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Scan from Fuji Reala, see in light box. Thanks for comments or critiques. This image is copyrighted. It may not be displayed, copied or reproduced in any medium.
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U.S. Air Force fire protection specialists with the 115th Civil Engineer Squadron train to break walls and breach doors to perform rescues Nov. 5th, 2022, at Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin. The training took place in an aircraft hangar undergoing renovations for the 115th Fighter Wing's transition to the F-35 Lighting II. (Photo by Senior Airman Anya Hanson)
WC 7531 train #119 moves a manifest North at 2nd st. Appleton, Wisconsin.
Canon Rebel
Canon 28-200mm lens
Fujifilm 400X
My beautiful picture
The cupola, with weather vane, sits mid roof on a barn near New Berlin, Wisconsin. The cupola with arched openings assist in ventilating the barn. The cupola's cross gable ends is an outstanding feature of the barn.
Before Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin declared itself the "waterpark capitol of the world"; before army surplus land and water vehicles known as 'ducks' were employed to carry tourists through the natural wonders of the area; before H.H. Bennett opened a photo studio in 1865 that is still a family-owned business today; before logs were floated down the Wisconsin River as part of the state's then largest industry, before the French explorers and fur traders dubbed the area the "Dalles" in the 1700's; even before the Winnebago and Chippewa Indians hunted and lived off this land; the Wisconsin River carved out these geological formations from the sandstone that is it's bed. (Scanned shot from 2001.)
For the Oct. Scavenger Hunt #5 - Geology rocks.
Built in 1906-1917, this Beaux Arts-style Capitol Building was designed by George B. Post to house the state house of representatives, state senate, and offices for the Wisconsin State Government. The fourth state capitol to house the state government since the state’s establishment in 1848, the building is the third building to sit on the present site, and replaced the previous state capitol, built in 1857-1869 and expanded in 1882, which burned down in February of 1904. The capitol houses both the Wisconsin State Assembly and the Wisconsin State Senate, as well as the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor of Wisconsin. The first capitol of Wisconsin upon the formation of Wisconsin Territory in 1836 was in the village of Belmont, Wisconsin, with the legislature meeting in a hastily constructed wood-frame building, before deciding to designate the future site of Madison as the state capitol, and holding further sessions of the legislature in the much better-developed Mississippi River port town of Burlington (now in Iowa) until a capitol building could be completed in Madison. Upon Burlington becoming part of the new Iowa Territory, the state legislature moved to a log and stone building on the present site of the state capitol, a relatively humble Greek Revival-style building constructed in 1837, which looked much like older capitol buildings in the eastern United States, with doric columns and a rusticated fieldstone exterior. It was most similar to the Old State House in North Carolina, built only four years prior, and the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, built in the same year, though these two similar buildings were built almost entirely of stone blocks rather than fieldstone. The small second capitol building was the first state capitol of Wisconsin upon its ascension to statehood in 1848, but had become inadequate for the growing population and government by the 1850s. The original building was demolished and replaced with a larger, Classical Revival-style structure with Romanesque Revival elements constructed in stages between 1857 and 1869, which featured a dome inspired by the United Capitol Building, semi-circular porticoes with corinthian columns, and two short side wings with octagonal towers at the corners, which were modified and extended in 1882 with new wings that increased the Classical Revival aspects of the building and helped to downplay the Romanesque Revival elements that originally were very prominent on the structure. This building was oriented with the semi-circular original porticoes aligned with State Street and King Street, with the wings being oriented towards both sections of Hamilton Street, though the building appeared rather small within the large parklike expanse of Capitol Square. By the turn of the 20th Century, the old Capitol had become inadequate for the growing needs of Wisconsin, which had become wealthy, industrialized, and heavily populated by that point, so study of a replacement capitol building began in 1903. In February 1904, the old State Capitol burned to the ground when a gas jet ignited a newly varnished ceiling inside the building, which spread quickly despite the building featuring a then-advanced sprinkler system, as the reservoir of the nearby University of Wisconsin was empty, which allowed the fire to spread out of control. The north wing of the building, built in 1882, was the only portion that survived, with many relics, records, and important historical items being lost in the fire, though the state law library was saved thanks to efforts by University of Wisconsin students. The fire also happened just after the state legislature had voted to cancel the fire insurance policy on the building, thinking it was a costly and unnecessary folly.
