Heg was born at Haugestad in the community of Lierbyen in Lier, Buskerud, Norway on December 21, 1829. He was the eldest of the four children of the innkeeper Even Hansen Heg and his wife Sigrid "Siri" Olsdatter Kallerud Heg. The family moved to America in 1840, settling in the Muskego Settlement in Wisconsin. Hans Heg was eleven years old when his family arrived in Muskego. He soon earned a reputation for himself as being a gifted boy.
Career
At twenty years old, lured by the discovery of gold in the Sacramento Valley, he and three friends joined the army of "Forty-Niners". He spent the next two years prospecting for gold in California. Upon the death of his father, he returned to the Muskego area in 1851. He married Gunhild Einong, daughter of a Norwegian immigrant. Heg was a major in the 4th Wisconsin Militia, and became a rising young politician who found slavery abhorrent. He was an outspoken anti-slavery activist and a leader of Wisconsin's Wide Awakes, an anti-slave catcher militia. He became an ardent member of the Free Soil Party, and soon joined the recently formed Republican Party. In 1859, Heg was elected commissioner of the state prison in Waupun, and served there for two years. He was the first Norwegian-born candidate elected statewide in Wisconsin. Heg spearheaded many reforms to the prison, believing that prisons should be used to "reclaim the wandering and save the lost." On August 1, 1860 at great risk to his career, he provided shelter to Sherman Booth, a man who was made a federal fugitive after inciting a mob to rescue an escaped slave. , Madison. During protests in June 2020, the statue was pulled down, decapitated, and thrown into Lake Monona.
Military service
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Heg was appointed by Governor Alexander Randall as colonel of the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment. Appealing to all young "Norsemen," he said, "the government of our adopted country is in danger. It is our duty as brave and intelligent citizens to extend our hands in defense of the cause of our Country and of our homes." The 15th Wisconsin was called the Scandinavian Regiment because its soldiers were almost all immigrants from Norway, with some from Denmark and Sweden. It was the only all-Scandinavian regiment in the Union Army. On 8 October 1862, Colonel Heg led his regiment into its first action at the Battle of Perryville. Despite being under fire while being driven back several miles by the enemy, the 15th Wisconsin suffered few casualties and no fatalities. However, one of those hurt was Colonel Heg, who was injured when his horse fell. Heg commanded the regiment during the Battle of Stones River. In response to his conduct at Stones River, Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans placed Heg in command of the newly formed 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division, XX Corps, Army of the Cumberland, on May 1, 1863. Heg fought in the Tullahoma campaign of June-July 1863. On September 18, 1863, Heg led his brigade at the Battle of Chickamauga, where he was mortally wounded. Heg was shot in the abdomen and died on September 20. Upon hearing of his death, Rosecrans expressed regret, saying he had intended to promote Heg to brigadier general. Heg was one of five Wisconsinite colonels killed as a result of combat during the Civil War. "Colonel Hans C. Heg was Acting Brigadier General of the Third Brigade, Davis' Division, and therefore the highest ranking officer from Wisconsin killed in the Civil War." Heg was buried at the Norway Lutheran Church Cemetery near Wind Lake, Wisconsin.
A replica statue stands in Heg's birthplace at Haugestad in the community of Lierbyen in Lier, Norway. It was a gift by Norwegian-Americans to the people of Norway. The unveiling of this statue took place on Midsummer Day, June 24, 1925.
Heg Memorial Park in Racine County is named in his honor. Heg Memorial Park Museum is located on Heg Park Road in Wind Lake, Wisconsin. His original homestead house is located a short distance from the Heg Memorial Park.
Another house formerly owned by Hans Christian Heg was located at the current site of the Waterford, Wisconsin, Public Library.
A statue of Hans Christian Heg by Paul Fjelde was installed at the King Street approach to the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin in 1925. On June 23, 2020, rioters incensed by the arrest of a member of Black Lives Matter used a towing vehicle to pull the statue down. It was then vandalized, decapitated and thrown into Lake Monona. The words "" were spray-painted on the plinth, just above Heg's name. Forward, a statue designed by Jean Pond Miner Coburn to represent the state of Wisconsin, was also pulled down. Both statues were later recovered by the authorities, though Heg was said to have lost a leg. A 20 July, 2020 meeting of the Wisconsin Capitol and Executive Residence Board confirmed that the head was also still missing. State officials planned to create a new one using a statue of Heg in the town of Norway as a model. During that same meeting, the board voted unanimously to restore the both Heg's statue and Forward to their original condition and placement atop their pedestals.
