Several months before the onset of the Civil War, the Wisconsin Legislature prepared for the conflict by passing acts that provided for defense of the state and empowered the governor, in case of war, to cooperate immediately with the national government. Fort Sumter fell on April 14, 1861. The next day, President Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 three-month volunteers. Within one week, 36 Wisconsin companies had offered their services, and on April 22, the first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry was organized. During the first year of the war, 16 regiments were mustered in, and central camps were established in Milwaukee, Madison, Fond du Lac, and Racine. Governor Alexander Randall was succeeded in 1862 by Louis P. Harvey. A few months later, Harvey led a relief expedition to aid the hundreds of Wisconsin soilders left wounded on the battlefield of Shiloh. on his return journey, he was drowned in the Tennessee River. Lieutenant Governor Edward Salomon...