2nd Wisconsin, 6th Wisconsin, 7th Wisconsin, 19th Indiana, 24th Michigan, Bttry B - 4th US Art.

A Brief History of Edwin Brown:

Edwin Brown was the son of Isaac and Lydia Brown.  He was born in New Berlin, New York on February 21st, 1832.    When Edwin was about four, his father, a builder and architect, moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Isaac soon moved his family again, to Fond du Lac, WI  and began assisting in the development of that new and growing community.   Edwin's formal education came from Lawrence University in Appleton and there he earned a degree in Law in 1851.

Edwin came back to Fond du Lac after graduation and worked for Judge Robert Flint.  Although the town was in its youth, the city still had its upper class citizens, and young Edwin won the heart of one of the villages most eligible ladies.  In 1853 he married Ruth R. Pier, the daughter of the very well-to-do Edward and Harriet Pier.  Edward Pier was one Fond du Lac's first white settlers and one of the towns most influential citizens.  To Ruth's peers, Brown may not have measured up to her family's position and Edwin may have suffered under a cloud of doubt, whether real or assumed.

While in Fond du Lac, Edwin also became acquainted with another influential person by the name of Edward S. Bragg.  Edwin Brown was admitted to the Wisconsin Bar in 1860 and practiced law as did Edward Bragg.  One source suggests that Bragg and Brown practiced law together.  Edwin and Ruth also had three children; Louis, Edward "Pier", and Hattie.

In the Spring of 1861 Edwin was a freshman attorney, in a fast growing western town.  He was born of a Yankee family, that is a family from the the east, and had a beautiful wife from an influential family.  In short Edwin was a perfect candidate to become an Officer of Volunteers--all that was needed was a war.