Sweden enquiring about two Swedish soldiers and their military records and decorations

[rnelsonlv]

I am enquiring about two Swedish soldiers and their military records and decorations.

 

 

1. The first is named Carl Gadd (1784-1857) and he is thought to have earned three medals during the Napoleonic Wars, two from the imperial Russian government. The Swedish award is an undefined medal for bravery in the field. From the Russians he is listed as having received the St. George Cross, 5th class; and the Order of St. Anna, 5th class. (more details below). This seems to me rather extraordinary, but perhaps not as I am not an expert in such militaria. I have looked up the basic info on wikipedia, but would appreciate further details. For example, are there indexes or other archival records referencing those awarded such medals, serial numbers, etc. Regarding the Russian medals, I have also posted this request on the imperial Russia forum but have not yet heard anything. I have not done the original research on this, but Carl Gadd is listed in the Swedish Central Soldiers Register in the 54 Kalmar regiment Fagerhults parish and Horna rotation ("Centrala Soldatregistret vid LIV Kalmar regemente för Fagerhults socken och Horna rote"). On the General Muster Rolls for 1806 it seems he was in Pomerania. Of the roll from 1817, Carl had a farewell after 14 years as a soldier. It notes he has been awarded a medal for bravery in the field. ("Av Generalmönsterrullorna för 1806 verkar han var i Pommern. Av rullan frÃ¥n 1817 framgÃ¥r att Carl fÃ¥tt avsked efter 14 Ã¥r som soldat. Han har fÃ¥tt medalj för tapperhet i fält.") It seems he was dismissed as a decorated soldier with the Imperial Russian St. George Cross in 5th class and a Bravery Medal. ("avskedande, med Kejserliga Ryska S:t Georgkors i 5te klassen och en Tapperhetsmedalj decorerade Soldaten Carl Peter Gadd.") Other notes on Carl Gadd: He was in the war in Pomerania 1805-1807. Then he participated in the war in Finland 1808-1809 first on Gotland, where the Russians had gone ashore, although no shots were fired. Then he was moved up to Finland to 1809 and saw action in the battle of Västerbotten at Sävar on 19/8 (a Russian victory) and 20/8 at Ratan (a Swedish victory). He participated in this war as one of the Hunters = Scouts. In 1813 he battled in Germany against Napoleon, then came home to Hisingen 1814 where he went directly up to Norway, where the last shot of the war were fired at Rakkestads church at Østfold the 6/8 1814. Fred commanding : Camp in SkÃ¥ne in 1805. Camps in Västervik 1808. Work on the canal 1815. Pardoned by a Medal for bravery in the field ditto with Russian St. Anna Order's 5th Class. ("Noteringar: Krigskommendering: Kriget i Pommern 1805-1807. Kriget i Finland 1808-1809 först pÃ¥ Gotland där ryssarna hade gÃ¥tt i land inget skott avlossades sedan upp till Finland för att 1809 delta i slagen i Västerbotten vid Sävar den 19/8 rysk seger och den 20/8 vid Ratan svensk seger deltog i detta krig som Jägare = spanare. 1813 i Tyskland mot Napoleon när de kom hem till Hisingen 1814 direkt upp till Norge där sista skottet i krig avlossades vid Rakkestads kyrka vid Östfold fylke den 6/8 1814. Fredskommendering: Läger i SkÃ¥ne 1805. Läger i Västervik 1808. Arbete pÃ¥ Göta kanal 1815. BenÃ¥dad med Medaille för tapperhet i fält dito med ryska S:t Anna ordens 5te Class."). I have posted his genealogical information at https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&person=L6M8-CT4

 

