engineer, soldier, author; Trained as a Norwegian military engineer, Dahl immigrated to Wisconsin in 1852, became a farmer in Bloomer, and served in the 15th Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War.  Dahl was a topographical engineer in the Army on the staffs of Generals Carlin, Rosecrans, Grant and Schofield. While with Schofield he was captured and imprisoned, eventually passing through 36 Confederate prisons. During this period he made sketches and drawings that he afterward used in his book, "Key to Southern Prisons of United States Officers," published in 1865. After the war he became a state land agent in the Tomah, Monroe County, and died Dec. 30, 1882.

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[Source: DuBose, Joel Campbell. Notable Men of Alabama, Volume 1 (Atlanta: Southern Historical Assoc., 1904):460]