Old Abe (May 27, 1861 – March 26, 1881) was a bald eagle who was the mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War. Later, his image was adopted as the eagle appearing on a globe in Case Corporation's logo and as the screaming eagle on the insignia of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.
Old Abe was captured by Ahgamahwegezhig or "Chief Sky". He was the son of Ah-mous (translated either as "The Little Bee" or "Thunder of Bees"), who was an influential leader of the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe.
In spring of 1861, Chief Sky set up a hunting and fishing camp near the South Fork of the Flambeau River, within the present day Chequamegon National Forest, east of Park Falls, Wisconsin. Here, he noticed a treetop nest, with two fledgling eagles, and to capture them, cut down the tree. One eaglet died from the fall, and the other became the young Indian's pet. That summer, Chief Sky and his father canoed down the Chippewa River on a trading expedition. At Jim Falls, Wisconsin, they encountered Daniel McCann, who lived nearby in Eagle Point. The Indians sold the eagle to McCann in exchange for a bushel of corn.
In August 1861, John C. Perkins, assisted by Seth Pierce, Frank McGuire, Thomas G. Butler and Victor Wolf, recruited a company of volunteers from Eau Claire and Chippewa Counties. This company was called the "Eau Claire Badgers". Soon after its formation, McCann offered to sell the eagle to the Badgers, for $2.50. In his "History of Old Abe", published in 1865, Joseph O. Barrett, who helped McCann bring the eagle to Eau Claire, gave a description of the transaction, which can be paraphrased as:
"Will you buy my eagle," said McCann, "only two dollars and a half?"
"Here, boys, let's put in twenty five cents apiece," answered Frank McGuire, who began to
He also solicited a contribution from a civilian, S. M. Jeffers, but was rebuffed. When the soldiers heard of this, they accosted Jeffers, and gave him three lusty groans. When he understood that they were protesting against his reluctance to help buy the eagle, Jeffers laughed, paid for the bird with a Quarter Eagle and presented him to the Company. After that, he had cheers instead of groans. The quarters were returned to the donors.
Captain Perkins named the eagle after President Abraham Lincoln, his quartermaster, Francis L. Billings, made a special perch on which to carry the bird into battle, and a young soldier, James McGinnis, volunteered to take care of him.
On September 3, 1861, the Badgers embarked, aboard the steamer "Stella Whipple", on a trip down the Chippewa to the Mississippi and up the Wisconsin River to Madison, Wisconsin. They arrived on the 6th and were immediately mustered into service as Company C of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. They became the regimental color company and were given the name "Eagle Company". The regiment also became the "Eagle Regiment". After a few weeks of training at Camp Randall, it began to play an important role in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
On October, 12, the regiment left for St. Louis, Missouri, where the eagle got loose and flew out of sight. Fortunately, a policeman soon returned him. On the following day, the regiment left by rail to Fredericktown, Missouri, and on October 20, 1861, took part in the battle of Fredericktown. Subsequently, they were assigned guard duty until March 4, 1862, when they relocated to Point Pleasant, near New Madrid, Missouri, where they became part of General John Pope's Army of the Mississippi. From this base, during March and April, they participated in the Battle of Island Number Ten, which ended with a major victory that opened the Mississippi to Union forces down to Fort Pillow, just above Memphis. Thousands of Confederate prisoners were taken, along with valuable supplies.
In May 1862, the 8th participated in General Henry Halleck's Siege of Corinth, whose objective was to secure a critical rail junction of the Mobile & Ohio and Memphis & Charleston railroads. On May 9, 1862, during the approach to Corinth, the Eagle Company experienced its first serious combat at the Battle of Farmington, Mississippi, during which Old Abe Spread his wings and screamed. Here, Captain Perkins died and was replaced by the newly promoted Captain Victor Wolf. On May 29, after a skirmish at defensive works before Corinth, the Confederates withdrew during the night. The next day, the regiment marched into the city. That day, James McGinnis became sick with a fatal illness and was replaced as eagle bearer by Thomas J. Hill, who served until David McLain took over on August 18.
On August 22, after being bivouacked in summer quarters, the regiment arrived in Tuscumbia, Alabama, which is in the northwest corner of the state a few miles from the Mississippi border. By this time, General Ulysses S. Grant had taken over Halleck's responsibilities in northern Mississippi. The 8th Wisconsin was still part of the Army of the Mississippi, but General William Rosecrans had replaced Pope as commander. The regiment was in the second brigade of General David S. Stanley's second division, which was led by Colonel Joseph A. Mower. Pope's army was assigned to hold 20 miles of rail from Corinth east to Iuka, where the 8th Wisconsin was stationed. On September 13, 1862, the Confederate Army of the West under General Sterling Price appeared at Iuka and forced the regiment back to Farmington.
Shortly thereafter, forces under Rosecrans and General Edward Ord attempted to capture Price's army, which awaited, at Iuka, the arrival of massive reinforcements from General Earl Van Dorn's Army of West Tennessee. On September 19, during the Battle of Iuka, a fresh north wind caused an acoustic shadow that prevented Ord from hearing the battle. Consequently, he was unaware of it, and his troops stood idle while fighting raged a few miles away. Nevertheless, the Army of the Cumberland forced Price to withdraw during the night. He soon linked up with Van Dorn in Ripley.
On October 3 and 4, the combined Confederate armies launched a full-scale assault on Corinth, which was repulsed by troops under Rosecrans. During heavy fighting in this Second Battle of Corinth, 21 soldiers of the 8th Wisconsin died, and 60 were wounded. Colonel Mower was wounded in the neck and briefly captured.
Newspaper accounts of this battle claimed that Old Abe soared over the front lines. According to David McLain, these stories are exaggerated:
… a bullet cut the cord that held the eagle to his perch. About the same time that the cord was cut, Old Abe was shot through one wing, cutting out three quill feathers, but not drawing blood, and the bearer (McLain) was shot through the left shoulder of his blouse and right leg of his pants.
… (The eagle) flew about 50 feet down the line, must have been what caused the newspapers to come out the next week with great headlines telling about the eagle of the 8th Wisconsin getting away after a rebel bullet cut his cord and soaring, over the lines of both armies, and back to his perch, which is not so.
He was quite excited always in battle and he'd spread his wings and scream but never flew over the lines of either army.