During the Civil War, 70,000 young men took the field of Camp Randall for training before heading out to serve and fight in the Civil War.
Camp Randall, named for Wisconsin's war-time Governor Alexander Randall, also served as a Prisoner of War camp holding confederate soldiers there.
Those who didn't live to see the end of the fighting and return to Dixie are buried in the Confederate Rest in a cemetery just up the street from the current stadium.
Thirty years after the war the land was deeded to the State by leaders who didn't want the important site to become a subdivision.
Soon the land became athletic fields used for baseball and football. Grandstands were built in the late 1890s, but were condemned in 1914.
The Memorial Arch was built in 1912 to commemorate the lives and services of Wisconsin soldiers who fought the war between the states.The current stadium may echo with "battle cries" now when faux warriors march onto the gridiron ready to fight for the glory of their school.
Camp Randall became the home to the Badgers in 1895 when it seated a few thousand. The oldest football stadium in the B1G conference is much larger now, 80,321.
While football is what moves us now to the tune of 4 score times a thousand... it's those 70,000 souls who took the field first who changed history.
Comments
Post a Comment