Tallman & Lincoln

William Tallman was an early supporter of the Republican Party and helped lay the groundwork for Rock County's support of the Union during the Civil War.

William Morrison Tallman was the quintessential pioneer in a frock coat. In 1848, two years before coming to Janesville from New York City, he acquired thousands of acres of fertile farmland in southern Wisconsin, which he resold to actual farmers at a handsome profit. He moved to Janesville and built the Italian villa style home that still stands today. It is a splendid example of the finest in residential architecture and design in 1850’s America.

An early convert to the Republican Party, Tallman worked to elect John Fremont president in 1856 and later took note of the party's nominee for the Illinois United States Senate seat in 1858, Abraham Lincoln. Although he lost the '58 race to Stephen Douglas, Lincoln attracted enough attention to make himself a prospect for the Republican presidential nomination in 1860. He set out on the campaign trail as a public speaker and was invited to address his fellow Republicans in Beloit in October, 1859. Tallman was in the audience and he persuaded Lincoln to leave Beloit and give another speech in Janesville the next day.

Lincoln then spent the night at the Tallman mansion, which has ever since enabled Janesvillers to proclaim, "Lincoln slept here." His speeches must have been good. Lincoln carried Rock County and Wisconsin by a good margin in the election of 1860 and the locals enthusiastically supported his call to arms in 1861.

Frederick Douglass, the Black abolitionist, also spoke in Janesville. In February, 1859, he so impressed his listeners that he "gave new proof that a white skin does not monopolize all the knowledge in existence." Douglass was, of course, a talented and famed orator, much better-known throughout the United States than Lincoln in 1859.

Douglass, Lincoln and Tallman laid the groundwork for Rocky County’s dedication to the preservation of the Union during the Civil War. In proportion to its population Rock County sent more men into the Union army than any other county in Wisconsin. Twenty five companies were composed largely of Rock County men who served in twenty-three Wisconsin regiments, most notably the three Wisconsin regiments that were part of the justly famous Iron Brigade.

William Palmer, “The Fighting Surgeon”

Dr. William Palmer was a brilliant war-time surgeon and hospital administrator.

Among the twenty-eight hundred Rock County men who volunteered for the Civil War was Janesville surgeon William Palmer. After distinguishing himself as chief surgeon of the Seventh Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and of the Iron Brigade, Palmer received a presidential appointment as superintendent of the military hospitals at York, Pennsylvania. With 16,000 wounded soldiers to care for, York was not only the largest military hospital complex in the United States, it was also one of the largest health care facilities in the world.

An excellent administrator as well as a clinician, Palmer reduced the mortality rate at York to two percent of all patients admitted. He complied this enviable record at a time when many a military hospital was no more than a temporary halting place for men waiting to die.

He became known as “The Fighting Surgeon” when he armed convalescent patients and civilians of York and led their resistance to Confederate raiding parties on at least two occasions. His greatest achievement was not a leader in combat but as extraordinarily competent administrator who made sure that the thousands of men entrusted to him received the best hospital care the nation could provide.

After the war he returned to Janesville, resumed his practice and established more than one hospital in the city. He also entered politics, was elected mayor and appointed Surgeon General of Wisconsin.

The Janesville 99

They started their military careers as the ninety-nine men of the Tank Company of the 32nd Division of the Wisconsin National Guard. Activated for duty prior to American entry into World War two, they became Company A of the 192nd Tank Battalion. In the fall of 1941, they were sent to the Phillippine Islands and were present when Japanese forces invaded on December 8, 1941. They took part in the valiant but unsuccessful American defense of the islands and surrendered to the Japanese in April 1942. Along with 75,000 other American and Filipine troops they were subjected to the atrocities of the seventy-five mile trek to prison camp known as the Bataan Death March.

One of the Janesville 99 died on the march, and thirteen more succumbed to the tortuous conditions of the prison camp. The survivors endured the thirst, starvation and disease at the camp as well as the brutality of their captors for over two years. In the fall of 1944, threatened with the return of the Americans led by General Douglas MacArthur, the Japanese herded the surviving prisoners into ships for transfer to other camps. Onboard the “hell-ships” food and water were inadequate and space was so tight the prisoners could neither sit nor lie down. The voyage north took weeks, with at least one of the unmarked prison transports carrying ten of the Janesville 99 torpedoed and sunk by the U.S. Navy.

Upon arrival in Japan, the prisoners went back into camp, where more of them died of malnutrition, disease and brutal treatment. Upon Japan’s surrender in August, 1945, the thirty-five survivors of the Janesville 99 were liberated and soon returned home. The cruelty of their treatment was rivaled only by the heroism they summoned forth to survive and resume life again.