The early history of Green County and Monroe includes numerous stories of characters and happenings unique to this place.

Many of them are recorded in the 1884 book, “The History of Green County,” written by Helen Bigham.

The history in the book is that of settlers and not the American Indians, who had lived here before western expansion of the United States.

The first “white men” who saw what has become Green County passed through this area in 1826 while traveling to lead mines along the Mississippi River. They would have come from either Green Bay or Milwaukee, which were the only two significant settlements in Wisconsin at the time.

The first settlers who came to stay in this name were traders named McNut and Boner, who arrived in 1828. They stopped near the present area where Exeter is located and were joined shortly thereafter by an interpreter named Van Sickles. Other miners followed with John B. Skinner and Thomas Neal beginning to mine the “Skinner Diggings” in what is now the township of Monroe.

Andrew Clarno built his house in 1830 and fellow early settlers to build houses were William Wallace and Joseph Paine.

The Black Hawk War of 1832 brought growth by settlers to a halt.

“Although this war lasted only three months, it must not, on that account, be passed by as unimportant,” Bingham wrote.

The war cost about 300 lives of both white people and Indians, according to Bingham, and was a source of great “anxiety.” Many people were not interested in moving westward to an area where such a conflict took place.

Due to the war, hundreds of miners left the area and did not return. People who had started to settle in areas due to mining retreated to live in forts, including Fort Union near Dodgeville, Fort Jackson at Mineral Point, Fort Defiance five miles southeast of Mineral Point, Mound Fort at Blue Mounds, Funk’s Fort near Gratiot Grove and Fort Hamilton at Wiota.

Families who settled in the forts soon found the cramped conditions unbearable.

“It is the opinion of Mr. O.H.P. Clarno that the worst of the war was inside the forts,” Bingham wrote. “The children of the various families were soon arrayed against each other in a struggle in which an armistice was a thing unknown, and the mothers not only assisted them, but also engaged in hostilities of their own account that a dispute as to the ownership of a frying pan has sometimes been known to lead to the conversion of that specific utensil into a weapon of war.”

It took about four years before settlement began again in earnest, but the war always remained a topic of discussion and stories about it were told time-after-time for decades.

A man named Bennett Million had been in Pecatonica during the Black Hawk War and he and a small party of others were surprised at night by Indians and chased. Million escaped by crawling through thick mud to camouflage himself and hiding. Several in his group were killed. Million was a talented “fiddle” player and he often played at dances in Monroe in later years. Often during dances the audience asked for the music to stop so Mr. Million could tell the story of his escape during the Black Hawk War.

The earliest settlers who lived in this area in the mid-1830s had many difficulties as the nearest markets were in Mineral Point, Galena and Milwaukee. Traveling was made significantly difficult by the fluctuation of water levels in streams. Due to the nature of seasonal flooding, some streams and rivers had steep banks and were difficult to cross, especially during periods of high water.

Wisconsin’s counties had not been fully arranged by the time the first territorial election took place in 1836. Henry Dodge, the first governor of the territory, allotted one election precinct to what would become Green County.

The election was held where Monroe is now located at the blacksmith shop of another one of the area’s first memorable characters, Mr. Buckskin Brown. He was called “Buckskin” due to the material of his clothes. While Buckskin Brown himself wasn’t politically inclined, he was a good host and not only was the territorial election held at his shop, but other official meetings were held there as well.

At the territorial election, a petition was passed asking that a new county be created. Wm. Boyles of Cadiz had been elected precinct representative. Mr. Boyles had a unique appeal. He was the father of eight unmarried daughters. There were very few women in the area at that time and Boyles prevailed by unanimous vote.

Boyles eventually came up with the name for Green County, decided upon due to the bright color of the vegetation in this area.

— Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.