The present building was built on the site of the previous building, with the construction process focusing on completing each wing one at a time to provide space to the state government with as much fiscal efficiency as possible due to financial limitations. Due to this, the north wing was built last to allow the remaining portion of the previous capitol to serve as space for the state government during the construction period, with the central rotunda and dome also being built after the other three wings had been completed, as they serve a more symbolic and less utilitarian purpose than the rest of the building. The building stands 284 feet (86 meters) tall to the top of the statue on the dome, which was sculpted in 1920 by Daniel Chester French, and is a personification of the state of Wisconsin, with the outstretched arm of the statue representing the state motto, “Forward”. The exterior of the building is clad in Bethel white granite, sourced from Vermont, with an additional 42 types of stone from a total of eight states and six countries being utilized on the interior of the building. The dome is the largest in the world to be entirely clad in granite, and is the tallest building in Madison, with a state law passed in 1990 stipulating that any building within a one-mile radius of the capitol is limited in height to the base of the columns of the dome, which stand at 187 feet, which preserves the visibility of the building from the surrounding landscape. The building has a greek cross footprint with four five-story wings that are aligned with the compass directions and radial streets following the compass directions that slice through the surrounding street grid, which is at a 45-degree angle to compass directions, instead roughly paralleling the shorelines of nearby Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, with Downtown Madison sitting on an isthmus between the two lakes. This places the building at a unique 45-degree angle orientation relative to the edges of Capitol Square and most buildings on adjacent streets. The building was one of the last works of the prolific architect George B. Post, whom died before the building was completed. The building underwent a major renovation in the 1970s that added modern features to the interior and covered up many original features, with later projects between 1988 and 2002 restoring the building while updating the building’s systems and functions for the modern needs of the state government.
The exterior of the building’s wings feature porticoes on the ends with corinthian columns, arched windows on the third floor, rusticated bases with entrance doors and decorative keystones, decorative reliefs featuring festoons over the windows on the porticoes, cornices with modillions and dentils, and pediments with sculptural reliefs, which were created by several sculptors, and have different symbolism embodied by their design. On the east wing, which is home to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the sculpture known as Law, created by Karl Bitter, is located on the portico pediment, on the west wing, which houses the chamber of the Wisconsin Assembly, is a sculpture known as Agriculture, also created by Karl Bitter, on the north wing, which is home to a hearing chamber, is the sculpture known as Virtues and Traits of Character, created by Adolph Alexander Weinman, and on the south wing, which houses the chamber of the Wisconsin Senate, is a sculpture known as Wisdom and Learning of the World, created by Attilio Piccirilli. The sides of the wings feature simpler cornices with dentils, pilasters and recessed window openings with arched openings at the ground floor, windows with decorative pedimented headers on the second floor, arched windows on the third floor, two small two-over-two windows on the fourth floor, and a recessed fifth floor features small paired windows, hidden behind a balustrade that runs around the entirety of the building minus the ends of the wings, concealing a low-slope roof at the setbacks on the sides of the wings and above the corner porticoes. The upper roofs of the wings are low-slope with front gabled portions in the middle punctured by skylights, with the roof being almost entirely enclosed by a parapet. At the center of the building in the inside corners of the greek cross are semi-circular portions of the facade with semi-circular two-story ionic porticos with large terraces and grand staircases featuring decorative copper lampposts, decorative stone balustrades, concealed entrances to the ground floor underneath the terraces, and three doorways on the upper level, with drums surrounded by buttresses featuring small windows and domed roofs above the balustrade on the fifth floor. In the center of the building is the rotunda, which is topped with a large dome that rises from a tall base that terminates in a balustrade, with a low-slope roof at the base of the drum of the dome, which features a level with small windows at the base, with projected pavilions at the corners above the semi-circular porticoes below, which were originally to support four smaller domes, but ended up supporting sculptures by Karl Bitter, symbolizing strength, faith, prosperity, and abundance and knowledge. The drum of the dome is surrounded by a corinthian colonnade with corinthian pilasters on the exterior wall of the dome behind the colonnade, arched windows, and recessed decorative panels at the top of the colonnade below the architrave. Above the architrave is a cornice with modillions and dentils, above which is another balustrade, accessed via doors from the interior space above the inner dome of the rotunda, and ringed by six-over-six windows, pilasters, and a cornice with egg and dart motif at the top. Above this last cornice is the dome, which is ribbed, with the ribs terminating in voluted upside down brackets at the base, and clad in granite, terminating at the top at a balustrade around the base of the lantern. The cylindrical landern features corinthian columns, arched windows, festoons, with a concavely sloped roof featuring rubs terminating in volutes, above which is the base of the Wisconsin statue, which is coated in gold leaf.