2. The second is named Johannes Mattison (or Matthisson) Hirsch. I know more about him than the person above, but would like to check to facts and assumptions below and to see if he received any awards. Johannes Mattison (or Matthisson) Hirsch was born February 8, 1793, in Stenberga parish, immediately to the north of Ã…seda, and died September 17, 1865 in Ã…seda. He is reported to have been a soldier, dragoon, serving in the Swedish army. My cousin in Sweden did some research. He said the military forces of the time were to a great deal the responsibility of freehold farmers with a certain standing, i.e., the owner of a farm with land of a certain size had to arrange for the equipment and maintenance and for the availability of one soldier plus, in a case like this, horse with trappings. In return the farm had to pay less tax. Very often a son of the owner served as such a soldier, but it was also very common that the owner hired a man for the purpose. The military training and exercises (in peace) took place at certain camps, where the soldiers came together during a month or so each or every second year. The rest of the time they stayed at home and made their living by civil work, very often as a labourer at the farm which they represented. So the report I received said that Johannes Matthison Hirsch represented a farm called BörsÃ¥s, where he also lived from 1811 to 1824. The name of the father of Johannes Matthisson Hirsch was Matthias Sacrisson. It was therefore natural that his family-name was Mattisson but he had also the second family-name Hirsch. The report gave no explanation on this point. However, in those times it was quite common that soldiers were given special names intended to make it easier to distinguish the men of a company or other military group, as the names used by the ordinary people often were similar to each other. In order to try to find out if Hirsch was such a 'soldier-name' given to Johannes Matthisson, my cousin decided to look into the archives of the Military Record Office in Stockholm, where they keep rolls of the people who served in the Swedish armed forces. He found out that Johannes Mattisson belonged to the Royal SmÃ¥land Dragoon Regiment and served in 'the first Major's Squadron'. It stated that a man from BörsÃ¥s named Jonas Karp, who was 52 years of age and had served 19 years, was infirm (sick) and asked for dismissal, which he was given. The next entry was made in 1810. It states that the place (number) of BörsÃ¥s was vacant. Following entry, which belongs to a roll dated March 17, 1814, covering the years 1812-1814, states that the man from BörsÃ¥s is 'Johan M. Hirche' 20 and a half years of age and with 3 and a half years of service. Then follows an entry dated November 17, 1816 in which appears the name J. M. Hirche with 23 years of age and 6 years of service. So finally there is an entry from September 24, 1821, with the name Joh. M. Hirsch, 28 years old and with 11 years of service and with the annotation as follows: Asks for and is given resignation on account of 'farm managing', however under the condition that a new man was substituted for him. Apparently this was arranged, as in the following entry made 1824 appears a confirmation of the resignation approved in 1821. He also looked for a statement that our man was given or allowed to use the name Hirche or Hirsch. He found several such annotations regarding other men in the squadron but in this case the search was in vain. According to the information given regarding the length of his service it seems likely that he started in the squadron late in 1810 or early in 1811. The missing statement regarding his name should have appeared in connection with an annotation that he was approved to represent BörsÃ¥s. The mustering rolls between 1810 and 1812-1814 seemed to be missing. This in turn could be due to that the regiment during the time in question was detached to Germany, more specifically Pommern which then belonged to Sweden but was under negotiations with Danmark and in fact given up to Danmark in 1814. I guess that the rolls which I have been keen to find disappeared during the campaign in Pommern or transport back to Sweden. In any case we know now that Johannes Mattisson as a dragoon got the name Hirche, later Hirsch. His genealogical information has been posted at https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&person=L6M8-HY5

 

 
Any help, corrections, additions, suggestions etc. would be most welcomed.

 
Cordially,

 
Richard Alan Nelson

Rnelsonlv@gmail.com

 

[christerd]

Hi Richard , 

 

It look like you have a lot of info already about the two soldiers , but maybe I can add something more .

 

The Bravery medal you are mention is the only Bravery medal in Sweden : Instituted 1789 by Gustv III , King of Sweden

It was first in Silver only given to enlisted men and later also in Gold for Officers .

