Lars Hannibal
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Sergeant Lars Hannibal.
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In Service to Country - New and OldSergeant Lars Hannibal was born Lars Hannibalsen in Fuglse on the island of Lolland in Maribo County in 1822. As a young man he participated in the first Dano-Prussian War (1848-50). Tired of his hand-to-mouth existence and poor prospects as a smallholder, he and his family moved to Waukesha County, Wisconsin in 1856. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted as a sergeant in Company B of the 15th Wisconsin Regiment, but was mustered out after only a year due to recurring illness. After the war he returned to Denmark and brought back a group of new settlers. Following the death of his first wife, Lars married the widow of one of his former comrades-in-arms. He was a founder of the Danish Land and Homestead Company, and led the formation of the Danish pioneer settlement in Dannebrog in Howard County, Nebraska. Hans died in Davenport, Iowa, in 1882.