The interior of the building is richly decorated with Beaux Arts detailing, utilizing plaster, a diverse array of stone and woodwork, engaged columns and pilasters, murals, vaulted ceilings, decorative balustrades, grand staircases, and modern oak furniture. The interior dome features a mural by Edwin Howland Blashfield, known as Resources of Wisconsin, which sits in the middle of the dome’s coffered ceiling, above the upper balcony at the base of the drum. The rotunda features green and white marble corinthian columns with gold leaf on the capitals, vaulted alcoves on the sides with coffered ceilings, a stone floor, and features marble from Tennessee, Missouri, Vermont, Georgia, New York, and Maryland, granite from Wisconsin and Minnesota, limestone from Minnesota and Illinois, marble from France, Italy, Greece, Algeria and Germany, and syenite from Norway. A large circular opening in the floor of the center of the rotunda allows light into the lower level of the building, and is supported by a ring of square columns underneath. The light fixtures in the space are a combination of lampposts and sconces. The pendentives below the drum of the dome in the rotunda are decorated with glass mosaics by artist Kenyon Cox. The interior’s decoration denotes hierarchy of space, with the level of detail varying throughout the building’s interior from simple offices and service areas to the grand public spaces, such as the rotunda and government meeting chambers. The two-story senate chamber is circular with marble cladding, corinthian columns, and pilasters on the walls, a decorative ceiling with a central shallow domed decorative glass skylight, and coffers with rosettes, with murals above the main podium, and balconies inside the alcoves behind the columns for spectators and observers. The two-story assembly chamber features a similar shallow domed decorative glass skylight on the ceiling, but is square in shape with decorative pendentives and arches on the perimeter of the space opening into alcoves with vaulted ceilings, with wood paneling and a large mural behind the main podium, and balconies in the upper level of the alcoves. The supreme court chamber is square with a square decorative glass skylight in the room’s coffered ceiling, white marble pilasters, paneling, and murals on the walls, and arched niches housing candelabra-type lamppost light fixtures. The north wing hearing chamber features a massive cove ceiling with decorative trim and murals, with a large square decorative glass skylight in the middle, and walls lined with ionic pilasters and stone panels. The Governor’s Conference Room, located in the east wing, features a heavily decorated ceiling with multiple coffers housing murals, decorative stained woodwork, a fireplace with a decorative marble surround flanked by two corinthian columns, and gold leaf on some of the trim. The interior of the building is even more richly detailed than the exterior.
The building, which has been fully modernized and restored to some semblance of its original appearance, remains the seat of the government of Wisconsin, presently the 25th largest by land area and 20th largest by population in the United States. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, owing to its historical and architectural significance, and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 2001. The building visually dominates the isthmus that makes up Downtown Madison, and sits in the city’s central square, one of the most visually impressive and stunning sitings of any capitol building in the United States.
The only windmill we saw during the entire trip through eastern Wisconsin, clear up to the Michigan U. P. This one was in southern Wisconsin, near Janesville. Happy Windmill Wednesday, everyone!
Built in 1906-1917, this Beaux Arts-style Capitol Building was designed by George B. Post to house the state house of representatives, state senate, and offices for the Wisconsin State Government. The fourth state capitol to house the state government since the state’s establishment in 1848, the building is the third building to sit on the present site, and replaced the previous state capitol, built in 1857-1869 and expanded in 1882, which burned down in February of 1904. The capitol houses both the Wisconsin State Assembly and the Wisconsin State Senate, as well as the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor of Wisconsin. The first capitol of Wisconsin upon the formation of Wisconsin Territory in 1836 was in the village of Belmont, Wisconsin, with the legislature meeting in a hastily constructed wood-frame building, before deciding to designate the future site of Madison as the state capitol, and holding further sessions of the legislature in the much better-developed Mississippi River port town of Burlington (now in Iowa) until a capitol building could be completed in Madison. Upon Burlington becoming part of the new Iowa Territory, the state legislature moved to a log and stone building on the present site of the state capitol, a relatively humble Greek Revival-style building constructed in 1837, which looked much like older capitol buildings in the eastern United States, with doric columns and a rusticated fieldstone exterior. It was most similar to the Old State House in North Carolina, built only four years prior, and the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, built in the same year, though these two similar buildings were built almost entirely of stone blocks rather than fieldstone. The small second capitol building was the first state capitol of Wisconsin upon its ascension to statehood in 1848, but had become inadequate for the growing population and government by the 1850s. The original building was demolished and replaced with a larger, Classical Revival-style structure with Romanesque Revival elements constructed in stages between 1857 and 1869, which featured a dome inspired by the United Capitol Building, semi-circular porticoes with corinthian columns, and two short side wings with octagonal towers at the corners, which were modified and extended in 1882 with new wings that increased the Classical Revival aspects of the building and helped to downplay the Romanesque Revival elements that originally were very prominent on the structure. This building was oriented with the semi-circular original porticoes aligned with State Street and King Street, with the wings being oriented towards both sections of Hamilton Street, though the building appeared rather small within the large parklike expanse of Capitol Square. By the turn of the 20th Century, the old Capitol had become inadequate for the growing needs of Wisconsin, which had become wealthy, industrialized, and heavily populated by that point, so study of a replacement capitol building began in 1903. In February 1904, the old State Capitol burned to the ground when a gas jet ignited a newly varnished ceiling inside the building, which spread quickly despite the building featuring a then-advanced sprinkler system, as the reservoir of the nearby University of Wisconsin was empty, which allowed the fire to spread out of control. The north wing of the building, built in 1882, was the only portion that survived, with many relics, records, and important historical items being lost in the fire, though the state law library was saved thanks to efforts by University of Wisconsin students. The fire also happened just after the state legislature had voted to cancel the fire insurance policy on the building, thinking it was a costly and unnecessary folly.
