantic, and it was not until 1866-67 that the lure of America started picking up again. Once again this may not have been due to improved conditions at home; rather, it may have been the situation in America that was the deciding factor. Already during the days when the great throngs of emigrants in 1861 flocked to the shipping harbors, the first shots were heard at Fort Sumter in the Charleston Bay, marking the start of the North American Civil War. Hans Christian Heg, later Colonel Heg, spearheaded and organized a Scandinavian Regiment for the purpose of fighting for the cause of the Union (the 15th Wisconsin Regiment). He distributed a passionate appeal to his compatriots, urging them to join the fight against the Confederated Southern States.
Well, the north-western states, where most Norwegians had settled, were not directly affected by the war and its devastation. True enough, soldiers were recruited, but during the first period there was no mass conscription on a European scale.
Recruitment to the army was to a great extent a voluntary matter. No one who was not a naturalized American citizen was forced to become a soldier; according to the law, it took 5 years to become an American citizen.
The war had the customary inflationary effect. Prices rose sharply, but so
did wages. The demand for workers was great since so many of the younger men
were in the army. The Homestead Act took effect in 1862, tempting prospective
farmers with offers of free land in the western part of the country. Accordingly,
this might have given the impression that times were just right for immigrants
to America during the Civil War. Ship's Captain Knud Skjelsvig, who left for
the U.S.A. from Skien in 1862, sent a letter home which was published in "Correspondenten".
In this letter he says: "Now is a very favorable time to come to America
for all kinds of immigrants since the Army has absorbed a considerable number
the country's work force, and a foreigner is not forced into the Army until
he has become an American citizen, and that takes a span of 5 years. And, in
addition, the Homestead Act is, as you know, now in effect".
Nevertheless, the reports from the bloody battlefields, described in letters
and newspapers, suppressed the emigration considerably; we notice that emigration
picked up again considerably once the war activities had ceased. People in Tinn
were advised not to go to America during that period of turmoil: "The war
is continuing and will probably not be over for some time, but here where we
live, we don't notice it, except for the fact that for more than a year they
have been signing up soldiers. They are not conscribed, however, but those who
want to, can join voluntarily. They get food, clothing, weapons, and $13.00
a month in wages, and if they are married, they get $5.00 more for the wife.
Christen joined as a recruit 5 months ago and is now stationed in Missouri.
-------- Right now there is a lot of illness here, and what we call hard times,
since everything we have to sell is cheap and everything we he have to buy is
expensive ---------------. There is no need for anyone to worry about us, but
although we are doing well at present, I still don't want to encourage anyone
to come over at this time. Next spring we are planning on going farther west
in order to take government land ------ ".
However, a greater deterrent than the war was no doubt caused by the Indian uprising in 1862/63, something that directly and brutally affected the north-western settlements more than the war in the south. Lead by their Chief Little Crow, the Sioux Indians attacked the white settlers in order to chase them away from their previous exclusive lands. The attacks created panic among the settlers. And a stream of people hurriedly fled eastward to find safety. A few Norwegians and Swedes were among those who were massacred.
The accounts of the Indian wars no doubt shocked many people here in Norway, people who had relatives or acquaintances in the exposed territories. The fantastic tales that previously had circulated about the "red devils" appeared to be verified by ugly reality. In a number of letters and newspaper accounts the Indians' brutality was depicted in the most macabre details. The two letters printed in Blegen's Amerikabrev (America letters) under the headlines, "The gun is always loaded" and "Axe and dagger have already claimed many victims", were printed in the Skien paper, "Correspondenten in order to strike terror in people and to serve as a warning. This was powerful fare to offer the readers. This is an excerpt from the second letter, dated St. Peter, Minnesota, 9/9/1862:
"In particular I should like to mention one of the most ghastly scenes.
The Indians had captured about 30 women whom they used to drive cattle which
they had seized, but immediately a small unit of the few soldiers that were
around had been sent to rescue them; however, as soon as the Indians noticed
that they were being pursued, they packed the women into a house and set the
house on fire, burning the women alive".
To be sure, very few people from the Tinn area subscribed to the above-mentioned
Skien paper in those days, but accounts of tragedies quickly spread, and people
in the community received letters directly about the Indian disturbances:
" ----- But here in our neighborhood we have not seen any of those appalling
things, thank God. But about 300 miles west of here there have been terrible
murders and atrocities- the worst the world has ever seen. For we have talked
to people from that area and also seen letters, written in a grieving state
of mind so that it makes it hard to even talk about how the Indians had rampaged.
They don't do like other warring powers; they go from one farm to the next,
committing atrocities against women and men, wives and children, and they came
like thieves and murderers, taking with them everything they could, and what
they couldn't take, they set on fire, such as hay stacks, wheat stacks, buildings,
and fences, and they didn't kill like other murderers; they would take young
and old and bang them against a wall, leaving them half dead in a pool of blood,
and others they would take and attach to fences and buildings, and others again
they would stab with spears and knives in the outer part of the limbs. I heard
of a child who had been stabbed 11 times and still lived for a while, and 12
miles from here there is a girl who was able to escape, but her husband and
children were killed there on the farm, and she had to witness it. She also
was knocked down by a couple of heavy blows and was left on the farm, half dead,
along with her smallest child, and when she came to again, she set out with
her little child who had been lying by her side and had also been hurt and was
half dead. You can imagine what kind of misery that poor woman has to suffer
through, losing both her husband and her children, and there are many more who
are going through hardships equally terrifying. Young and attractive girls were
herded together and had to go along from one camp to another, and you can just
imagine what kind of misery and grief those poor girls had to go through, having
to be with such people, because they were just like wild animals, and their
faces were red, black, and blue, and I must tell you that they have had a tremendous
effect, and the reason for it is that people didn't know a thing until they
were coming over them, and secondly because all soldiers have gone south to
fight against the southern powers, and consequently they had a good opportunity
to advance before people had time to get together. But then the soldiers came,
and they received the same gifts back as they had been handing out earlier,
and they deserved nothing better. On the 2nd day of Christmas 39 Indians were
hanged, and the ropes were made so that they all had to give up the ghost at
the same moment, and 600 are in prison for life, tied together two and two with
iron chains. This curse against humanity took place in August and September.
But for a while now, the Indians have been completely quiet.
However, in the south there have been great battles with casualties as high
as 20,000 in one battle --------- neither the North nor the South has been winning
------------
May God be with you, that is the wish of your sister,
Helga Knudsdatter Hegtvedt
Note from Gene Estensen: Helge Knudsdatter Heggtveit left Tinn, Telemark for
America in 1843 with her brother Ole Knutsen Heggtveit. She was born February
18, 1817. Her parents were Knut Olsen Heggtveit and Aase Halvorsdatter Gøystdal.
