Soden gravestoneWILLIAM SODEN, wagon and carriage maker, Oregon; born in the town of Butternuts, Otsego CO., N.Y. in 1837; came to Rock Co., Wis., with this parents, in 1845; was on his father’s farm eleven years; began as apprentice to a wagon-maker in Fulton, was six months in Madison and finished under William Bedford, in Oregon; soon after went to Edgerton, thence to Stoughton.He enlisted in the 1st W.V.I. for three months, served out his time, and in Oregon, July, 1862, enlisted in the 23rd W. V. I., served three years in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri; was in the battle at Arkansas Post and through the Vicksburg campaign; was captured at the battle of Sabine Cross Road, and held fourteen months at Camp Ford, Texas; was released at the close of the civil war; returned to Wisconsin; lived at different times in Oregon; was six years on the father’s farm , and settled in Oregon in the spring of 1880; has bought property and means to stay.

He married, in Oregon, Hattie L. Hayes, born in 1841, in Indiana, and a resident of Oregon, since 1845; they have four children-Lora, Minnie, Willie and Freddy; the eldest was born in Edgerton, Minnie in Oregon, Willie in Evansville, and the youngest in Porter, Rock Co. Mr. Soden is a Republican, a member of the M.E. Church, and of the Oregon Lodge, A. F. & A. M.Ref. 1880 History of Dane County, Wisconsin, p. 1250. William and Hattie Soden and family

Family photo (1910-1915): William and Hattie Soden; two daughters, Millie and Lora; two sons, Fred and William Jr.
William Soden’s Drawing of Sabin Cross Road Battlefield
Soden's map
On April 8, 1964 he was in Pleasant Hills, Louisiana. His unit was part of the 13th Army Corp. 4th Division, First Brigade. The ensuing battle at Sabine Cross Roads resulted in his capture and eventual imprisonment in Tyler, Texas. He was released May 17, 1865, having spent thirteen months in the prison camp. He returned to Wisconsin and was mustered out of service on June 24, 1865.
Ref. Salisbury, Wayne D. (2002). The Civil War Diaries and Letter of William Soden, 156 pp.