Civil War

As the town of Winnebago was developing, the shadow of the Civil War loomed over the community. Two hundred men from the Winnebago area enlisted, including Captain Walker, who was sent to the infamous Confederate prison at Andersonville. Sadly, Peter Miller, James Clabaugh, and Washington Latimer all perished there. Memorial stones in their honor stand at Basey Cemetery, northwest of Winnebago. After the war, the men who returned were granted 150 acres of land to farm and build new lives.

​

Although there was no Civil War battle in the town of Winnebago, Minnesota; however, the area was impacted by the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 and the displacement of the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) people, who were banished to South Dakota during the conflict. The town of Winnebago itself was named after the Winnebago people, who were forcibly removed from Minnesota following the 1862 war, and 10th Minnesota Infantry Regiment, which was partly organized in the Winnebago Agency area, participated in the Union war effort.