Turning Points
in Wisconsin History
The Iron Brigade, Old Abe and Military Affairs
Between 1860 and 1861, eleven Southern states defied the authority of the U.S. government and seceded from the Union, asserting a doctrine of states' rights. Ironically though, for several years before the war, Wisconsin had been the most thoroughgoing champion of states' rights. Unlike the Southern states, however, Wisconsin had used the doctrine in opposition to, rather than in support of, slavery. States' rights had been the basis of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's decision to nullify the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act after the controversy surrounding the fugitive slave Joshua Glover (see "Abolitionism and Other Social Reforms").
When war broke out... more...
Original Documents and Other Primary Sources
 | More than 200 Wis. newspaper stories about the war |
| Leonard Farwell, seeing Lincoln killed, saves Vice President Johnson |
| The Civil War diary of a private from Sheboygan County |
| The Iron Brigade recalled by a veteran, 20 years after the war |
| Memories by a Wisconsin commander of Black troops in the Civil War. |
| An interview with a Black soldier among Wisconsin troops in the Civil War. |
| A Wisconsin logger saves the Union fleet in 1864 |
| A Wisconsin officer refuses to give slaves back to their owners (1), 1862 |
| A Wisconsin officer refuses to give slaves back to their owners (2), 1862 |
| A teenage nurse at the front, 1863-1864 |
| A 14-year-old Wisconsin boy fights in the Civil War |
| Wisconsin Governor Jeremiah Rusk (1830-1893) |
 | A feather from war eagle Old Abe |
| A Tiffany punch bowl in honor of Bailey's heroics |
| An iron collar removed from a fugitive slave by Wisconsin soldiers in 1862 |
 | A guide to the battles and engagements fought by Wisconsin troops. |
| Roster of Wisconsin Civil War Soldiers, vol. I |
| The only Wisconsin unit of Black soldiers in the Civil War |
| The roster of Wisconsin's only unit of black Civil War soldiers |
| The history and traditions of the Chippewa Valley |
| A Wisconsin soldier recounts the Battle of Gettysburg for his family. |
| An 1875 history of the Chippewa Valley |
| Names of ex-soldiers and sailors residing in Wisconsin, 1885 |
| Names of ex-soldiers and sailors residing in Wisconsin, 1895 |
| Names of ex-soldiers and sailors residing in Wisconsin, 1905 |
| Roster of Wisconsin Civil War Soldiers, vol. II |
| Alphabetical index to all Wisconsin Civil War soldiers |
| Official List of Wisconsin Soldiers Killed in the Civil War |
 | More than 500 photographs and other pictures from the Civil War |
| A photo of former slave Peter Thomas |
| An 1887 portrait of General and Governor Lucius Fairchild |
 | A Wisconsin soldier describes being a prisoner of war, 1863-1865 |
| A Wisconsin soldier writes home from the war, 1863 |
| A Wisconsin soldier writes a prison poem on envelopes, 1863 |
| Gettysburg day-by-day (June 30-July 6, 1863) |
| A Wisconsin soldier recounts the removal of a freedom seeker's iron collar |
| Letters by relatives of Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1861-1919 |
| A Rock Co. soldier writes home, 1862-1865 |
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