Camp Randall

During the American Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, more than 70,000 Wisconsin men trained for service at Camp Randall, the state's largest staging point. The camp, named after wartime governor Alexander W. Randall, stood on a 53½-acre tract originally owned by the estate of William D. Bruen and leased to the State Agricultural Society in 1859. When war came in April 1861, the land was turned over to the state as a military training rendezvous. A hospital and a stockade for Confederate prisoners of war were also located there. The state purchased the land in 1893 and deeded it to the University of Wisconsin. Afterward, part of the grounds was used as an athletic field, while a small segment was set aside as a park in memory of Wisconsin's Civil War soldiers, and the Memorial Arch was completed in 1912.

Madison, Wisconsin · United States