“The march of the soldier is over” – Civil War soldier headstone dedicated at Oakwood Cemetery
Published 7:12 am Tuesday, July 24, 2018
- The headstone for Civil War veteran and former Mower County Treasurer Ingman Ingmundson was dedicated on Monday at Oakwood Cemetery. Michael Stoll/mike.stoll@austindailyherald.com
Veterans of American Legion Post 91 fired off a 21-gun salute on Monday at Oakwood Cemetery. The salute was in honor of a deceased fellow veteran, Ingman Ingmundson, who died 139 years ago.
After all of that time, a headstone in Ingmundson’s honor was dedicated on Monday.
“My sister and I visited his grave a year ago and it was unmarked,” said Sonja Pederson, Ingmundson’s great-granddaughter who lives in Burnsville. “I thought that wasn’t right. He was a Civil War veteran and he should have a marked grave.”
Ingmundson was born in Norway on Nov. 27, 1838. He immigrated to Iowa in 1854 and served as a bugler in Company A, McClellan’s Dragoons and later Company I, 12th Regiment, Illinois Cavalry during the Civil War. He participated in many battles, including Antietam and Gettysburg, and was wounded on Sept. 22, 1863, during the Battle of Madison Courthouse in Virginia.
Veterans of American Legion Post fire a 21-gun salute during Ingman Ingmundson’s headstone dedication ceremony. Photos by Michael Stoll/mike.stoll@austindailyherald.com
After the war, Ingmundson married Susan Paulk and settled in Austin, where he ran a store with fellow veteran Charles Roy. He was elected Mower County Treasurer in 1873.
He passed away on Aug. 4, 1879, in Austin.
Upon learning that Ingmundson had an unmarked grave at Oakwood Cemetery, Pederson contacted the Veterans Administration, who supplied a headstone free of charge. Anderson Memorials installed the headstone over Memorial Day weekend.
“It’s wonderful,” Pederson said. “It’s been a wonderful thing.”
The dedication service held on Monday was adapted in 1917 by the Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, of which Pederson is a member, for the Grand Army of the Republic to use for the dedication of headstones for Civil War veterans.
Sonja Pederson, Ingman Ingmundson’s great-granddaughter, stands by his new headstone, which was dedicated on Monday.
Several items were laid upon the grave: an image of Ingmundson, an evergreen wreath, symbolizing “undying love for comrades of the war,” white roses, symbolizing purity, a grapevine wreath, symbolizing victory, and an American flag.
Eighteen of Ingmundson’s descendants, from Minnesota, Texas, Maine and Wisconsin, were present at the dedication service.
“The march of the soldier is over,” Pederson said during the service. “Let us remember Ingman Inmundson here at rest under the blue skies of heaven, guarded by the silent stars that in life watched over him when he bivouacked on the battlefields or lay down weary and footsore on the soil of the Southland.”
