Biography

The twenty-four year-old second lieutenant Oscar Hultman from Bohusläns regiment had previous experience of service in the French army in Africa when he arrived in New York from 7 september 1861. With a letter of recommendation from the Swedish consul, he went on to Washington, and was represented for President Lincoln and Secretary Seward. The latter offered Hultman either a service as a lieutenant colonel to recruit and organize a regiment of Ohio, or a position as captain by Brigadier General Louis Blenkers staff. Hultman refused the first proposal, because he feared that as a non-American citizen himself never would be in command of the regiment recruited by him.