behind AotW

In January 1869 Antietam survivor Joshua G Towne, late of the 21st New York Infantry, was noted by the Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel for being the first to ride a velocipede – an early bicycle – on the streets of that city.

His story and that picture are from Gant & Hoffman’s Wheel Fever: How Wisconsin Became a Great Bicycling State (2013) from the Wisconsin Historical Society. The velocipede is from the Budget Bicycle Center in Madison, WI and was photographed by Joel Heiman.