Peter Knudson [Brye] was a Norwegian immigrant farmer living in Coon Valley near Viroqua, Vernon County, Wisconsin, who on August 21, 1862, at the age of twenty-one, enlisted in Company K, 25th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He participated in the campaign in Georgia in 1864 and was killed in action at River's Bridge, South Carolina, on February 2, 1865. The regimental roster reports the following:
[he] was detailed as a Bugler for Regt and acted in that capacity until death / learned the use of the Bugal and could sound all calls promptly / was brave and energitic and was killed on the 2nd of February / He sounded forward and rode Branby up toward the enemys Baterz [batteries] in full sight in advance of the line and received a shell in the face blowing his head off.
Nothing is known of O. Tolefson other than that he was a Norwegian immigrant, probably from Wisconsin, who was in the Union Army. He is not listed in Wisconsin volunteer regiment rosters.
