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VOLUME 21:2 SUMMER 2015 QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE WISCONSIN VETERANS MUSEUM IN THIS ISSUE The Grand Review CIVIL WAR SESQUICENTENNIAL 1865 - 2015 THE WISCONSIN VETERANS MUSEUM MADISON, WI WWW.WISVETSMUSEUM.COM FROM THE SECRETARY More than 150 years ago, our the legacies of our state’s military United States were fractured, service members, ensuring mired in a deadly civil war that that their role in shaping our left few Americans, North or nation’s history is properly South, untouched by the deaths commemorated, acknowledged of more than 600,000 of their and remembered by the countrymen. As they have in all generations that have followed. the wars since, many Wisconsin Wisconsin men and women have citizens became soldiers, served proudly and honorably in answering their nation’s call to uniform, and we are privileged service. to be able to tell their stories. Nearly 12,000 from Wisconsin died in what was our country’s costliest war in terms of human life. When Southern rebels John A. Scocos fired upon Fort Sumter on April Secretary 12, 1861, Wisconsin had only been a state for 12 years. Its population numbered nearly FROM THE SECRETARY 800,000 citizens, about half of whom were male. By the end of WISCONSIN IN the war, the state had fielded THE CIVIL WAR more than 91,000 men. Nearly one in nine residents served in uniform during the war, fighting in every Southern state except Florida. Many of their stories are told in the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, which has preserved WISCONSIN VETERANS MUSEUM SPECIAL PROJECTS Your membership supports the mission of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. In 2015, we have a number of special projects to which you may be interested in giving. ACQUISITIONS TRAVELING EXHIBITS STEM PROJECT Help the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Support a series of newly developed Advance developing educational acquire significant objects and traveling exhibits that will increase the initiative that integrates science, archival materials Wisconsin VeteransA range Museum of sponsorship technology, opportunities engineering are andalso math available. presence throughout Wisconsin into our school curricula For more information or to register, visit or call WWW.WVMFOUNDATION.COM REMEMBER, YOUR GIFT MAKES YOUR MUSEUM608.261.0536 STRONGER! 2 THE WISCONSIN VETERANS MUSEUM FROM THE ARCHIVES AN ENDURING LEGACY JOHN F. HILL, A VETERAN OF THE 8TH WISCONSIN INFANTRY REGIMENT AND FORMER HANDLER OF OLD ABE, POSES WITH THE FAMOUS MASCOT IN THIS CARTE-DE-VISITE TAKEN DURING THE PHILADELPHIA CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION IN 1876. THE POPULARITY OF OLD ABE AT THE EXPOSITION HELPED TO ESTABLISH THE BIRD’S ICONIC LEGACY. WVM.0034.I008 - WVM MSS 34. WWW.WISVETSMUSEUM.COM 3 FROM THE DIRECTOR to remember the original significance of the site with a new monument. The acknowledgment of the past is central to our mission, but more importantly, it is a way to ensure the civic health and unity of this nation. Monuments inspire respect and admiration for our cherished national ideals. They are constant reminders of shared sacrifices and are crucial to the formation and perpetuation of a national identity. The celebration of a national past through observance and ritual is an obligation that helps us THE RETURN TO CAMP RANDALL — Civil War Encampment & live up to the ideals of good Monument Dedication Promotional Poster. FROM THE DIRECTOR citizenship. If our freedom has SYMBOLS & SENTIMENT been purchased by the blood to establish commissions in of our predecessors, then every state. We are pleased how can we fail to recognize to be at the forefront of the On July 18, 2015, the their accomplishments? The effort. Over the next few Wisconsin Veterans Museum act of memorializing their months we will endeavor to and its parent agency, the deeds through symbolism fill the commission and begin Wisconsin Department and ritual strengthens our to work with our partners of Veterans Affairs, will bonds with the past and on a national level to provide mark the end of the Civil emphasizes our similarities. educational programs and War Sesquicentennial This acknowledgment of the exhibits that speak to the observance with an unveiling past also serves to mitigate WWI experience. Watch our of a new monument at Camp cultural divisions that stand in website for more information Randall. This monument the way of unity. Memories of about our efforts as we move commemorates Wisconsin’s a shared past, even if they are forward in cooperation with participation in the Civil imagined, serve as a unifying the national observance. War and acknowledges the theme throughout American As always, thank you for sacrifices of more than 80,000 history. So, monuments are your membership and Wisconsin citizens who more than just granite or steadfast support. Your answered the call to duty. marble, and we are honored generosity helps ensure that Camp