During the Russian war 1788-1790 i was awarded about 1900 medals but Carl Gadd wasn´t born until 1784 so he probably won his medal in the war 1805-1807 or 1808-1809. There was approx 1300 medals awarded for those wars. 

 

After 1814 few Bravery medals was awarded , one number stated is 32 between 1814-1920 

 

What I can find out there is no official list of all awarded medals ?  

 

I shall see if I can find some info.

 

Here is a pic of the medal itself in silver 

 

 

Christer

[rnelsonlv]

Thanks, Christer. That's already more information than I had before. I am very appreciative of your efforts to be helpful to me and others that may have similar questions.

 

Cordially,

 

Richard Nelson

[kimj]

Mr Nelson, welcome to the forum! I hope I can shead some light on Swedish medals of Napoleonic times for you.

 

Medals at this time was a "thank-you-for-your-service" award that mostly went to wounded soldiers. There was a small sum of money attached to being awarded a medal. So when you got back home, was fired from the military and kicked out of the house (because it was the army who owned it) at least you had that. Those who recovered continued their service, like Gadd. His Russian cross was part of an award-trade between Russia and Sweden. They got 200 swedish bravery medals and the swedes got 200 St George crosses for NCO and privates. The Russians had no say in what specific soldier should get a cross. Instead the regiments got a number of awards to give to the bravest soldiers. Some commanders did not like this because the number given out was so small that many brave soldiers would be without crosses. The number for Kalmar regiment was three (!) crosses. The Order of St Anna is probably a mix up, because it was an award for higher status people, not common soldiers like Gadd. The most common missconception of the Russian award is that the soldiers cross is an Order of St George. This is know to have a couple of soldiers going around back home calling themselves knight of the order of St George..... But it's a lower class of St George and no knight titles involved.

 

So Gadd probably "only" had two awards the Swedish medal for bravery and the Russian cross of St George. But that is not bad.

 

Also, there are separete lists of the troops in Stettin, so no "hole" 1807-1817. The normal peace time lists were not kept during wartime. They can be found online as a pay service.

 

Finaly. There are no lists of the enlisted men's medals but most (all?) the gold officers bravery medals are listed at the national archive.

 

If there are any other questions I'd be happy to help.

 

/Kim

[rnelsonlv]

Thanks, Kimj. I would like to learn more about the award-trade practice you describe between Sweden and Russia during the Napoleonic Wars. Is there any scholarship on this topic?  I am also attaching a photo of an example of the rather plain St. Anne's Medal for Soldiers from about 1813-1814, issued by the Russian Imperial government as a separate medal for enlisted men and NCOs. It is Silver, 24 mm. I would also appreciate your comments on this medal.

The Photo source is: Lot 2099; http://www.baldwin.co.uk/media/cms/auction-archive/auction-ny22/NewYorkAuction22 - Lots 2001-2113 - RUSSIAN ORDERS.pdf   

I have seen the citation to the following work in the auction catalog which describes the medal, but not actually viewed Mr. Chepurnov's book itself. See: S. Chepurnov. Nagradniye Medali Gosudarstva Rossiiskogo. (Russian Award Medals): Ensiklopedicheskoe illiustrirovannoe izdanie. Moskva: Terra-Knizhnyi klub, Russkii mir, 2000, pp. 167 and ff. Note: There is also a 2nd edition of this work, published in 2002. 

 

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[kimj]

Your're welcome! Swedish phaleristics is a subject not very much is written about. The award trade between Prussia-Sweden-Russia have only been the subject of one article I know of: "När svenska tapperhetsmedaljer "byttes" mot ryska S:t Georgekors", Nordisk Numismatisk Årsskrift 1942. The text is in Swedish.

The Russian St Anne medal was never given to Swedes as far as I know. There wasn't anything in the Swedish award system to trade with, all we had was bravery medals. The medal you show looks awful, condition wise. If it's good or bad I can't say as czarist medals are far from my expertise. I'm sure you can get a more qualified answer from the Russian section of the forum.

 

/Kim