BY Tom Rowland Within days of President Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers, Governor Alexander Randall enjoined Wisconsin citizens to make “ common cause against a common enemy,” and announced that opportunities for enlistment would be “immediately offered to all existing military companies.”[1] In towns and cities all across the state patriotic throngs jammed meeting halls to listen to stirring speeches and urgent appeals to join the cause of squashing rebellion and treason. Thousands of young Wisconsin men would respond to the call to enlist in the service of their country. And they would so for a wide array of reasons. During the spring and summer months of 1861, the intoxicating allure of excitement and adventure drew many Wisconsin boys into the army. Mechanics, laborers, farmers and … Read entire article »

[originally posted in the Soldier Studies article database on November 29th, 2009] By Chris Wehner On February 11, 1862, Oliver Wilcox Norton took his pen in hand to write a letter to his dear cousin. The meandering letter exposed a question that was nagging him, hindering his writing. He then revealed his trepidation, stating, “What shall I write”? He continued: “It seems to the soldier when he takes up the pen as though there was nothing to write unless he has something to tell of gallant exploits in his own occupation, a brilliant victory over superior numbers of the enemy, in which he was one of the heroes. With something like that for a text he can write. Pages of foolscap are far too small to contain all he has to relate to … Read entire article »