Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will see a mix of sunny skies and showers with a high of 85. Sunrise is 5:21 and sunset is 8:36 for 15 hours 15 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waning gibbous with 88.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Independence Holiday celebration continues today at the Cravath Lakefront:
Local Vendors and Beer Garden: 11 AM-10 PM
Carnival: 11:30 AM-10:30 PM
Live Music: 11 AM-11 PM
On this day in 1863, the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates in a Union victory.
There are many reasons, sound and principled, for present-day Wisconsinites to celebrate America’s independence from Great Britain. (The only condition as objectionable as life under a king abroad would be life under a king at home.) The area that is now the state of Wisconsin, however, was distant and removed from the politics and culture of the Revolution.
Bridgit Bowden writes of life in Wisconsin in 1776:
Wisconsin wouldn’t join the nation until 1848, more than 70 years after its founding. But, the many tribal nations who called this region home were closely tied to European settlers by 1776 and became part of the history of the American Revolution.
University of Wisconsin-Madison history professor John Hall joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Life” to talk about that history and life in the region 250 years ago.
In 1776, the principal residents of the state were indigenous people, Hall said.
“Those included people who have lived in what we call Wisconsin for time immemorial,” Hall said, including the Ojibwe, Dakota, Menominee and Ho Chunk. It also included the Sauk and Meskwaki, who were not indigenous but had migrated over the preceding century.
These tribes had been trading with each other for “centuries, if not millennia,” Hall said, and by 1776, they were also involved in a transatlantic trade network.
[…]
By the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, Great Britain had largely replaced France as the region’s primary economic partner. Still, Hall said most native people would have been trading furs with people who they already knew through “kinship networks.”
“So, the fact that at the upper levels, this trade is with Britain now, rather than French mercantile interests is not really salient for people engaged in the trade at the village level,” he said.
See Bridgit Bowden, Wisconsin wasn’t a state in 1776. What did life look like here 250 years ago? (‘Historian discusses Wisconsin tribes and their role in the American Revolution’), Wisconsin Public Radio, July 3, 2026.
We are not now, however, distant and removed from the principles of the Declaration. Wisconsin finds herself in the thick of the action — central and indispensable to America’s well-being.
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Upcoming posts (in no decided order): A Whitewater Comparative Analysis, Whitewater’s Workforce, and a New Ethics Ordinance.
What’s Up for July 2026 with Skywatching Tips from NASA:
A predawn meetup between the Moon and planets, a returning comet, dark skies for the Milky Way, and Saturn’s unusually thin rings. Before sunrise on July 11 and 12, look east/southeast for the waning crescent Moon, Mars, and Saturn. Uranus is in the same part of the sky, but you will need binoculars or a telescope to spot it. Around July 14, use binoculars or a telescope to seek Comet 10P/Tempel 2 under dark skies of the New Moon. Those nights are also a great time to look for the Milky Way, while later in the month Saturn’s rings appear strikingly thin through a telescope. 0:00 Intro 0:11 Moon, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus before dawn 0:47 Comet 10P/Tempel 2 1:35 Dark skies for the Milky Way 2:34 Saturn’s thin rings 2:57 July Moon phases.