July opens with one of the most important days in American history. Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, a federal holiday in our United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence July 4th, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britian. However, there are historians that believe the true signing date was a month later, being August 2, 1776.
This denotes a time of celebrating by fireworks and patriotic songs such as "The National Anthem", "Stars and Stripes Forever", "Yankee Doodle" in the north, to "Dixie" in the south. The United States is a diverse nation made up of a dynamic mixture of our nation's immigrants who have fought to make our nation a beacon of freedom, envied by many other nations.
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One of these warriors of foreign descend was honored recently for his actions in American history. Believing strongly in the rights of free-men, a Norwegian-American named Hans Christian Heg died for America while fighting in the War between the North and the South.
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Heg was commanding The Fifteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment, a regiment consisting mostly of 90% Norwegian immigrants with the remainder being of Swedish, Danish and Dutch men. Shot astride his horse at the Battle of Chickamauga, Heg was the the highest-ranking Army officer from Wisconsin killed in the Civil War.
This C
ivil War hero was born in Lier, Norway whose father immigrated to the Racine area when Hans was eleven years-old. Hans left to find gold with the "Forty-Niners", but returned to Wisconsin at the death of his father. Hans was an avid "Anti-slavery activist" and the first Norwegian-American elected state-wide in Wisconsin. At the outbreak of the Civil war, Heg organized the 
Wisconsin regiment at Camp Randall. This regiment was the only Scandinavian regiment that fought on either side. After his death at Chickamauga and the end of the war, a statue of the war hero was erected and stands next to the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison .
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ivil War hero was born in Lier, Norway whose father immigrated to the Racine area when Hans was eleven years-old. Hans left to find gold with the "Forty-Niners", but returned to Wisconsin at the death of his father. Hans was an avid "Anti-slavery activist" and the first Norwegian-American elected state-wide in Wisconsin. At the outbreak of the Civil war, Heg organized the 
Wisconsin regiment at Camp Randall. This regiment was the only Scandinavian regiment that fought on either side. After his death at Chickamauga and the end of the war, a statue of the war hero was erected and stands next to the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison .Recently,a youth band from Norway played a concert in a wreath-laying ceremony in Wind Lake to honor his memory . Wind Lake and the surrounding Town of Norway lay claim to the first Norwegian Lutheran Church, and the first Norwegian-language newspaper in Wisconsin.
In his honor, and all those who have fought and died for our freedom, we give thanks to Col Hans Heg, and the 1776 "Committee of Five", with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author of The Declaration and celebrate our independence this and every July fourth.
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