Randall holds special to be able to erect a fitting we continue to meet our significance in the hearts tribute to Wisconsin’s Civil mission of acknowledging of Wisconsinites. Today it War soldiers on July 18, 2015. and commemorating the is known as the home of Just as we close our contributions of Wisconsin’s University of Wisconsin sesquicentennial observance veterans. football, but 150 years ago of the Civil War, we turn our it was the primary training eyes to remembering the ground for Wisconsin’s “Doughboys” of 1917. Already, Civil War soldiers. So as we have begun to assemble the national celebration to Wisconsin’s World War I Michael E. Telzrow mark the sesquicentennial Centennial Commission. A Director draws to a close, it is fitting vigorous national effort seeks 4 THE WISCONSIN VETERANS MUSEUM FROMFROM THE THE COLLECTIONS ARCHIVES THREADS OF MEMORY: KRISTINE ZICKUHR WISCONSIN’S CIVIL WAR ASSISTANT DIRECTOR BATTLE FLAGS “I send to you herewith for came to rest in the Grand to the new State Archives transmission to the Governor Army of the Republic Preservation Storage building. our old color. It can no longer Memorial Hall, the This storage environment will be unfurled and five bullets predecessor of the Wisconsin allow for onsite conservation, have pierced the staff. Its Veterans Museum. Even now, detailed photo documentation tattered folds and splintered in the final year of the Civil and greater research staff bear witness more War Sesquicentennial, the accessibility. We will share eloquently than words to flags remain one of the most more about the project in future the conduct of the men who powerful tangible remnants issues. While the Civil War have rallied around it from of the war fought between flags have been temporarily Gainesville to Gettysburg.” the states. At first glance, retired from the Wisconsin their gilded battle honors - Colonel Rufus Dawes, 6TH Veterans Museum exhibit and lustrous silk belie their Wisconsin Infantry, 1863 galleries, they remain available battlefield exploits. Yet, they to any member of the public for continue to bear witness viewing and research. Please to the sacrifice Wisconsin contact Collections Manager made to preserve the Union. Andrea Hoffman for more Thousands of schoolchildren information. To learn more still view the bullet-ridden about the collection, please staff of the 2ND Wisconsin see www.wisconsinbattleflags. and learn of flag bearers like com. The full object collection Robert Stevenson, who gave of the Wisconsin Veterans his life carrying the flag at Museum can also be searched Antietam. on the museum’s main website Wisconsin’s Civil War flag at http://wisvetsmuseum. National flag of the 6TH Wisconsin Infantry, issued in April collection will soon enter a pastperfectonline.com/. 1865, reaching the regiment two days after Lee’s surrender. WVM V1964.219.46. new chapter, as it relocates the Civil War came As to a close, Wisconsin began to see tangible evidence of its cost. Veterans returned to their communities with serious injuries and disabilities. At the head of the columns of war-weary soldiers, came their equally seasoned regimental flags. After a final proud display at the Grand Review in Washington, DC, the flags led their men home to Wisconsin. After being retired in dignified ceremonies, Wisconsin’s flags eventually Color guard of the 2ND Wisconsin Infantry, Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1862. WVM VI 1997 Feb. WWW.WISVETSMUSEUM.COM 5 COVER STORY - THE GRAND REVIEW RUSS HORTON REFERENCE ARCHIVIST THE GRAND REVIEW Carte de visite showing members of Co. B, 18TH Wisconsin (Hansen is kneeling second from right), likely taken around the time of the Grand Review. WVM Mss 1802. Most Americans have witnessed a parade or two in their lives. Many take place on holidays like Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or Veteran’s Day and might entail a few hundred people marching down the main street of a community to celebrate or commemorate an event. Some are larger, televised events involving thousands of people, like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or, special to Wisconsin sports fans, the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day in Pasadena. But dwarfing all of these was a parade that took place in our nation’s capital 150 years ago. For all intents and purposes, the Civil War ended in April 1865 with Lee’s surrender to Grant and Johnston’s surrender to Sherman. The relief and excitement felt in Northern states was tempered by grief and unease at the hundreds of thousands of lives lost and mourning for the death of President Abraham Lincoln. In May, new President Andrew Johnson decreed a Grand Review of the Armies to honor the service of the victorious Union troops and to provide the American public with a celebratory event to mark the end of four years of brutal war. Over the course of two days, more than 140,000 soldiers marched down Pennsylvania Avenue while crowds numbering in the thousands cheered them on and thanked them for their service.