Yours truly recently had the privilege of delivering remarks at the Historical Society of Michigan's Upper Peninsula History Conference on the subject above. It's great to see that the Marquette Mining Journal has been runing a series of five articles on the topic: #1 [MMJ1], #2 [MMJ2], #3 [MMJ3], #4 [MMJ4]. #5 was to have run yesterday.
My thesis was that the typical understanding of the UP role -- furnishing natural resources for the Union effort -- is too limited. The Journal's coverage is similar, attempting to show much more involvement even though the UP was farther away from the front than any other part of the US. After all, Minnesota had issues with Native Americans who were aligned with the Confederacy, and Wisconsin was proximate to Chicago's transportation hub. The UP folks really had to have extraordinary dedication to get involved, and a number paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Something to meditate on this 4th of July weekend, 2011, in the first year of the Sesquicentennial.
Comments