Biography/History

In 1897, the Wisconsin Department of the Grand Army of the Republic created a special committee in preparation for the semi-centennial celebration of the Civil War (1911). Members of the committee included: Charles E. Estabrook (chair), Levi J. Billings, and George B. Merrick, appointed by Department Commander E.B. Gray, an ex-officio member of the committee.

This work then merged into the Wisconsin History Commission, created under Chapter 378 of the Laws of Wisconsin for 1907, “... to develop a plan and gather and arrange in a systematic order the material for the history of the part Wisconsin and its citizens took in the civil war ....” The commission was authorized to reprint rare published materials; to gather recollections of survivors, and prepare company and regimental histories; to foster Civil War research among the younger generations; to prepare scholarly works; and to add to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's collections on the Civil War. The members of the Commission were: Charles E. Estabrook, Professor Frederick Jackson Turner, Reuben Gold Thwaites, Henry E. Legler, the Wisconsin Governor [James O. Davidson?], Duncan McGregor, and Orlando Holway.

Several works were published by the commission including:

• Original papers – Wisconsin History Commission, (v. 1-8. [Madison]: Wisconsin History Commission, 1908-1914). A copy is available in the Library of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
• Records and Sketches of Military Organizations: Population, Legislation, Election and Other Statistics Relating to Wisconsin in the Period of the Civil War / Charles E. Estabrook editor, Duncan McGregor, Orlando Holway, Associate Commissioners ([Madison, Wis.?: Adjutant General’s Department?], 1914), is a compilation of actions, campaigns, and other efforts made by Wisconsin citizens during the Civil war, and includes brief regimental histories. A copy is available in the Library of the Wisconsin Historical Society.