[1] Born to an English father and German mother in Hamburg, Germany, Wilson lived in Kristiania, Norway (now Oslo),[2] for a time before emigrating to the United States in 1858.
Having settled in Madison, Wisconsin, Wilson worked as a store clerk for a year[2] before traveling to New Orleans in December 1859, where he became a sailor.
Promoted to the rank of major soon after returning to duty, Wilson was severely wounded, shot three times during the Battle of Chickamauga.
[2][4][5] After recuperating in Wisconsin (during which time he married Mary Madson, 1843–1903), Wilson returned in November 1863 as acting commanding officer of the Scandinavian Regiment during the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca and Pickett's Mill (during which the regiment suffered particularly heavy casualties) before turning command over to Col. Ole Johnson in July 1864.
In 1874, during a family vacation in Europe, Wilson rescued a drowning woman after she fell overboard from a steamship off the coast of Norway.