After practicing two years in New Y'ork City, he removed to Tuckahoe, N.Y. In 1861 he joined the Ninth Regiment as surgeon, and like his father's, his army life was an eventful one. From the time he was commissioned, he rose rapidly in favor with his superiors and received one mark of respect after another with enviable rapidity. He was ap])oiiited chief surgeon of the Third Brigade, medical director of the Second Division, and finally medical inspector of the First Army Corps.

On February 1, 1864, he received a note of thanks from the commanding general for the efficient manner in which he had performed his duties ; and two years after the dei)arture of the Ninth Eeginient from New Y'ork, he was presented by its non-commissioned ofticers and privates with a handsome gold watch and chain as a token of their resi)ect and esteem.

Unlike some of the officers of the late war, Dr.

Nordquist did not make use of his official power to shirk his duty in the hour of danger, but was present and actively engaged at every battle, in which his division participated. On the fields of Harper's Ferry, Cedar Mountain, Rappahannock Station, Thoroughfare Gap, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, South Mountain, Antietam, First Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, The Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Spottsylvania and Coal Harbor he was present in person, administering the comforts of his profession to the sick and dying soldiery. As a surgeon, he was most successful, and several of his cases are mentioned in the surgical history of the war of the Rebellion.