Camp Randall looking southwest. In April 1861, Governor Alexander Randall asked that the State Agricultural Society fairgrounds be converted into a military camp to train volunteer soldiers following the outbreak of the Civil War. Throughout the war, the majority of Wisconsin's troops, some 70,000, were mustered here. The camp's ten acres were surrounded by an eight-foot board fence. More than 1200 Confederate prisoners were held here between April and June 1862. Photo Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society