Civil War
Wisconsin Citizen Petition Exhibit
Wisconsinites reacted to controversial laws such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, gaining national attention with the Wisconsin State Supreme Court’s 1855 overturning of the Fugitive Slave Act on unconstitutional grounds. Pride in this political action was not shared nationally: Wisconsin abolitionists such as William Blunt found themselves caught up in acts of violence.
Civil War recruitment poster
Recruiting poster for the "Patriots of St. Croix" View the original source document: WHI 11474
Tensions skyrocketed as the question of Wisconsin’s entrance into the Civil War became not if, but when. Though some white settlers voiced support for the idea of states’ rights (though not for the institution of slavery itself), most Wisconsinites quickly rallied around the Union cause. However, the question of whether the divide between the Union and the Confederacy could be resolved peacefully or not haunted Wisconsin politics. Residents requested laws that would allow for the creation of a military enrolling and drilling of "all able bodied citizens over eighteen years of age and not exceeding forty-five."
When the possibility of peaceful resolution was abandoned, Wisconsinites flooded to the Union cause. Citizens volunteered for the Union army in droves and received training in Milwaukee, Fond du Lac, Racine, and Madison. Over 91,000 men went on to serve in 56 Union regiments, and were involved in every major battle of the Civil War.
Camp Randall, 1862 ca.
Camp Randall looking southwest. In April 1861, Governor Alexander Randall asked that the State Agricultural Society fairgrounds be converted into a military camp to train volunteer soldiers following the outbreak of the Civil War. Throughout the war, the majority of Wisconsin's troops, some 70,000, were mustered here. Th View the original source document: WHI 1875
Though the institution of a citizen draft initially sparked riots in urban centers, as the war continued and thousands of Wisconsin families lost fathers or sons, public opinion overwhelmingly backed Lincoln's efforts to preserve the union.
During the war, the Wisconsin legislature continued to receive citizen petitions. Individuals and groups of men and women requested passage of special taxes to fund payments to volunteers, adjustment of service and aid eligibility, reimbursement for personal expenses from furnishing hospitals and providing food and medical supplies to soldiers, economic relief for industries supporting the war effort, and increased funding of aid societies on the home front.
Several petitions voiced popular concerns that military benefits would not be extended to African-American soldiers. Others called attention to the worry that wealthy white men would buy volunteers to take their place in the draft, or that convalescing soldiers wouldn’t receive equal pay to those on active duty.
Regiment on Parade
Wisconsin Civil War regiment on parade View the original source document: WHI 45176
All Wisconsin residents, regardless of whether they became a part of the military effort, felt the repercussions of civil war. Wisconsin's women played a vital role in the success of the war effort, setting aside their many religious, ethnic, and political differences to form various aid societies throughout the state and striving to keep the Wisconsin economy, and their families, afloat. Cordelia Harvey, widow of former governor Louis Harvey, was a major player in the organization of charity groups and medical aid to wounded soldiers and hospitals across the state. In 1863, she opened the Harvey United States Army General Hospital in Madison as a hospital for convalescing soldiers.
As the war drew to a close, the weary soldiers trickled home to communities changed by war. Receiving funding for social welfare organizations emerged quickly as an essential issue. The war orphaned many children and left many families indigent, spurring demands for aid for the widows of fallen soldiers. Veterans’ rights advocates also called upon the legislature to fund the Soldier Relief Commission and Grand Army of the Republic Posts. These petitions emphasized the moral duty of the state to care for its most vulnerable citizens.
Despite relative unification in their initial cause, Wisconsin communities had a long way to go in healing from the physical, socioeconomic, and political scars of civil war. Reconstruction remained contentious across the state. In many ways, Wisconsin’s failure to commit to Reconstructionist policies revealed how the state would institutionalize systemic maltreatment and disenfranchisement of Black citizens in the twentieth century.