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Soldiers When They Go: the Story of Camp Randall, 1861-1865

1982; University of Iowa; Volume: 46; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.17077/0003-4827.8904

2473-9006

American Constitutional Law and Politics

Soldiers When They Go is a detailed chronological history of Camp Randall, a Civil War training camp located a mile and a half west, of Madison, Wisconsin.Named after Wisconsin's first Civil War governor, Alexander W. Randall, it processed, equipped, and trained 70,000 Wisconsin troops from 1861 to the end of the war.Because the Union War Department was unable to cope with the task of harnessing a massive war machine in the early years of the war.Northern war governors were forced to assume federal responsibility to expedite the recruitment, supply, and training of available manpower in their respective states.The history of Camp Randall from the recruitment of the 1st Wisconsin Regiment to the 52nd portrays the military evolution of men from civilian naivete to military realism.Camp Randall's first two years is a story of waste, mismanagement, excusable ignorance, and justifiable civilian pride.This, in turn, clashed with war-time military necessity and the unbounded patriotic enthusiasm of eager young men being drained away by chronic camp boredom, loneliness, discomfort, and the harsh realities of battle told to them by returning veterans.By the middle of 1862 the organizational expertise of the state officials, coupled with the War Department assuming more responsibility, resulted in better training of the troops and management of the camp.As the war progressed the training periods became shorter in order to supply the constant demand for soldiers in all theaters of operation.Carolyn J. Mattern's history of Camp Randall is reminiscent of Bell Irwin Wiley's two classics.The Life of Billy Yank and The Life of Johnny Reb.It is a daily routine of a Civil War soldier's basic training: what he wore, ate, thought, liked, disliked, his comforts, discomforts, his entertainments, religion, and the ingenuity he employed to solve the problems of camp life.Particularly interesting is the typical inter-relationships between the civilian population of Madison and the soldiers.The townspeople's early enthusiasm gave way to tolerance and finally settled with the "intruder in our midst" syndrome.There were some soldiers who found a home-away-from-home with a few Madison families,