The present building was built on the site of the previous building, with the construction process focusing on completing each wing one at a time to provide space to the state government with as much fiscal efficiency as possible due to financial limitations. Due to this, the north wing was built last to allow the remaining portion of the previous capitol to serve as space for the state government during the construction period, with the central rotunda and dome also being built after the other three wings had been completed, as they serve a more symbolic and less utilitarian purpose than the rest of the building. The building stands 284 feet (86 meters) tall to the top of the statue on the dome, which was sculpted in 1920 by Daniel Chester French, and is a personification of the state of Wisconsin, with the outstretched arm of the statue representing the state motto, “Forward”. The exterior of the building is clad in Bethel white granite, sourced from Vermont, with an additional 42 types of stone from a total of eight states and six countries being utilized on the interior of the building. The dome is the largest in the world to be entirely clad in granite, and is the tallest building in Madison, with a state law passed in 1990 stipulating that any building within a one-mile radius of the capitol is limited in height to the base of the columns of the dome, which stand at 187 feet, which preserves the visibility of the building from the surrounding landscape. The building has a greek cross footprint with four five-story wings that are aligned with the compass directions and radial streets following the compass directions that slice through the surrounding street grid, which is at a 45-degree angle to compass directions, instead roughly paralleling the shorelines of nearby Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, with Downtown Madison sitting on an isthmus between the two lakes. This places the building at a unique 45-degree angle orientation relative to the edges of Capitol Square and most buildings on adjacent streets. The building was one of the last works of the prolific architect George B. Post, whom died before the building was completed. The building underwent a major renovation in the 1970s that added modern features to the interior and covered up many original features, with later projects between 1988 and 2002 restoring the building while updating the building’s systems and functions for the modern needs of the state government.
The exterior of the building’s wings feature porticoes on the ends with corinthian columns, arched windows on the third floor, rusticated bases with entrance doors and decorative keystones, decorative reliefs featuring festoons over the windows on the porticoes, cornices with modillions and dentils, and pediments with sculptural reliefs, which were created by several sculptors, and have different symbolism embodied by their design. On the east wing, which is home to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the sculpture known as Law, created by Karl Bitter, is located on the portico pediment, on the west wing, which houses the chamber of the Wisconsin Assembly, is a sculpture known as Agriculture, also created by Karl Bitter, on the north wing, which is home to a hearing chamber, is the sculpture known as Virtues and Traits of Character, created by Adolph Alexander Weinman, and on the south wing, which houses the chamber of the Wisconsin Senate, is a sculpture known as Wisdom and Learning of the World, created by Attilio Piccirilli. The sides of the wings feature simpler cornices with dentils, pilasters and recessed window openings with arched openings at the ground floor, windows with decorative pedimented headers on the second floor, arched windows on the third floor, two small two-over-two windows on the fourth floor, and a recessed fifth floor features small paired windows, hidden behind a balustrade that runs around the entirety of the building minus the ends of the wings, concealing a low-slope roof at the setbacks on the sides of the wings and above the corner porticoes. The upper roofs of the wings are low-slope with front gabled portions in the middle punctured by skylights, with the roof being almost entirely enclosed by a parapet. At the center of the building in the inside corners of the greek cross are semi-circular portions of the facade with semi-circular two-story ionic porticos with large terraces and grand staircases featuring decorative copper lampposts, decorative stone balustrades, concealed entrances to the ground floor underneath the terraces, and three doorways on the upper level, with drums surrounded by buttresses featuring small windows and domed roofs above the balustrade on the fifth floor. In the center of the building is the rotunda, which is topped with a large dome that rises from a tall base that terminates in a balustrade, with a low-slope roof at the base of the drum of the dome, which features a level with small windows at the base, with projected pavilions at the corners above the semi-circular porticoes below, which were originally to support four smaller domes, but ended up supporting sculptures by Karl Bitter, symbolizing strength, faith, prosperity, and abundance and knowledge. The drum of the dome is surrounded by a corinthian colonnade with corinthian pilasters on the exterior wall of the dome behind the colonnade, arched windows, and recessed decorative panels at the top of the colonnade below the architrave. Above the architrave is a cornice with modillions and dentils, above which is another balustrade, accessed via doors from the interior space above the inner dome of the rotunda, and ringed by six-over-six windows, pilasters, and a cornice with egg and dart motif at the top. Above this last cornice is the dome, which is ribbed, with the ribs terminating in voluted upside down brackets at the base, and clad in granite, terminating at the top at a balustrade around the base of the lantern. The cylindrical landern features corinthian columns, arched windows, festoons, with a concavely sloped roof featuring rubs terminating in volutes, above which is the base of the Wisconsin statue, which is coated in gold leaf.
