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An account of soldiering and of one soldier, by D. Weighan.
[Editor's note: this account focuses on a soldier whose name
happens to be Anders. There is no connection between this
Anders and Anders Anderson Fasth, bu it is a detailed look at the
life of a soldier in Sweden. It was downloaded from a now
forgotten website, and I do not know who D. Wieghan is, but he
appears to have accumulated a great deal of information about the
Swedish solider of the 17th through 19th Centuries.]
Army records found to this date show that
Anders enlisted in the Swedish army as a grenadier, but not much
personal information is included in the muster rolls found, except
that he was six feet tall, married, and was present for roll
calls. September 16,
1842, shows him to be at Hångers, Ljungby Parish, Kronobergs län. A man by the name of
Göran Molin obtained his “interim release“ (pension) on March 30,
1842, and it was on September 16 of that year that Anders took
over the soldier spot.
It is interesting to read the names of Anders’
sponsors. Those
listed on the first record were: County Official Torneskjelm, Nils
Swansson, Länsman Rundberg, and Länsman Manberg. After five years the
first three names remain the same except that the second spelling
has been altered to Nils Svensson.
Apparently
things had gone well for the third of the original sponsors, for
Rundberg was now designated as Royal Sherriff Länsman Rundberg!
Six and one-half years after Anders’ enlistment
his sponsors were Håkan Swensson, Bengt Eriksson, Kapitan Porath
and Pehr Israelsson. After
eight and three-fourth years they were Nils Swensson, Bengt
Eriksson, Kapitan Porath, and Per Israelsson.
At the time Anders enlisted the Swedish army
was uniquely Swedish with none other like it in the world. In 1682 King Charles XI
instituted the allotment system, which existed for over two
centuries until 1901. Under
this arrangement each province was to raise one regiment of 1,200
soldiers, farmers to do the recruiting and to support the recruits
in peacetime. The men could come from any geographic location, and
recruiting farmers were then exempt from being drafted for the
army. Shelter --
customarily in the form of a croft -- clothing, and some
remuneration were all part of the bargain. The man usually had two
full uniforms, one for parade and exercises (sponsors often kept
that one under lock in the ward chest) and a worn parade uniform
to be used at less solemn occasions. Finally, worn-out clothing
with the insignia removed was given the soldier for his daily work
Support was achieved by dividing the province
into 1,200 wards, or “rotes”, consisting of from two to fifteen
farms depending upon the size of the farms, each one employing and
maintaining one soldier. Farm
owners within the rote became sponsors for the soldier, and their
names were included in the roster records. The soldier was tied to
the land through this system, the ward furnishing him with a croft
(torp, soldattorp), and a few acres of tillable land and meadow,
on which he lived and worked while not on active duty. Thus the allotment army
was a standing one, always ready for mobilization within hours,
with the soldier being both.warrior and small farmer (Peasant or
crofter) at the same time.
A soldier usually was discharged after about
thirty years of service when he was between fifty and sixty years
old. The rote
position was often even a legacy of sorts for a son who took over
when the father retired The man received a small pension and many
times received some help from his ward sponsors in starting his
retirement life. Sometimes
he was permitted to cut timber from their forests to use for a new
cottage. Even the retired soldier was honored by a military
funeral.
The croft was built on rocks with the plan and
size according to regulations, and there was also to be an animal
barn, a shed, and a hay barn with a loft. Buildings were inspected
for major repairs about every thirty years. Until about 1860 croft roofs
were covered with birchbark and peat, and moss filled spaces
between the log walls (our log cabins were patterned after these
early Swedish dwellings). Later
the outer walls were covered with boards. There was an open
fireplace and occasionally an iron stove. Often little furniture
was needed because crofts many times had the bed(s), table and
benches fastened to the wall.
A special sign bearing the soldier’s company and number
(Anders’ regiment number at *Kvenneberga was 60) hung over the
croft door.
Anders
must have been a promising young man. The crown demanded that
“esteemed and tall men” be contracted (people of the rotes seemed
to think that, as the soldier was their protector, he should stand
head and shoulders above the congregation in church), strong, with
no visible deformities, healthy and erect with straight legs and
commendable mental abi1ities..
They must also have hair and at least the beginning of a
beard. The uniform and the service helped the soldier stand out as
a special type of man, but the stringent selection requirements
probably played the biggest role. The rote’s contract with the
soldier had to be approved by the regimental commander and the
governor of the province. It
was very
difficult to rise above one’s roots in Sweden
at the time, and it was the enterprising and bold young man in top
mental and physical condition who applied for the army while the
more careful, less dynamic and physically or mentally impaired
stayed on the home farm. .
A
grenadier (grenadjar) was an elite infantryman, one of a grenadier
regiment The
so1dier’s natural abilities were developed during the annual
training weeks at the regimental grounds. He learned to keep
himself, his uniform and his equipment in the best of shape, and
he had to meet special intellectual requirements. Prior to the compulsory
grade schools in Sweden (1842) he was sometimes the only person in
the parish other than the parish priest and parish clerk who could
read and write efficiently, and regular re1igeus services during
the regimental exercises prepared him well in the catechism. Sometimes he even was
paid by the parish for minor assignments such as serving as the
parish clerk, leading the singing in church, teaching children to
read and write or being a caretaker and gravedigger. Soldiers had a
reputation for being happy, easygoing and thrifty men, and many
became the parish jack-of-all trades.
Beginning in the middle of the 1700s
instructions to the soldier were printed in a handbook which he
had to carry and to commit to memory. Instructions were
divided into four parts:
(1) admonitions to fear God, honor the king and
serve faithfully; (2) moral demands; (3) body care and personal
hygiene; and (4) instructions on equipment care, etc. On the whole
soldiers were law abiding with punishments rare. Only about three percent
of the men were ever guilty of behavior severe enough for
sentencing. Church
service attendance was a duty in the 1800s, and soldiers in the
parish were ordered to appear neat and orderly. Sometimes after
the service there was an inspection which took place in the
cemetery surrounding the church.
Naturally the young unmarried soldier was a
favorite among the nubile maidens of the parish, and Anders must
have been considered quite a catch for Martha. A soldier could offer
his wife a home that would be theirs perhaps twenty or thirty
years, as long as his health and strength would allow him to serve
the ward. He had a
potato patch, a barn, summer grazing and winter food for his
animals, and sometimes he was furnished a cow, some sheep or
perhaps a pig. If he
had manual skills he could make furniture, and if his bride had
some woolen and linen cloth the future would seem rosy indeed. They would never become
rich, but their living was comparatively assured.
Until at least 1880 it was the law that “if a
soldier intends to enter into matrimony, he shall report it to his
captain.” The captain
used his prerogative to check on marriages within his company; he
wanted to know about the bride’s past, and sometimes she had to be
introduced to him. In
any case, the so1dier had to submit a written request for
permission to marry, and permission was also sought from the
parish priest. An industrious wife was an asset for the whole
company, for a well kept croft meant a soldier well cared for so
that he did not misuse liquor or take up other bad habits. ‘The
wife’s practical ability and moral character was important in the
family’s economic situation and standing in the community. Martha
seemed to fit these criteria.
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