Wisconsin Loyalty Legion Badge

For May of 2021 we have a badge from the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion, an organization of citizens of the State of Wisconsin during the First World War. With the large German population of the state, there was a strong aversion to charges of disloyalty or of being fifth columnists for the Germans after the entry of the United States into the conflict in early 1917. Accusations were rife, even to such an extent as to claim Milwaukee was little more than an outpost of Kaiser Wilhelm’s empire. This led to the creation of the Wisconsin Defense League after the declaration of war in March of 1917, but even so criticism of Wisconsin continued, with some news outlets going so far as to claim Wisconsin would be remembered as “The Traitor State” after the war.

The result was a knee-jerk reaction and an exaggerated display of loyalty. In September the Defense League was reorganized as the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion, which promptly set about a program of extreme Americanism, pushing to separate the “loyal” citizens of Wisconsin from the “traitors”, those essentially being anyone who spoke against the war. They would also push for “loyal” candidates to be elected to public office at various levels, as well as aggressively pushing programs such as rationing and Liberty Bonds.

The effects of the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion and the broader movement it represented are still felt today. Many families Anglicized their last names, and the German language quickly disappeared from the state’s schools, churches and newspapers. Physical attacks also took place, such as in Ashland, where the radical “Knights of Liberty” went so far as to tar and feather resident Adolph Anton after abducting him from his home, the same happening to a professor at Ashland’s Northland College.

With the end of the war the Legion quickly faded away and has since been forgotten, but as previously mentioned, its effects continue to be felt in the daily lives of Wisconsinites even today.