Cedarburg History Museum, N58 W6194 Columbia Rd., opened its 2024 special exhibit "Wisconsin in the Civil War" in late February and you still have time to check it out.
Admission to the museum is free.
The exhibition, of which you can get a glimpse in the video trailer below, runs through Oct. 31.
"It has been a large draw to the museum already," says Director Joel Willems.
"As Milwaukee was by far the largest city in Wisconsin at the outset, it was very important and most Cedarburg or Ozaukee soldiers trained there," Willems says. "We have several unique stories such as the 1862 Draft Riot that drew the attention of a soldier detachment led by Captain Pabst of Milwaukee.
"Or the 1862 Hysteria that swept Eastern Wisconsin from Manitowoc to Cedarburg that Native Americans were approaching. This too was handled by a detachment from Milwaukee and the editor of the Sentinel made fun of the 'yokels' in his editorials."
Willems says that most of the curated exhibit draws on materials from private collectors, including many from the Milwaukee area, like Dr. Peter Jacobsohn of Marquette University.
Some of it comes right from Cedarburg, too.
"We have an 1865 quilt on display from the Gleitzmann family cooperage that still stands at N67 W5524 Columbia Rd.," says Willems. "Dr. Hartwig, who was the Chief Examining Surgeon for the Ozaukee County draft board also has his home still standing. We have a doctor's note from him when he examined a potential soldier who proved to have 'bad feet."
Jacobsohn is one of a number of people that will give talks on Wisconsin in the Civil War at the museum, too. You can find details on the exhibition and related events here.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
