“OLD ABE”

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1928, 30 October 1926, Page 6

“OLD ABE”

WISCONSIN’S FAMOUS WAR EAGLE. “ Old Abe,” Wisconsin’s famous war eagle, 'the sleek, regaliy handsome, bird that accompanied Company C, Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry in its campaigns 'throughout the American Civil War, that soared exultantly above or screamed excitedly from his perch throughout 25 major . battles and as many skirmishes, is still held in cherished m'elmory by the Wisconsin men of the 'Grand Army, who counted 'the •bird| as their comrade (isays Ithe Christian 'Science Monitor). The 'miejtlallions that signified his distinctive office have 'been lodged in a glass case at Grand Army of Re-' public .State headquarters at 'Madison City. “Old Abe” was captured in 1861, When merely a fl|u ( ffy eaglet, by Chief iSky, son of Thunder of Bees, chief of the Flambeau band of Chippewas, from a nest cif mud alt the top ' of a (tall pine on Ithe Flambeau River during sugar-making tim|a. Daniel McCann, of Eagle Point, Wisconsin, bought him from tltysl Indian for- a bushel of corn, and he was taken to Eau Claire. There a company of volunteers was being formed! under Captain John E. Perk’insi for service in ■tike war of iretyelliion, (He was purchased for five dollars, and presented to Ithe company as its mascot, enlisting. like all the rest of Ithe volunteers, with ribbons of red, White, and blue, and - a rosette of the same (colours adorning hi s neck. A special perch was madia for him above the colours and when th e comp any arrived ait and when the company arrived) at Camp Randall in Madison to he sworn into service “Abe” caused a sensation. As the regiment marched over th!e parade ground, bands playing and •drums heating, “Abe”, was astonished, but evidently enjoyed tele novel scene. He seized a corner of the flag in his beak, and spread his wings in

a continuo.ulsiy flapping motion. Already h)a was almost full grown, weighing about 10| ’lbs and measuring 6 feet 6 finches from the tip of one wing t« Ithe tip of Ithe other, At Camp Randall a new perch was made for him, surmounting a shield in. the shape of a tyeart, on which the Stars and! Stripes, and the insignia of the (Eighth Regiment, W\.V., was emblazoned. With his company he left for th© front on 12|ch October, 1861. and with them |p:a ! sseid 'through Chicago, tlhrlilling the crowds that turned out to the regiment. Chained to the roof of a courthouse a mil© away from the scene of bajitle, leaping and screeching, “ Abe ” first heard his comrades, green, half-trained men, go into action with ttys! enemy near Fredericksburg on 20th 'October, and be was in the thick of his first pitched battle on 9th May, 1862, when a brigade' of Union men mqt and defeated General Beauregard! and 25,000 troops at Farmington, lit iis told thait with imitativ|at sagacity h|ei crouched low on the ground when the men flattened themselves, arid hopped back on to his perch when the men rose. In the battle of 'Corinth on 28th May h|ai circled over the field, screaming 'the cry teat never failed to thrill this comratlies. He was ta well-dis'cipiined sioldief, too, as the veterans fislll liis .story. When ordered to mount, lilt iis claimed, he would e'vfc-'n leave a half-consumed meal to resume his perch. (So famous did hfsi become tha)t his capture was soon Ithe aim of opposing Confederates, moire than tone of Whose officers was on record as saying that he would .rja,t.her catch “ Abe” than a dozen battle flags. Back home on furlough in 1864, fee “ relenlistlsld ” with members of his company, and reitulrned to (the front, his last battle b|eing at Hurricane Creek, IMiss., on 13th August of that year, when “ with eyU of lightning, wifth head and neick elongated to dash, with whistle quick and startling to nerve and pluck, he charged with this company on the ram-

parts.” tin September, '1864, the returned to Madison, sl'eiek and unscathed by Iris balttle experien'ces, and was “ discharged ” and 1 presented to the 'State, * making the Capitol hlis headquarter's. Efforts to ipurchase him wer'e unavailing, though history says that a wealthy westerner, offered 10,000 dollars and) P. T. Barnum 20,000 dollars for Ithe IS'tate’s famous wajrd.