Col. Heg was a Norwegian immigrant and abolitionist from Muskego who fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. Col. Heg died gloriously in the Battle of Chickamauga, completing his role in the abolishment of slavery and reuniting our great states under one American banner. Even in the early years of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln understood that, in addition to emancipation, there would need to be a congressionally approved, federally funded bureau to assist emancipated African Americans in the former Confederate states re-admitted into the Union.
A bureau of the War Department was established, funded, staffed, and named the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Freedmen’s Bureau oversaw land, work, and education opportunities for the emancipated men, women, and children of the former Confederate states. Clothing, food, water, healthcare, and communication to reunite families were products and services guaranteed to the emancipa ...
