Wisconsin Hometown Stories

The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 triggered a series of events that would soon plunge the nation into a civil war. Now his election, of course, was the catalyst for the secession of southern states because they saw his election as a threat to the peculiar institution of slavery.

cannon fires

Fire! The Confederates fire on Fort Sumter on April 12th and 13th of 1861. Lincoln comes out shortly after that, and issues a call for 75,000 volunteers. We were a young state, and full of people who were eager to, I think, prove their American-ness, prove their patriotism, full of young men because that's who was coming to Wisconsin to work and coming to Eau Claire to work and this area, the greater Chippewa Valley, had a lot of volunteers. But at the same time, on a south fork of the Flambeau River, there's a nest of eagles, and this is where the story of Old Abe starts. Chief Big Sky, of the Lac du Flambeau band of Ojibwa, spotted the nest, and decided that he would capture the eaglets. And he spends the better part of half of a day trying to chop this tree down, and he does, but in the process, he kills one of the eaglets. The other survives. He takes it captive as a pet. Chief Big Sky took the eaglet on a trading trip down the Chippewa, and near Jim Falls, he met Daniel McCann, who bought the bird to also keep as a pet. Eagles don't make really great pets. We have to feed them rabbits and squirrels, and, of course, they love fish, so you have to feed them a lot of food. So McCann takes it down to Eau Claire and offers it to John Perkins, who later becomes the Captain of Company C. Now, legend has it that McCann pulls out a fiddle and plays "Bonaparte's Retreat" and the bird sort of dances around and this impresses the men. I don't think that actually happened. Nonetheless, they decided they wanted to acquire the bird as a mascot. What could be a better mascot than the national symbol? The volunteers of Company C were called to Camp Randall in Madison for further training, and brought the eagle they named Old Abe. It makes a great, very impressive mascot. You can imagine what it looks like at the head of this company as it marches into Camp Randall, band playing Yankee Doodle, the bird at the head of the company, the national colors flying, the regimental colors flying, the flags held great significance for the soldiers, but this goes beyond that. This is a living representation of the United States, and this is what these men are fighting for. They're fighting to preserve the Union, and this is the physical embodiment of the Union. Eau Claire's Company C joined the 8th Wisconsin Regiment, which moved south, and became known as the "Eagle Regiment." And they spend their entire time during the war in the Western Theater. They go through Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The best documentation I've heard was that Old Abe saw 34 different battles. A number of smaller actions that are almost too numerous to list both battles at Corinth, Farmington, Iuka, Red River Campaign, Vicksburg, including the assault at Vicksburg, where the 8th Wisconsin came under very heavy fire and had to take refuge in a ravine and had to along with Old Abe. So if you can imagine the sights and sounds of battle, shells bursting overhead, bullets whizzing by, cries of men, and then you add the screeching of an eagle. It's very martial when you think about it. The eagle for a long time has been used as a symbol of strength, fortitude. The Romans used the eagle as a symbol going into battle. It's a martial symbol. It provides morale and incentive for the men of the 8th and is a rallying point for them when they saw this magnificent bird. As members of the Eagle Regiment neared the end of their three-year commitment, they decided they didn't want Old Abe to re-enlist. They felt the bird had survived a number of battles, done its duty, and perhaps it was time to retire the bird from active service. The State receives it, Governor Lewis declares it an official war relic. They give it an apartment in the Capitol basement. Two rooms, and, I believe, a pool as well and a handler. Old Abe then embarks on his second career as sort of a morale booster. He appears at what are called "Sanitary Fairs." Those are expositions to raise money for orphans of the war, wounded soldiers. And as the bloody devastation of the war, finally came to an end, Old Abe became a national symbol of the victory of Union forces. There were lots and lots of celebrations of the war that went on for many years and Old Abe was a featured attraction at many of these, so as more and more of these took place in more and more parts of the country then Old Abe got to be a bigger and bigger celebrity. Old Abe appeared at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, attended by millions of people. As far as I can tell, Old Abe thrived on public attention. The bird would thrill cheering crowds, by flapping its wings and calling. Handlers also taught it tricks, like autographing photos. He would peck it with his beak, and pierce it and that would be his autograph. But in 1881, tragedy struck, when a fire broke out in the basement of the State Capitol, and Old Abe died of smoke inhalation. He's so beloved, so important to the people of Wisconsin, to this country, that they have him preserved. A taxidermist makes a relative likeness of the bird and that remains in the Capitol and is venerated as a relic of the war. Unfortunately, there is another fire in 1904 which totally engulfs the Capitol and destroys Old Abe once and for all. As the years went by, the story of Old Abe grew to become a legend. In Eau Claire, the eagle, and all that it stood for, remains a part of the city's identity. Memorial High School's sports teams are known as the "Old Abes." The police department's logo also features a likeness of the war eagle. The fact that the War is looked on as this defining moment for America creates this perfect storm, which means that Old Abe is a remembered bird.