The interior of the building is richly decorated with Beaux Arts detailing, utilizing plaster, a diverse array of stone and woodwork, engaged columns and pilasters, murals, vaulted ceilings, decorative balustrades, grand staircases, and modern oak furniture. The interior dome features a mural by Edwin Howland Blashfield, known as Resources of Wisconsin, which sits in the middle of the dome’s coffered ceiling, above the upper balcony at the base of the drum. The rotunda features green and white marble corinthian columns with gold leaf on the capitals, vaulted alcoves on the sides with coffered ceilings, a stone floor, and features marble from Tennessee, Missouri, Vermont, Georgia, New York, and Maryland, granite from Wisconsin and Minnesota, limestone from Minnesota and Illinois, marble from France, Italy, Greece, Algeria and Germany, and syenite from Norway. A large circular opening in the floor of the center of the rotunda allows light into the lower level of the building, and is supported by a ring of square columns underneath. The light fixtures in the space are a combination of lampposts and sconces. The pendentives below the drum of the dome in the rotunda are decorated with glass mosaics by artist Kenyon Cox. The interior’s decoration denotes hierarchy of space, with the level of detail varying throughout the building’s interior from simple offices and service areas to the grand public spaces, such as the rotunda and government meeting chambers. The two-story senate chamber is circular with marble cladding, corinthian columns, and pilasters on the walls, a decorative ceiling with a central shallow domed decorative glass skylight, and coffers with rosettes, with murals above the main podium, and balconies inside the alcoves behind the columns for spectators and observers. The two-story assembly chamber features a similar shallow domed decorative glass skylight on the ceiling, but is square in shape with decorative pendentives and arches on the perimeter of the space opening into alcoves with vaulted ceilings, with wood paneling and a large mural behind the main podium, and balconies in the upper level of the alcoves. The supreme court chamber is square with a square decorative glass skylight in the room’s coffered ceiling, white marble pilasters, paneling, and murals on the walls, and arched niches housing candelabra-type lamppost light fixtures. The north wing hearing chamber features a massive cove ceiling with decorative trim and murals, with a large square decorative glass skylight in the middle, and walls lined with ionic pilasters and stone panels. The Governor’s Conference Room, located in the east wing, features a heavily decorated ceiling with multiple coffers housing murals, decorative stained woodwork, a fireplace with a decorative marble surround flanked by two corinthian columns, and gold leaf on some of the trim. The interior of the building is even more richly detailed than the exterior.
The building, which has been fully modernized and restored to some semblance of its original appearance, remains the seat of the government of Wisconsin, presently the 25th largest by land area and 20th largest by population in the United States. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, owing to its historical and architectural significance, and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 2001. The building visually dominates the isthmus that makes up Downtown Madison, and sits in the city’s central square, one of the most visually impressive and stunning sitings of any capitol building in the United States.
With victory at Port Gibson, Maj Gen Ulysses Grant's Northern army turned East, moving parallel to the Big Black River along the old Natchez Trace routes. Confederate Lt Gen John Pemberton was confused. The expected attack on Vicksburg from the South did not come, and with his cavalry still busy with Grierson's Raid he was effectively blinded to Grant's movements. Grant however had figured out an important fact: Vicksburg was still reliant on the railroad for supplies and reinforcements, and unless those were cut off the Confederate interior lines would quickly move enough of both to overwhelm his small army. Consequently, Grant's now 30000 troops moved towards the Mississippi State Capitol and transportation center of Jackson.
Pemberton (and his superior Gen Joseph Johnston) were indeed planning on using Jackson as a marshaling ground. They hoped to box Grant in between the Big Black River and the town of Raymond, forcing the Federal forces to attack one side or the other, exposing their rear to a Confederate counterattack. The left of the Confederate position would be the small town of Raymond. The first forces to arrive were the 4400 troops of the expanded brigade of Brig Gen John Gregg from Port Hudson, the rest having been delayed by Grierson's Raid. After an exhausting march, they received word of a Federal unit in Raymond. With word that Grant's main force remained further to the West, Gregg decided the isolated force was perfect to ambush and destroy. Gregg sent the 7th Texas under Col Hiram Granbury to decoy the Federal troops across Fourteen Mile Creek, where the rest of his forces lay in wait, after which two regiments would slip to the rear and trap Grant's troops on both sides of the creek.
