George C. Drake of Milwaukee, Company A, First Wisconsin Infantry, was killed near Martinsburg, Va.—the first Wisconsin soldier killed in the rebellion.

The evidence

• “T. Sherman, and participated in the memorable battle (July 21, 1861 of Bull Run, at which Marion F. Humes, of Company F, a boy of the town of Janesville and a student of Milton Academy, was killed by a cannonball—the first Wisconsin soldier so killed in the war. (The first Wisconsin soldier killed in the rebellion was George C. Drake, of Milwaukee, Company A, First Wisconsin Infantry, July 2, 1861, near Martinsburg, Va.) On the 27th of August following the regiment was transferred to the command of General Rufus King, and composed a portion of the "Iron Brigade." Company D participated in the campaigns against Richmond, in the battles of Gainesville, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Laurel Mountain and at other points, until May 11, 1864. At that date the regiment was detached from the brigade it had accompanied since its organization and to whose reputation it so materially contributed (the Second having been reduced to less than 100 men fit for active service), and was employed as provost guard of the Fourth Division, Fifth Army Corps, accompanying that division in the movement to the left, crossing the North Anna river on May 23 and arriving on June 6 on the”

  1908-brown-rock-county/16-military-history.md, Vol. 1, PDF p. 359 / book p. 330

  Brown, William Fiske, editor. Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History of Its Cities, Villages, Towns, Citizens and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up to Date. Chicago: C. F. Cooper & Co., 1908. 2 vols. archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon01brow, archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon02brow.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources