Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1902-08-13
OLD ABE, THE WAR EAGLE
A SKETCH OF THIS FAMOUS OLD BIRD
In Response to Repeated Requests for a
History of old Abe" We Publish
This Sketch.

1t is not too much to say that no
more famous bird ever lived than Old
Abe, the great war eagle of Wiscon-
sin. His name has been familiar to
armies, his adventures have found
their way into song and story, and his
almost tragic ending touched the
heart of many a war-worn veteran.
For the subjoined details of his life
and death we are indebted to the Hon.
Ernst G. Timme, Secretary of State
of Wisconsin, who courteously fur
nished copy Of handsome little
work on Old Abe, published by |
Messrs. John W. Curran and Eugene
Bowen, themselves veterans, and now !
residents of Madison. Old Abe was
captured during sugar making time
in 1861, on the Flambeau River, near
the line between Ashland and Price |
counties, in Wisconsin by a Chippewa
Indian named Chief Sky, who was
the son of Thunder of Bees, chief of
the Flambeau band of Chippewas
The young bird, then about the size
of a fullgrown hawk, was sold by
the Indian to Daniel McCan, of Eagle
Point, for bushel of corn. 1t was
later disposed of by McCan at Eau
Claire for So to Mr.. Smith, who pre-
sented it to the company which Cap
tain John Z. Perkins was organizing
for the Eighth Regiment. The eagle
was "sworn in" by putting round his
neck red, white and blue ribbons and
on his breast a rosette of the same
colors, and James McGinnis was made
his first attendant. Even before the
boys left their state for the front large
sums were offered for the eagle, but
they were declined. At Madison the
name of Old Abe was given him in
honor of President Lincoln, and the
men of Company @ were always call
ed the Eau Claire Eagles, and the
Eighth Regiment, of which it became
part, was named the Eagle Regi-
ment. A new perch, in the shape of
heart, properly and periodically
adorned, was made for Old Abe by
Quartermaster Francis L. Billings
On the way south the eagle was ac-
corded much attention and occupied
conspicuous place'with the colors, for
Company @ was the color company,
and the colorbearer and the bearer of
Old Abe marched side by side at the
front. It was his nature to be greatly
excited in the midst of turmoil and to
become calm when it was over. He
served as a barometer for the boys,
and any marked change in the weather
was certain to affect him in advance.
He always announced the approach of
al enemy by note.of alarm. At the
siege of Corinth the rebel General
Price ordered his men to capture or
kill the bird, and the same officer made
the remark that he would rather cap
ture Old Abe than whole brigade. -
Old Abe's first pitched battle was at
Pennington, Miss. He was wounded
in front of Corinth and before Vicks-
burg, and was injured en- route from
Memphis to Helena. The chronicler
of Old Abe's public services remarks:
Finally, after forty-six days of
struggle and privation, hardship and
peril, and during sixteen days of
which the average for each man was
but a single cracker per day, the
Federal army, with the Black Eagle
of Illinois General John A. Logan
at it's head and the bald eagle of Wis
eonsin at his left, entered Vicksburg
amid wild huzzas and the blare of
trumpets on July 4, 1853" This
plumed knight was one of the first to
scale the ramparts and invest Fort
DeRussy. To him was largely due
the capture of the Confederate courier
with dispatches, which led to the tax
ing of the rebel garrison and outfit at
Henderson's Hill For short time
while Company Q was on guard duty,
Old Abe was assigned to Company
with the regimental colors, and that
was the only time he was out of the
possession of the company in which
he enlisted and with whom he was and
is identified. He came home in 1864
with the veterans on furlough. Abe
was taken to his native place, which
is in what is now Price county. After
his return to the front he participated
in but one more engagement, that of
Hurricane Creek, Louisiana 1t was
resolved when portion of Company
was mustered ont that Abe should
be given to the state of Wisconsin,
and in the autumn of 1864 the veterans
carried him back TO his native state,
where Sept 26, he was formally pre-
sented to Governor Lewis on behalf
OF Wisconsin. He was an attraction at
she great Sanitary Fair held at Chic
ago during the winter of 1876, and a
little pamphlet history of the eagle
and his photographs, which were also
sold, and Melted to the fund for sick