Around mid-morning of May 12, 1863, the 23rd Indiana of Col John Smith's brigade blundered into the Confederate trap. Granbury's troops shattered the 23nd, and threw the 20th Ohio, into confusion, it's commander, Col Manning Force, panicked, ordering the 20th to charge into the creek bed. Despite being far in front of the rest of the brigade rapidly assembling and suffering heavy casualties, the 20th managed to hold its position as Gregg's Confederates attacked all around them. Meanwhile the flanking Confederate forces crossed the creek, aiming to trap the beleaguered Federals in Fourteen Mile Creek-and immediately came upon the entirety of Maj Gen John Logan's Federal division, arrayed in battle formation. For several days, Maj Gen John McPherson's XVII Corps had moved silently Eastward, and seeing the position along Fourteen Mile Creek had laid a trap of his own. When without cavalry Gregg attacked, he faced not a lone brigade but 12000 troops. The flanking force quickly withdrew as Logan threw his forces against Granbury's troops. It sharp fighting, the Confederate attackers were shattered in turn. Hearing of the commotion, Col Randal McGavock led a desperate counterattack into the midst of the Federal attack, throwing back his red cape to inspire his men. The attack succeeded in driving back the Federals, though McGavock fell riddled with bullets. With his reserve, Gregg managed to rally enough troops for a stand at "McGavock's Hill", holding off McPherson long enough to organize his force for a withdraw. By afternoon the Battle of Raymond was over. McPherson had successfully predicted a trap and set off a trap of his own, suffering 446 casualties, while Gregg, blinded without cavalry, had blundered badly and suffered for it, losing 820 troops. Gregg retreated to Jackson.
Grant moved both McPherson's Corps on Maj Gen William Sherman's newly arrived XV Corps to pursue Gregg and take Jackson. On May 9, Confederate Gen Joseph Johnston was ordered to "proceed at once to Mississippi and take chief command of the forces in the field." He arrived at Jackson on May 13, just as Grant's forces were approaching the city. "I am too late" Johnston wired the Confederate government, quickly finding out from Gregg that only 6000 troops were available to defend the city. He ordered an evacuation.
Early on May 14, McPherson troops encountered Gregg's defenses on the O. P. Wright farm. A sudden rainstorm put a halt to fighting until midmorning, after which the Federal troops attacked by bayonets and drove the Confederate troops back into the earthworks of Jackson. To the South, Sherman's troops were held up by a creek, before being able to flank the mostly empty fortifications in the area by 2:00PM. Around this time, Gregg found that his army wagon trains had successfully withdrawn from the field. With overwhelming forces approaching, Gregg broke off contact and retreated. The small Battle of Jackson was over, costing 300 Federal and 850 Confederate casualties.
Grant's troops quickly unfurled a United States flag atop the Mississippi state capitol. Deciding against occupying the city and using up his limited manpower, Grant ordered all military assets destroyed. While Sherman remained behind to destroy machine shops and factories, cut telegraph lines, and destroy railroad tracks, Grant immediately moved out with the rest of his army towards Vicksburg.
The Battles of Raymond and Jackson are seen as more lost opportunities for the Confederate forces. Reinforcements were indeed streaming towards Vicksburg, and it is generally agreed that had Johnston managed to hold out longer at Jackson he would have soon received some 15000 reinforcements, enough to prevent Grant from quickly removing the threat to his rear. As it was, the loss of the capitol of Mississippi was a blow to morale, the loss of industry a blow to Confederate industry, and Johnston's forces were now scattered all over the state, unable to respond to Grant's move back towards Vicksburg.
Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg, Mississippi
Built in 1906-1917, this Beaux Arts-style Capitol Building was designed by George B. Post to house the state house of representatives, state senate, and offices for the Wisconsin State Government. The fourth state capitol to house the state government since the state’s establishment in 1848, the building is the third building to sit on the present site, and replaced the previous state capitol, built in 1857-1869 and expanded in 1882, which burned down in February of 1904. The capitol houses both the Wisconsin State Assembly and the Wisconsin State Senate, as well as the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor of Wisconsin. The first capitol of Wisconsin upon the formation of Wisconsin Territory in 1836 was in the village of Belmont, Wisconsin, with the legislature meeting in a hastily constructed wood-frame building, before deciding to designate the future site of Madison as the state capitol, and holding further sessions of the legislature in the much better-developed Mississippi River port town of Burlington (now in Iowa) until a capitol building could be completed in Madison. Upon Burlington becoming part of the new Iowa Territory, the state legislature moved to a log and stone building on the present site of the state capitol, a relatively humble Greek Revival-style building constructed in 1837, which looked much like older capitol buildings in the eastern United States, with doric columns and a rusticated fieldstone exterior. It was most similar to the Old State House in North Carolina, built only four years prior, and the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, built in the same year, though these two similar buildings were built almost entirely of stone blocks rather than fieldstone. The small second capitol building was the first state capitol of Wisconsin upon its ascension to statehood in 1848, but had become inadequate for the growing population and government by the 1850s. The original building was demolished and replaced with a larger, Classical Revival-style structure with Romanesque Revival elements constructed in stages between 1857 and 1869, which featured a dome inspired by the United Capitol Building, semi-circular porticoes with corinthian columns, and two short side wings with octagonal towers at the corners, which were modified and extended in 1882 with new wings that increased the Classical Revival aspects of the building and helped to downplay the Romanesque Revival elements that originally were very prominent on the structure. This building was oriented with the semi-circular original porticoes aligned with State Street and King Street, with the wings being oriented towards both sections of Hamilton Street, though the building appeared rather small within the large parklike expanse of Capitol Square. By the turn of the 20th Century, the old Capitol had become inadequate for the growing needs of Wisconsin, which had become wealthy, industrialized, and heavily populated by that point, so study of a replacement capitol building began in 1903. In February 1904, the old State Capitol burned to the ground when a gas jet ignited a newly varnished ceiling inside the building, which spread quickly despite the building featuring a then-advanced sprinkler system, as the reservoir of the nearby University of Wisconsin was empty, which allowed the fire to spread out of control. The north wing of the building, built in 1882, was the only portion that survived, with many relics, records, and important historical items being lost in the fire, though the state law library was saved thanks to efforts by University of Wisconsin students. The fire also happened just after the state legislature had voted to cancel the fire insurance policy on the building, thinking it was a costly and unnecessary folly.
