2. We’re rediscovering the Civil War through our blog:
http://thecivilwarandnor thwestwisconsin.wordpress.com
3.
4. The War of ficially star ted
April 12, 1861 – this is the
“headline” from the
Hudson Nor th Star.
Only 3 newspapers in Northwest
Wisconsin in 1861 – 2 in Hudson
and 1 in Prescott. The River Falls
Journal had folded in February of
1861, but starts up again in May of
1861 as the Prescott Journal and
drives the Prescott Transcript out of
business! The Transcript editor then
ends up enlisting.
5. Those three local papers carried the national news copied from Eastern
newspapers
Newspapers didn’t use illustrations back then
Many of our illustrations come from
books in the ARC’s collections – like
Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil
War, published in 1866
6. The local newspapers also carried local news related to the war
Much of the local news has been
about raising companies of
volunteers
7. Nor thwest Wisconsin sent a lot of soldiers right away -- ever yone
wanted to go
• Hudson City Guards, Co. G, 4th Wisconsin Infantry – 115 men
• Prescott Guards, Co. B, 6th Wisconsin Infantry – 101 men
• St. Croix Rifles, Co. F, 1st Wisconsin Infantry – 98 men
• Lyon Light Guards (from Prescott), Co. A, 12th Wisconsin Infantry – 116
• St. Croix Lancers/Rangers, Co. D, 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry – 49
• Scandinavian Regiment, 15th Wisconsin Infantry – 25 men
• Plus about 100 men in various Minnesota regiments
And in 1862:
• 30th Wisconsin Infantry, primarily in Companies A & F, but some also
in Companies I & K
1863 & later are replacement recruits
• Full companies were not raised locally
• Unlike some states, Wisconsin adds new recruits to existing companies
8. River Falls tried to raise a full company of its own – the River Falls
Rifles
Below - Constitution and by-laws
Also have minutes, election of officers of
the company, and muster rolls
Most of these men eventually end
up in the Hudson City Guards or
the Prescott Guards
River Falls Mss BN – Jerry E. Flint Papers
9. Letters written by local soldiers –
Jerr y Flint and Frank Harding in Company G of the 4th (Hudson City Guards)
Brothers Edwin and Homer Levings in Company A of the 12 th (Prescott’s Lyon
Light Guards)
Cursive handwriting and old-fashioned
letter writing conventions
River Falls Mss BN – Jerry E. Flint Papers
10. Some of the early stationer y is quite interesting
11. We type the entire letter into the blog, but just scan the first page of
the original
• So students
can read the
cursive—and
often poor—
handwriting
• So search
engines can
find the entries
12. There also are letters written by local soldiers that were printed in the
local papers
There has recently been a little
controversy started by a
letter written by “Private D”
and published in the
Prescott Journal. The story
was confirmed—as was
Private D’s identify—in one
of Ed Levings’ letters.
13. Some soldiers had time to do sightseeing – in Madison, Washington, or
Baltimore
Neither the Washington Monument nor
the U.S. Capitol were finished in 1861
Photographs from the Library of Congress
14. We have dif ferent types of material from other soldiers
Like this commission of Dr. A. D. Andrews, who ser ved as a
surgeon
Andrews will come back and become
mayor of River Falls
River Falls SC 357 – A. D. Andrews Papers
15. In coming years we will be using Michael Fitch’s diar y
Fitch started out in the Prescott
Guards, and kept this “Roll” of
the company at the time they left
Prescott, with pencil annotations
of what happened to each of
them.
In October 1861, he was
promoted to 1st Lieutenant of
Company D (the Prescott Guards
were Company B) of the 6th
Wisconsin Infantry.
In December 1862, he was
promoted to major in the 21st
Wisconsin Infantry, and
lieutenant colonel in March 1864.
His diary is from 1864 to the
close of the war when the 21st
Wisconsin Infantry was in
Georgia, the Carolinas, and
finally Washington, D.C.
Wis Mss 27s – Michael Hendrick Fitch Papers
16. Who were the Soldiers from Nor thwest Wisconsin?
17. Who were the Soldiers from Nor thwest Wisconsin?
The public can submit information on their
ancestors – it doesn’t have to be much
We are creating entries
on some of the area’s
pioneers who served
We’ll soon be adding
photos of some of the
soldiers, that the Pierce
County Historical
Association is letting us
use
18. How you can find a Civil War soldier – whether he was from Nor thwest
Wisconsin or not
• The UWRF Area Research Center is planning to purchase—on
microfilm—the “Red” and “Blue” books from the Wisconsin Historical
Society so that we can find ALL of the soldiers from this area, or you
can find from somewhere else in Wisconsin
• The Wisconsin Historical Society has lots more information – much of
it can be borrowed and used here in River Falls at the ARC
• The Veterans Museum in Madison also has information
• The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War run a national database
to help you locate a Civil War veteran’s grave, and the Wisconsin
Department runs a “Last Soldier” program trying to identify the last
Civil War soldier in each county in Wisconsin
• The National Park Service has a national database of both Union and
Confederate soldiers, in case you don’t know where your ancestor
served from
• About all that’s left of the 1890 federal census is the census of Civil
War veterans
• Wisconsin also did a Civil War veterans census in 1885, 1895, & 1905
• The blog has “Research Tips” on how to find information, including
how to find your ancestor(s)
http://thecivilwarandnorthwestwisconsin.wordpress.com OR
http://www.uwrf.edu/AreaResearchCenter, & click on the
