Junior Docent School Program - Milwaukee Art Museum

population of a territory. A number of Wisconsin people helped run-away slaves reach
Canada.
The Civil War broke out in April 1861 and created a demand for Wisconsin‟s products.
The Republican governor, Alexander W. Randall (1858-1862), was eager to pledge the
state‟s resources to the war effort. What were the two main issues leading to the Civil
War? Slavery and preserving the Union. Wisconsin volunteers were many, some
devoted to abolishing slavery and some to preserving the Union. Wisconsin‟s soldiers
fought in every major battle of the Civil War.
The Iron Brigade suffered heavy casualties at Gettysburg.
The 8 th Wisconsin became the Eagle Regiment because of Old Abe, a pet bald eagle
that was carried into battle on a perch flying the American flag.
When Union gunboats were stranded in the Red River of Louisiana, several thousand
lumberjacks from Wisconsin regiments dammed and deepened the river using
techniques learned in the lumber camps.
In the war, nearly 12,000 men died from wounds and disease. Many thousands were
wounded.
During these years, however, other important things happened in Wisconsin:
Industries such as meat packing and tanning grew.
Breweries supplied beer that was welcomed because there was a high tax on strong
liquor, but not on beer. The two leading breweries, Schlitz and Pabst, produced a million
barrels of beer between 1873 and 1893 and this beer was sold all over the world. In fact,
Admiral Peary found a Pabst bottle as he approached the North Pole, and 3,600 bottles
of Schlitz beer went to the tropics for Admiral Dewey‟s men after the capture of Manila.
Agriculture remained a basic activity.
Flour mills grew and J.I. Case Company in Racine produced threshing machines.
How many of you know the book, The Little House on the Prairie? Author Laura Ingalls
Wilder was born in Wisconsin in 1867.
Artist Title Location
Johnson, Eastman Portrait of Frederick Layton Lower Level
Albano, Salvatore Bust of Frederick Layton Main Level
Beal, Gifford Circus Girl Main Level
Bonheur, Jules Bulls (meat packing) Main Level
Bonheur, Rosa Two Goats Main Level
Colescott, Warrington Hardhats Main Level
Wesselmann, Tom Still Life #51 (Pabst beer can) Main Level
McCarthy, Justin Acrobats Folk
Schimmel, William Eagle Folk
Industrialization, Urbanization, World War I, and World War II (1900 to 1950)
1900 Statesman Robert LaFollette was elected governor of Wisconsin.
1903 The first Harley-Davidson motorcycles were made.
1921 Legislature banned legal discrimination against women in Wisconsin.
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JDSP – Docent Packet
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