Old Abe

Old Abe spreading her wings for her portrait^[1]

Old Abe (1861? – March 28, 1881), ^[2] a bald eagle, was the mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War. It later was depicted as the screaming eagle mascot on the insignia of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division and as the trademark eagle on the globe of the Case tractor company.

Civil War

Old Abe and the color guard at Vicksburg, July 1863:^[1]
From left to right: Ed Homaston, Christopher Darius Gorman, Sgt Ambrose Armitage, (unknown), Myron Riggs and three more unknowns.^[2][3]

Old Abe was captured in 1861 by Ahgamahwegezhig near the Chippewa River, near the town of Jim Falls, in Chippewa County, Wisconsin. Ahgamahwegezhig, or “Chief Sky,” or “Old Jackson,” was the son of Ah-mous (translated either as “The Little Bee” or “Thunder of Bees”), who held first rank in the councils among the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe.

Old Abe was subsequently traded to local farmer, Daniel McCann, for a bushel of corn, who in turn sold her^[4] to the 8th Wisconsin's Company C for $2.50.

Company C named the eagle after President Abraham Lincoln, and designed a special perch on which they carried the bird into battle. Old Abe participated in the Second Battle of Corinth (in which the 8th Wisconsin lost half of its men) and the Siege of Vicksburg, among other battles. In battle, Old Abe quickly became legendary, screaming and spreading her wings at the enemy. Confederate troops called her the "Yankee Buzzard" and made several attempts to capture her but never succeeded. Several times she lost feathers to bullets and saw her handlers get shot out from under her. When passing by, Generals Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and William Rosecrans were known to doff their hats to the eagle.

In 1864, Old Abe returned to Wisconsin with several veterans who did not reenlist. Nevertheless, she remained famous and was invited to, among other events, the 1880 Grand Army of the Republic National Convention, and the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When not at public events, her caretaker kept her in the Wisconsin State Capitol.

Postbellum

Old Abe died from smoke inhalation in a fire at the State Capitol in 1881. Her body was mounted and remained a centerpiece of the capitol. The mount, along with most of the capitol building, was destroyed by fire in 1904.

In memoriam

Case Corporation mascot

The insignia of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division is a depiction of Old Abe. The design is based on one of the Civil War traditions of the state of Wisconsin, which was the territory of the original 101st Division after World War I. The black shield recalls the Iron Brigade, the famous Civil War unit composed of western regiments (although not the 8th Wisconsin).^[5]

Old Abe was adopted by Jerome Case as the trademark of the J. I. Case agricultural equipment manufacturing company of Racine, Wisconsin in 1865. The trademark was retired in 1969.^[6]

Old Abe is the mascot of Eau Claire Memorial High School, whose athletic teams are known as the "Old Abes", and of Racine Case High School, whose teams are simply the "Eagles".

101st Airborne Division shoulder patch

A replica of Old Abe presides over the Wisconsin State Assembly Chamber

Old Abe on the Wisconsin Memorial, Vicksburg National Military Park

Battles

Old Abe was present at numerous battles and lesser engagements during the war:^[7]

• Fredericktown, Missouri - 21 October 1861
• New Madrid and *Island #10 - March & April 1862 Union General John Pope captured Point Pleasant, Missouri, provoking Confederates to evacuate New Madrid; they abandoned arms and provisions valued at one million dollars during their escape across the Mississippi River to the eastern bank and to Island No. 10^[8].
• Point Pleasant, Missouri - March 20, 1862
• Farmington, Mississippi. - May 9, 1862
• Corinth, Mississippi. - May 28, 1862
• Iuka, Mississippi. - September 12, 1862
• Burnsville, Mississippi. - September 13, 1862
• Iuka, Mississippi. - September 16-18, 1862
• Corinth, Mississippi. - October 3-4, 1862
• Tallahatchie, Mississippi. - December 2, 1862
• Mississippi Springs, Mississippi. - May 13, 1863
• Jackson, Mississippi. - May 14, 1863
• Assault on Vicksburg, Mississippi. - May 22, 1863
• Mechanicsburg, Mississippi. - June 4, 1863
• Richmond, Louisiana. - June 15, 1863
• Vicksburg, Mississippi. - June 24, 1863
• Surrender of Vicksburg- July 4, 1863
• Brownsville, Mississippi. - October 16, 1863
• Fort Scurry, Louisiana. - March 13, 1864
• Fort De Russey, Louisiana. - March 15, 1864
• Henderson's Hill, Louisiana. - March 21, 1864
• Grand Ecore, Louisiana. - April 2, 1864
• Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. - April 8-9, 1864
• Natchitoches, Louisiana. - April 20, 1864
• Kane River, Louisiana. - April 22, 1864
• Clouterville and Crane Hill, Louisiana. - April 23, 1864
• Bayou Rapids, Louisiana. - May 2, 1864
• Bayou La Monre, Louisiana. - May 3, 1864
• Bayou Roberts, Louisiana. - May 4-6, 1864
• Moore's Plantation, Louisiana. - May 8-12, 1864
• Mansura, Louisiana. - May 16, 1864
• Battle of Maysville, Louisiana. - May 17, 1864
• Calhoun's Plantation, Louisiana. - May 18, 1864
• Bayou De Glaise, Louisiana. - May 18, 1864
• Ditch Bayou at Lake Chicot or River Lake, Arkansas. - June 6, 1864
• Hurricane Creek, Mississippi. - August 13, 1864

Eagle bearers

• James McGinness
• Thomas J. Hill
• David McLain
• Ed Homeston
• John Burkhardt

See also

Old Abe depicted on a 1919 postcard

• Wisconsin in the American Civil War
• McCann brothers

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Old Abe, Wisconsin Electronic Reader Gallery
2. ^ ^{a b} Alden Carter. Brother To The Eagle, 2006.
3. ^ Richard H. Zeitlin. Old Abe The War Eagle, 1986.
4. ^ Carter, Alden (2006). Brother to the Eagle: The Civil War Journal of Sgt. Ambrose Armitage, 8th Wisconsin Infantry. booklocker.com. pp. 327. ISBN 978-1601450425. 
5. ^ 101st Airborne, U.S. Army Center of Military History
6. ^ Charles H. Wendel (February 20, 2005). "J. I. Case". 150 years of J.I. Case. Krause Publications. pp. 5–15. ISBN 9780873499309. http://books.google.com/books?id=MNaaSJMHPHEC&pg=PA5. 
7. ^ Old Abe the Civil War Eagle: Eau Claire County in the Civil War
8. ^ Cyrus F. Jenkins Civil War Diary, 1861-1862: Civil War Timeline: June 30, 1861- 1862 Digital Library of Georgia

External links

• How an Indian Chief Captured the Eagle that Became "Old Abe"
• 'Old Abe' the Eagle Accompanies the 8th Wisconsin Infantry into War
• Old Abe, the War Eagle
• That 'War Eagle' Had Quite a Record, story told by one of Old Abe's 8th Wisconsin caretakers
• Rosholt, Malcolm and Margaret Rosholt. The Story of Old Abe: Wisconsin's Civil War Hero Rosholt House, 1987.
• Photographs and prints of Old Abe from the Wisconsin Electronic Reader
• Feather from Old Abe the War Eagle
• Old Abe atop the Wisconsin State Memorial at Vicksburg
• Old Abe Online Exhibit, by the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.