Born in 1833 in New York, he works as a “printer’s devil” before moving to Wisconsin at age twenty to become editor of the La Crosse Democrat. His colleagues nickname him “Brick” as a fellow well met. He is a pro-Union man, but turns against the war after witnessing the carnage first hand in Arkansas. He becomes a dedicated Copperhead, attacking Lincoln for his Emancipation Proclamation, making the war about freeing the slaves and supporting the radical abolitionists. His vitriol against Lincoln spills over in the 1864 campaign, calling him the leading “widow-maker of the 19th century” and labelling any who vote for him “traitors and murderers.”
Marcus “Brick” Pomeroy
