author
Hans Mattson
1832–1893
A Swedish immigrant who became a Union Army colonel, Minnesota secretary of state, and a major voice encouraging Scandinavian settlement in the American Midwest. His memoir blends frontier experience, public service, and the story of building a new life in the United States.
1 Audiobook
Reminiscences: The Story of an Emigrant
by Hans Mattson
About the author
Born in Önnestad, Sweden, in 1832, Hans Mattson emigrated to the United States in 1851 and eventually settled in Minnesota. He helped found the Swedish community of Vasa in Goodhue County, studied law, and became one of the best-known Swedish Americans of his time.
During the American Civil War, he served in the 3rd Minnesota Volunteer Infantry and rose to the rank of colonel. After the war he entered public life, becoming Minnesota secretary of state in 1869, and later served as U.S. consul general in India. He was also widely known as an immigration promoter who encouraged many Swedish and Norwegian newcomers to settle in Minnesota.
Mattson wrote Reminiscences: The Story of an Emigrant, a memoir first published in Swedish and then in English. The book brings together personal memory, immigrant history, and observations from a life that crossed Sweden, the Civil War, Minnesota politics, and overseas diplomatic service.