The present building was built on the site of the previous building, with the construction process focusing on completing each wing one at a time to provide space to the state government with as much fiscal efficiency as possible due to financial limitations. Due to this, the north wing was built last to allow the remaining portion of the previous capitol to serve as space for the state government during the construction period, with the central rotunda and dome also being built after the other three wings had been completed, as they serve a more symbolic and less utilitarian purpose than the rest of the building. The building stands 284 feet (86 meters) tall to the top of the statue on the dome, which was sculpted in 1920 by Daniel Chester French, and is a personification of the state of Wisconsin, with the outstretched arm of the statue representing the state motto, “Forward”. The exterior of the building is clad in Bethel white granite, sourced from Vermont, with an additional 42 types of stone from a total of eight states and six countries being utilized on the interior of the building. The dome is the largest in the world to be entirely clad in granite, and is the tallest building in Madison, with a state law passed in 1990 stipulating that any building within a one-mile radius of the capitol is limited in height to the base of the columns of the dome, which stand at 187 feet, which preserves the visibility of the building from the surrounding landscape. The building has a greek cross footprint with four five-story wings that are aligned with the compass directions and radial streets following the compass directions that slice through the surrounding street grid, which is at a 45-degree angle to compass directions, instead roughly paralleling the shorelines of nearby Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, with Downtown Madison sitting on an isthmus between the two lakes. This places the building at a unique 45-degree angle orientation relative to the edges of Capitol Square and most buildings on adjacent streets. The building was one of the last works of the prolific architect George B. Post, whom died before the building was completed. The building underwent a major renovation in the 1970s that added modern features to the interior and covered up many original features, with later projects between 1988 and 2002 restoring the building while updating the building’s systems and functions for the modern needs of the state government.
The exterior of the building’s wings feature porticoes on the ends with corinthian columns, arched windows on the third floor, rusticated bases with entrance doors and decorative keystones, decorative reliefs featuring festoons over the windows on the porticoes, cornices with modillions and dentils, and pediments with sculptural reliefs, which were created by several sculptors, and have different symbolism embodied by their design. On the east wing, which is home to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the sculpture known as Law, created by Karl Bitter, is located on the portico pediment, on the west wing, which houses the chamber of the Wisconsin Assembly, is a sculpture known as Agriculture, also created by Karl Bitter, on the north wing, which is home to a hearing chamber, is the sculpture known as Virtues and Traits of Character, created by Adolph Alexander Weinman, and on the south wing, which houses the chamber of the Wisconsin Senate, is a sculpture known as Wisdom and Learning of the World, created by Attilio Piccirilli. The sides of the wings feature simpler cornices with dentils, pilasters and recessed window openings with arched openings at the ground floor, windows with decorative pedimented headers on the second floor, arched windows on the third floor, two small two-over-two windows on the fourth floor, and a recessed fifth floor features small paired windows, hidden behind a balustrade that runs around the entirety of the building minus the ends of the wings, concealing a low-slope roof at the setbacks on the sides of the wings and above the corner porticoes. The upper roofs of the wings are low-slope with front gabled portions in the middle punctured by skylights, with the roof being almost entirely enclosed by a parapet. At the center of the building in the inside corners of the greek cross are semi-circular portions of the facade with semi-circular two-story ionic porticos with large terraces and grand staircases featuring decorative copper lampposts, decorative stone balustrades, concealed entrances to the ground floor underneath the terraces, and three doorways on the upper level, with drums surrounded by buttresses featuring small windows and domed roofs above the balustrade on the fifth floor. In the center of the building is the rotunda, which is topped with a large dome that rises from a tall base that terminates in a balustrade, with a low-slope roof at the base of the drum of the dome, which features a level with small windows at the base, with projected pavilions at the corners above the semi-circular porticoes below, which were originally to support four smaller domes, but ended up supporting sculptures by Karl Bitter, symbolizing strength, faith, prosperity, and abundance and knowledge. The drum of the dome is surrounded by a corinthian colonnade with corinthian pilasters on the exterior wall of the dome behind the colonnade, arched windows, and recessed decorative panels at the top of the colonnade below the architrave. Above the architrave is a cornice with modillions and dentils, above which is another balustrade, accessed via doors from the interior space above the inner dome of the rotunda, and ringed by six-over-six windows, pilasters, and a cornice with egg and dart motif at the top. Above this last cornice is the dome, which is ribbed, with the ribs terminating in voluted upside down brackets at the base, and clad in granite, terminating at the top at a balustrade around the base of the lantern. The cylindrical landern features corinthian columns, arched windows, festoons, with a concavely sloped roof featuring rubs terminating in volutes, above which is the base of the Wisconsin statue, which is coated in gold leaf.
