Wikipedia:Peer review/12th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment/archive1

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12th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment[edit]

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I've listed this article for peer review because... I have worked on this article some, and would like general feedback about how to improve the article. Thanks, History person 2 (talk) 11:55, 9 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hi History person 2, military history is not my field of expertize but I can provide some general feedback.
  • The article is very short: it's readable prose size (i.e. excluding lists) is only 352 words. You could work to expand it. For some extra information, you could try [1]. Another source may be [2]. It is a little old but may also be worth a look.
  • After you expanded the body of the article, you could also expand the lead section by a few sentences.
  • Except for one sentence about casualties, the whole article is based on a single source. You could look for more sources or use the ones above to diversify your sources.
  • Concerning the source Battle Unit Details - The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service): if I open it, I just get sent to a general search page. I don't get any useful results if I input "12th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment" into the search field. If there is a direct link, you should probably use that.
  • Currently, the sections "Commanders" and "Notable people" do not have any sources so you could add sources.
  • You could also look for a source for the claim "The regiment was mustered out on July 20, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky".
  • The section "Total enlistment and casualties" only talks about casualties. It could be renamed to "Casualties".
Phlsph7 (talk) 09:07, 27 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]


@History person 2: - Thank you for getting involved with a Civil War article. I have written a few regimental articles. You might want to join WikiProject Military history. Here are some thoughts.

  • Use 5th New York Cavalry Regiment as something to pattern your article on.
  • Perhaps someone has already written a history of the regiment (in addition to the Company E history). Sometimes the history is so old that you can download it from Google Books. Also search used books. I have multiple Civil War books that I have bought used at very low prices. A book about a certain battle may have some information about the regiment you are working on.
  • The National Park Service Battle Unit Details have Vicksburg, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Salkehatchie Swamp, and Bentonville highlighted. They are probably important enough that you should have some information on what the regiment was doing at those places.
  • Be careful when using the Official Records (Robert Scott, etc.) Soldiers often used "puffery" to describe the battle, or omitted bad things. Sometimes, it might be the only source, so it has to be used. It is better to say "General X reported bla bla bla" instead of writing as an undisputed fact.
  • I like maps and photos. The Library of Congress has newspaper articles that can sometimes be helpful for illustrations. It also may have a photograph of generals involved. There are also plenty of Civil War maps. Sometimes I have used a map from the 1860s and added information to create a map for Wikipedia. I have also modified copies of maps that already exist in WikiMedia.
    • Here is a link to LOC Civil War Maps.
    • Here is a link to LOC newspapers.
    • Remember that WikiMedia Commons may already have photos and maps that you could use. (There are lots of photos of Sherman and Grant.)
  • Do not bore your readers with too much detail (a weakness in my writing), but still give them a good idea of what was going on.
  • I believe it is good to describe the weaponry that the regiment was equipped with. That no doubt changed after a year or two.
  • There are lots of Civil War terms to Wikilink to. Here are some (check the code)
  • Also, Wikilink to all the battles (but only once)
  • Make sure you have plenty of citations, and no paragraph should end without a citation.
  • The lead (or lede) section should be two or three paragraphs, and be a general summary of the entire article. It does not need citations, but any fact stated in the lead must be covered in the main body and have a citation.
  • Wikilinks should be done only once per item in the article, but the the lead does not count.
  • I don't think you need the previous and next part in the InfoBox. I have never seen it done.

Maybe this will help you get a good start. Once you finish work on this regiment, you will find that you already have plenty of information on other regiments that were brigaded with the regiment you just finished working on -- that was my experience. These additional regiments will be easier to write about. Good luck! TwoScars (talk) 21:45, 11 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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