The land through time

Beloit

• April 4, 1861 The vestry of the Episcopal society in Beloit met and purchased a lot on Court Street, contracting for construction of a church building.
• October 31, 1861 Christ Church in Beloit was consecrated by the Rt. Rev. Bishop.
• 1861 The Bank of Beloit discharged its liabilities, divided its surplus among stockholders, and sold its franchise to William C. Ritchie.
• 1861 Value's Battery was organized in Beloit.

Rock County

• May 6, 1861 Company D, Second Regiment (the first company of volunteers enlisted for the war in Rock County) left Janesville for Camp Randall at Madison.
• 1861 The first Morgan House was built in Milton Junction.
• April 2, 1861 Amos P. Prichard became County Judge.
• September 17, 1861 A fair was held (at Rock County).

The region

• 1861 A cemetery was located on two acres of ground donated by Ephraim Sayre.
• April 11, 1861 The Wisconsin legislature approved an act declaring Rock County to be the Seventeenth Senatorial District and establishing six Assembly Districts.
• April 17, 1861 The proclamation of Governor Randall was published, calling upon all good citizens to join against the common enemy.
• 1861 The company was authorized to build from Madison to Portage City and from Columbus to Portage City.

Nation and world

• July 2, 1861 Rock County soldiers participated in the fight at Falling Waters (Virginia).
• 1861 A post office was established at the place later named for J. Cain, with Mr. Howell appointed to take charge.
• March 4, 1861 Timothy O. Howe's term as U.S. Senator began (he was elected for a six-year term from this date).
• November 7, 1861 The Journal and Courier was transferred to Barrett H. and Lathrop B. Smith.

Beloit

• May 1862 Rev. Parmely came to Wisconsin, locating at Beloit.
• 1862 Enlistments and service during 1862 without documented days: Mr. Morse enlisted in the 21st Wis.; Oscar enlisted in the 1st Conn. Heavy; Mr. Tilton resigned his chaplaincy in August; a man enlisted in the 17th Mass.; the 33d Wis. promotion in the fall; John W. West taught school in 1862; George Hayes served in the Thirteenth; a transfer to the 22d Wis.; the Twelfth battery recruited; Dr. Palmer made surgeon of the Iron Brigade; a captain joined the Thirteenth at Fort Henry in October; a man enlisted for sixty days; Rev. Charles Lemuel Thompson began his pastorate in April; the Beloit "Journal and Courier" file ends March 27; the "Register" published from 1862; a man graduated from Hamilton College; another ordained a Congregational minister; Edward Searing later state superintendent associated with the county superintendency; a man married and entered Beloit College graduation.
• January 14, 1862 The Shopiere Cemetery was laid out.
• 1862 In Beloit the first regular lecture-course was maintained under the auspices of the Archean Union.

Rock County

• July 26, 1862 A citizens' meeting was held in the public square at Janesville to devise means of raising Rock County's quota of 250 men.
• January 1, 1862 The county superintendency (replacing the office of town superintendent) went into operation in Rock County.
• 1862 Elections and appointments for 1862: county officers elected April 1 in Janesville; district officers, assembly representation fixed at 133 since 1862; Thomas Earle and others serving districts; a mayor elected in Janesville; a Register of Deeds elected in the fall; a State Senator elected; an assessor elected and re-elected; a district attorney elected; a collector of internal revenue appointed by Lincoln; a Trustee of the State Hospital appointed.
• 1862 Business ventures begun or changed in 1862: a tinsmith went into business for himself; a contractor went into business on his own account; a physician bought 180 acres; a grocery store opened in Lima; the livery business started in Edgerton; a man entered the drug business in Evansville; the First National Bank of Janesville obtained a charter (July); the feed mill of Henry A. Doty started; tobacco lath sawing began; a round house and railroad bridge built at Janesville.

The region

• 1862 The Morgans: Thomas purchased a half-interest in the eating-house/hotel, the brothers purchased thirty-four acres from Silas H. Crandall which was platted into village lots, and William gave the place its name of Shopiere.
• September 2, 1862 The Twenty-second regiment (Companies raised largely in Rock County) was mustered into service at Camp Utley, Racine.
• September 29, 1862 Companies E and F of the Thirty-third went into camp at Racine; Company E of the Third Regiment left Janesville for Racine.
• 1862 The Kenosha–Genoa railroad line was constructed; another road was extended to Fort Howard (Green Bay).

Nation and world

• September 24, 1862 Militia statistics of Rock County (draft-eligible men, exemptions, enlistments) were compiled to this date; W. Hale died at Washington.
• 1862 The Thirteenth Wisconsin garrisoned Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in 1862; a Rock County man's regiment went to Fort Leavenworth, Fort Scott, Lawrence and Fort Riley in 1862.
• 1862 Congress approved acts granting lands to Wisconsin for railroad construction (April 25) and donating lands for agricultural colleges (July 2); the legislature approved a matching act June 16.
• March 29, 1862 An act reinstating the geological survey was approved.

Beloit

• 1864 Judgments were obtained against the Sugar River Valley railroad company, and its right of way, grading and depot grounds were sold.
• June 20, 1864 Beloit College boys of Company B were in camp at Camp Ray.
• 1864 The Beloit College Commencement of 1864 was omitted because the entire senior class and the professor of rhetoric were in camp.
• January 6, 1864 Beloit Commandery No. 6, Knights Templar, was chartered; the two histories disagree on the date.

Rock County

• 1864 Families settled in Rock County and the region, including the M. Benson brothers on 600 acres at Clinton, and Caleb Snashall, who came to Wisconsin and entered the hardware business in Evansville.
• 1864 Rock County men were elected to office, including Mr. Richardson to the legislature and a mayor of Beloit.
• 1864 The Janesville milling property fell into the hands of Barnes & Hodson.
• 1864 The Janesville telegraph wires later owned by the Western Union Company were erected by the Illinois & Mississippi Company.

The region

• 1864 The Beloit branch railroad was pushed through to Madison, reaching that city.
• July 2, 1864 The Second regiment was mustered out of service at Madison, and the remnant of Company D returned to Rock County.
• November 17, 1864 The acting commissioner of the general land office, by order of the war department, offered the Fort Crawford reservation at public auction at La Crosse.
• September 1, 1864 The railroad of the consolidated Galena and North-Western companies was completed to Madison.

Nation and world

• October 5, 1864 Rock County soldiers of the First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery were killed and wounded at Allatoona, Georgia, including Marcus Amsden, C. Fogle, W. Bartow, David C. Davy, Alva P. Hamilton, W. Chase, Joseph W. Chase, Samuel H. Doolittle and others.
• September 20, 1864 Alexander Kerr, Sterne Rogers, H. A. and others acted on the agitating questions of their day.
• November 19, 1864 Officers and men of the Second Wisconsin (including Captains Edward Ruger and Edwin E. Woodman and Lieutenants James L. Murray and George C. Brown) were mustered out.
• 1864 Congress made a land grant to Wisconsin to aid in building a railroad from Berlin, Doty's Island, Fond du Lac, or Portage, by way of Stevens Point, to Bayfield or Superior.