The interior of the building is richly decorated with Beaux Arts detailing, utilizing plaster, a diverse array of stone and woodwork, engaged columns and pilasters, murals, vaulted ceilings, decorative balustrades, grand staircases, and modern oak furniture. The interior dome features a mural by Edwin Howland Blashfield, known as Resources of Wisconsin, which sits in the middle of the dome’s coffered ceiling, above the upper balcony at the base of the drum. The rotunda features green and white marble corinthian columns with gold leaf on the capitals, vaulted alcoves on the sides with coffered ceilings, a stone floor, and features marble from Tennessee, Missouri, Vermont, Georgia, New York, and Maryland, granite from Wisconsin and Minnesota, limestone from Minnesota and Illinois, marble from France, Italy, Greece, Algeria and Germany, and syenite from Norway. A large circular opening in the floor of the center of the rotunda allows light into the lower level of the building, and is supported by a ring of square columns underneath. The light fixtures in the space are a combination of lampposts and sconces. The pendentives below the drum of the dome in the rotunda are decorated with glass mosaics by artist Kenyon Cox. The interior’s decoration denotes hierarchy of space, with the level of detail varying throughout the building’s interior from simple offices and service areas to the grand public spaces, such as the rotunda and government meeting chambers. The two-story senate chamber is circular with marble cladding, corinthian columns, and pilasters on the walls, a decorative ceiling with a central shallow domed decorative glass skylight, and coffers with rosettes, with murals above the main podium, and balconies inside the alcoves behind the columns for spectators and observers. The two-story assembly chamber features a similar shallow domed decorative glass skylight on the ceiling, but is square in shape with decorative pendentives and arches on the perimeter of the space opening into alcoves with vaulted ceilings, with wood paneling and a large mural behind the main podium, and balconies in the upper level of the alcoves. The supreme court chamber is square with a square decorative glass skylight in the room’s coffered ceiling, white marble pilasters, paneling, and murals on the walls, and arched niches housing candelabra-type lamppost light fixtures. The north wing hearing chamber features a massive cove ceiling with decorative trim and murals, with a large square decorative glass skylight in the middle, and walls lined with ionic pilasters and stone panels. The Governor’s Conference Room, located in the east wing, features a heavily decorated ceiling with multiple coffers housing murals, decorative stained woodwork, a fireplace with a decorative marble surround flanked by two corinthian columns, and gold leaf on some of the trim. The interior of the building is even more richly detailed than the exterior.
The building, which has been fully modernized and restored to some semblance of its original appearance, remains the seat of the government of Wisconsin, presently the 25th largest by land area and 20th largest by population in the United States. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, owing to its historical and architectural significance, and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 2001. The building visually dominates the isthmus that makes up Downtown Madison, and sits in the city’s central square, one of the most visually impressive and stunning sitings of any capitol building in the United States.
F-35 Lightning II aircraft assigned to the 115th Fighter Wing, Truax Field, Madison, Wisconsin take their first flight to Truax Field April 25, 2023. These are the first F-35s to be assigned to the fighter wing since beginning the aircraft conversion from the F-16 Fighting Falcon in 2020. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Cameron Lewis)
Photos from the Wisconsin Arboretum, a 1200 acre nature preserve managed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Shot at the 41st Annual Mad City Model Railroad Show, Feb 16-17, 2008.
A couple of recent Wisconsin railroads were featured on this HO scale layout
Wisconsin does so many things well… not the least of which: bucolic scenes aplenty, for each and every season. (Driftless Region — southwestern Wisconsin)
Members of the 1-120th Field Artillery Regiment, Wisconsin National Guard, load an M777 howitzer during Northern Strike 23-1, Jan. 26, 2023, at Camp Grayling, Mich. Units that participate in Northern Strike’s winter iteration build readiness by conducting joint, cold-weather training designed to meet objectives of the Department of Defense’s Arctic Strategy. (U.S. National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Tristan D. Viglianco)
Senior Wisconsin National Guard leadership, families and friends welcome more than 30 Wisconsin National Guard Soldiers from a detachment of Company C, 1st Battalion, 168th Aviation back to Wisconsin Nov. 8 following a deployment to Afghanistan. The detachment performed medevac and personnel transport missions. (Wisconsin National Guard photo by Sgt. Katie Eggers)