Wisconsin During the Civil War

Wisconsin at the time of the Civil War had a population of about 775,000, about 300,000 of whom were recent immigrants, more than 100,000 of them from Germany. Many of these immigrants balked at volunteering to fight for their new country, and Wisconsin resorted to a draft to fill its troop quotas. Wisconsin itself was fairly new to the Union at the beginning of the war, having become the thirtieth state on May 29, 1848. Nonetheless, some of the most stalwart units of the war came from Wisconsin, including three regiments (the Second, Sixth and Seventh) of the legendary Iron Brigade. Altogether the state sent more than ninety-one thousand men to fight for the Union. War also interrupted the state's economic growth, and Wisconsin did not change or develop much from 1860 to 1870. In the following decade, however, farming expanded northward, helped by the replacement of oxen with horses for draft animals, and technological innovations like the reaper. A local dairy industry also began to grow in the mid-1870s. Wisconsin's 1848 state constitution provided for free public education. Institutions of higher education at the time of the war included the University of Wisconsin (a land-grant institution founded in 1848), Beloit College (1846) and Roman Catholic Marquette University (1864). 

From: Everyday Life During the Civil War, by Michael J. Varhola

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Camp Randall was a United States Army base in Madison, Wisconsin, the largest staging point for Wisconsin troops entering the American Civil War. At this camp fresh volunteers received quick training before heading off to join the Union Army. Also located on the grounds were a hospital and briefly a prisoner-of-war camp for captured Confederate soldiers.

During the Civil War, Wisconsin played a significant role in medical research and practices, particularly through the efforts of individuals like Erastus B. Wolcott, who served as the state's surgeon general. Innovations in medical care, such as sterilization techniques, were adopted to improve the treatment of wounded soldiers.

H.H. Bennett

More than a photographer, Henry Hamilton Bennett (1843-1908) was an inventive visual historian. His pioneering use of technology, combined with exquisite composition skills, created an enduring legacy for Wisconsin Dells. His stereoscopic views of the dells of the Wisconsin River attracted visitors from across the country, and truly made him the man who made Wisconsin Dells famous.

Bennett embarked on his life as a photographer after an injury sustained in the Civil War permanently crippled his right hand, preventing him from continuing as a carpenter. He did use his carpentry skills, however, as he began his career as a photographer. 

 

Purchasing a tintype studio in Wisconsin Dells (then Kilbourn City), he took his first stereographic landscape photographs of the rugged Wisconsin River dells in 1868. Often constructing all aspects of the camera except for the lenses, he ventured out into the wooded and rocky landscape of the Dells and captured the area on film. He was one of the first photojournalists, using photographs to tell a story.

His most famous photo is arguably of his son, Ashley, making the leap to stand rock, duplicating the feat that Ho Chunk Indians performed daily for the tourists.