Wisconsin Comes Close to Secession?

The topic of Tuesday's McHenry County Civil War Round Table meeting will be "Hotbed of Secession!!  Wisconsin??" given by Jerry Allen.

The newsletter had this to say about the presentation:

Wisconsin Governor Alexander Randall abhorred slavery and was known as a rabid abolitionist (I like this description).

By 1860, anti-slavery feeling in Wisconsin was running high, with the governor's full encouragement.

In March, a member of the Wisconsin legislature introduced a bill to declare war on the United States unless it abolished slavery.  (That sure takes secession to another level.)  There was a lot of support for this.  Agents were sent out to see which state militia companies would support secession as it was possible that Governor Randall would have to call out the militia.

For the rest of the story, come to the meeting.  Details are on the previous post in this blog.

By the way, Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, where the University of Wisconsin Badgers play football, is a Civil War camp/prison and named after Alexander Randall.

With a Badger Vent.  --Old Secesh