756 WINTHROP, THEODORE. 



WISCONSIN. 



Hill and Winchester to impede a hostile ad- 

 vance. 



WINTHROP, MAJOR THEODOEE, an officer 

 of volunteers in the United States army, and 

 an American author, born in New Haven, 

 Conn., September 22, 1828, killed in the battle 

 at Great Bethel, June 10, 1861. He grad- 

 uated with high honors at Yale College, in 

 1848, and soon after, partly to recruit his 

 health, impaired by too close application, sailed 

 for Europe, where he made an extensive tour 

 mostly on foot. In Italy he formed the ac- 

 quaintance of W. H. Aspinwall of New York, 

 and upon his return became tutor to his son, 

 with whom he afterwards again visited Europe. 

 Returning from this second tour, he entered the 

 employ of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company 

 and went to Panama, where he resided about 

 two years. He then joined the unfortunate 

 expedition of Lieutenant Strain, the exposures 

 of which injured his health to such a degree 

 that he was compelled to return to New York. 

 He next engaged in the study of law, and was 

 admitted to the bar in 1855. He first practised 

 in St. Louis, but finding the climate unfavorable, 

 he returned again to New York, where his 

 fondness for literary pursuits drew him aside 

 from his profession. 



At the commencement of hostilities which 

 resulted in the present war, he enrolled him- 

 self in the artillery corps of the Seventh Regi- 

 ment, and subsequently was made acting mili- 

 tary secretary and aid by Gen. Butler. His 

 description of the forty-two days' campaign of 

 the Seventh Regiment, in the June, July, and 

 August numbers of the Atlantic Monthly, at- 

 tracted much attention by its gracefulness and 

 brilliancy, and the interest thus excited was 

 afterwards heightened by his untimely death. 

 In the autumn of 1861, Messrs. Ticknor and 

 Fields, of Boston, published two works of fic- 

 tion of considerable merit, " Cecil Dreeme " and 

 "John Brent," which were found among his 

 papers after his death. 



WISCONSIN, one of the Northwestern States 

 of the Union, was admitted in 1848. It lies be- 

 tween the parallels of 42 30' and 47 05' north 

 latitude, and between 87 and 92 50' west 

 longitude from Greenwich. It is bounded N. 

 by Lake Superior ; N. E. by the upper penin- 

 sula of Michigan ; E. by Lake Michigan ; S. by 

 Illinois ; and W. by Iowa and Minnesota, from 

 which it is in considerable part separated by 

 the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers. Its area 

 is 53,924 square miles, and its population in 

 1860 was 775,873. It is divided into 58 coun- 

 ties. The State consists geographically of two 

 distinct regions the elevated plateau lying 

 north of the Wisconsin River, and maintaining 

 a mean altitude of from 800 to 1,200 feet above 

 the surface of Lake Superior a country of heavy 

 forests and high rolling lands, well watered, 

 and with abundant lakes a region in which 

 the affluents of the Mississippi cross and inter- 

 lock with the streams which fall into Lakes 

 Superior and Michigan ; and the southern roll- 



ing prairie, lying south of the Wisconsin River, 

 also well watered and gemmed with lakes, but 

 of less altitude, and admirably adapted for the 

 cultivation of the cereals. The northern por- 

 tion forms a part of the great lumber-producing 

 region of the northwest, while the southern 

 will long be one of the most productive wheat 

 regions of the continent. 



The following are some of the agricultural pro- 

 ductions of the State in the year ending June, 

 1860, according to the census : Wheat, 15,812,- 

 625 bush. ; rye, 888,534 bush. ; Indian corn, 

 7,565,290 bush. ; oats, 11,059,270 bush. ; wool, 

 1,011, 915 Ibs.; potatoes, 3,848,505 bush.; barley, 

 678,992 bush. ; cheese, 1,104,459 Ibs. ; butter, 

 13,651,053 Ibs. ; maple sugar, 1,584,406 Ibs. ; 

 maple molasses, 83,003 gals. ; sugarhouse mo- 

 lasses, 19,253 gals. ; tobacco, 87,595 Ibs. 



The State has paid great attention to internal 

 improvements. On the 1st of January, 1862, 

 there were completed and in progress in the 

 State, 2,223 miles of railway; of these 922 

 miles were open for traffic, the construction 

 and equipment of which had cost $33,630,693. 

 The condition of the banks of the State, at the 

 commencement of 1861, was as follows : 



Number of Banks 110 



Capital $6,782,000 



Loans and Discounts 7,723,387 



Stocks 4,949,688 



Other investments 1,722,779 



Due by other banks 745,063 



Notes of other banks 1,162,936 



Specie 372,518 



Circulation 4,310,175 



Deposits 4,083.131 



Other liabilities 1,632,201 



In June, 1862, there was a riot in Milwaukee, 

 in consequence of the rejection by the bankers of 

 that city of the notes of most of the banks of 

 the State. The banking law of the State, which 

 was modelled on the free banking law of New 

 York, though modified in some particulars, per- 

 mitted the lodging with the State comptroller, 

 for the security of the issues of the banks of the 

 State, of the bonds of the different States ; and 

 as the bonds of the Southern were generally 

 lower than those of the Northern States, the 

 banks had purchased largely of those as a basis 

 for banking, and had issued their notes on those 

 securities. The rapid reduction of the market 

 value of these stocks, after the commencement 

 of secession, produced an equally rapid depre- 

 ciation in the value of the bank notes based 

 upon them, and the eventual curtailment of the 

 issues of these banks, occasioning severe losses 

 and much bitterness of feeling on the part of 

 the innocent holders of their notes. The riot 

 was finally quelled by the State authorities 

 without loss of life, but after considerable de- 

 struction of property. 



Wisconsin was one of the first States of the 

 North to declare herself unalterably for the 

 Union. The State had gone for Lincoln in No- 

 vember, 1860, by 20,000 majority over all the 

 other candidates, and the State election held 

 the same month had resulted in a very large 

 republican majority in both branches of the 



