Hiding from the Rebels in the Attic: Captain Grinager at Murfreesboro

 Stones River Stories

In 1880, Norwegian-born Captain Mons Grinager, formerly of Co. K of the 15th Wisconsin Infantry, provided his experience of being wounded during the Battle of Stones River to the editors of the Milwaukee Sunday Telegraph.

          Captain Grinager was severely wounded in the leg at the Battle of Stones River and when the Federal troops were forced back, he, with many others, fell into the hands of the Rebels. The wounded were removed by the Rebels to the hospital at Murfreesboro, Tennessee which was reached in three days. The wounded were placed in vacant storerooms and Captain Grinager (after his guard had applied to several buildings and had been informed that all were full) was placed on the sidewalk in front of one of the buildings and left.

Captain Mons H. Grinager, Co. K, 15th Wisconsin Infantry

          The weather being wet and cold, the captain soon suffered terribly and as a couple of Confederate soldiers passed by he asked them to assist him into the adjoining building. This they did and at his suggestion, they helped him upstairs where they left him. Discovering some empty boxes in the room, the gritty captain crawled around on his hands and knees, arranged the boxes across one corner of the room, and took his station behind them.

          The captain had, however, first crawled to the front window where he looked out and the Rebel headquarters being in sight, the captain came to the conclusion that they were preparing to evacuate as they were loading wagons in a hurry and all was bustle and confusion. The captain then retired behind his boxes and remained quiet until the next day when he took another look and found everything as before and again retired. He was by this time very nearly used up as he had but one canteen of water and one ear of corn during the time he was in their hands.

On the third morning, the captain, now very faint and weak, concluded to take another look and if the Rebels were still in possession, to give himself up. On looking out, he beheld the Confederate cavalry drawn up in the park or square and soon they left in a great hurry. Soon the music of a band struck his ear and on looking out, he discovered troops in blue bearing the stars and stripes. The captain was so far gone that he could not get to them. So, he drew their attention by breaking the window and knocking the glass into the street.

The regiment was halted and the colonel sent his adjutant to see what was the cause of such and action. It proved to be a regiment whose officers had formed an acquaintance with the captain, having been brigaded with them for a long time. [Captain Grinager developed a serious illness from having his wound left untreated for so long, and would spend the next three months recovering before returning to duty.]  

Mons Hansen Grinager was born October 7, 1832, in Hadeland, Norway, acquiring a public-school education before emigrating to the United States in 1853, moving first to St. Paul, Minnesota. Grinager moved to Iowa in 1854 but returned to Minnesota in 1857, farming a piece of land near Bath in Freeborn County, being remembered as the third pioneer settler in the county.

“When the war broke out, he organized a company, composed chiefly of Scandinavians of Iowa and Minnesota and joined the 15th Wisconsin and upon his company being permanently organized as Co. K, he was chosen captain,” his obituary stated. The company went to war under the name of Clausen’s Guards. “His service was as hard as any in the war for he participated in 21 regular battles and as many skirmishes. In the Battle of Stones River, he was highly commended for his conduct and at Chickamauga, where all the superior officers of the regiment were wounded, he took command and acquitted himself with credit.”

After the war, Captain Grinager went into business, owning and operating at various times the Scandia Bank of Minneapolis and the Pioneer Paint Manufacturing Co. He also became involved politics as a Republican, being appointed as register of the U.S. Land Office in Worthington, Minnesota in 1874, a post he held until he resigned in 1886. He also held posts as county commissioner for Freeborn County, revenue assessor for the First District of Minnesota, and at the time of his death was vice president of the National Republican League of Minnesota.         

          Although thoroughly American in ideals and outlook, Captain Grinager’s funeral was conducted in Norwegian and ended by one of his comrades stating that Grinager “though a lion in war, was a child in peace and whose name should be loved wherever the star-spangled banner waves.”

Sources:

“Captain Mons Grinager,” Worthington Advance (Minnesota), June 3, 1880, pg. 3

“Death of Capt. Grinager,” Freeborn County Standard (Minnesota), February 7, 1889, pg. 4


To learn more about the Stones River campaign, be sure to check out my upcoming book "Hell by the Acre: A Narrative History of the Stones River Campaign" scheduled for release in November by Savas Beatie.

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