oke English, therefore could not understand why they were being drafted into a war they had no intent of being a part of. Anger soon overcame these men. They would form marches with clubs, pitchforks and guns. They wanted to see fair enrollment processes. In one of the most explosive demonstrations, colonists formed and marched into the city of Green Bay. They stood outside Senator Howe's home and demanded action. Howe addressed the crowd from his home. But because of the language barrier, the immigrants could not understand, Howe felt threatened and fled the city. Not feeling satisfied, the mob continued to march around the town until they found a fellow Belgian, O.J. Brice. Brice was able to calm the crowd in their native French. He explained that the drafting process would be filled with justice and fairness. The group was satisfied with his explanation in their own language. They then dissembled and returned home without damage or arrests.
Wisconsin women during the war
While men were fighting, women were often forced to learn how to farm and do other manual labor. Besides having to tend to the home and children while the men were away at war, women also contributed supplies. Quilts and blankets were often given to soldiers. Some had encouraging messages sewn on them. One quilt that was made in 1864 by a group of women in Green Bay had the following poem:
For the gay and happy soldier We're contented as a dove, But the man who will not enlist Never can gain our love. If rebels attack you, do run with the quilt And safe to some fortress convey it; For o'er the gaunt body of some old secesh We did not intend to display it. T'was made for brave boys, who went from the West; And squiftly the fiar fingers flew, While each stitch, as it went to its place in the quilt, Was a smothered "God bless you, boys," too.
Other items women often sent included: shirts, sheets, pillows, pillowcases, coats, vests, trousers, towels, handkerchiefs, socks, bandages, canned fruits, dried fruits, butter, cheese, wine, eggs, pickles, books, and magazines. At one point, after the Battle of Resaca, women sent every wounded man within a certain distance a fresh orange or lemon. These fruits were to quench the strong thirst that was known to accompany a wound.
- 1907 Wisconsin Blue Book - Wisconsin in the War of the Rebellion
- Walloon Emigration to Wisconsin. http://www.uwgb.edu/wisfrench/library/history/belges/wibelges.htm
- Mertens, J. H. (1986). The second battle: A story of our Belgian ancestors in the American Civil War, 1861-1865. United States: J.H. Mertens. pg. 9-21
- Hearn, Ethel Alice. Wisconsin WOmen in the War Wisconsin History Commission. 1911. pg. 26-79