The Patriotic Bird that Saw Hard Service During the Civil War.
    It is unlikely that there will be any mascot during the war with Spain who will gain a popularity as great as that enjoyed by “Old Abe,” the war eagle, says a Chicago paper. No more famous bird ever lived. Everybody has heard of him. Poems and songs were written in his honor. Old Abe was bought for a bushel of corn. Afterward Barnum offered $20,000 for him; but, of course, the offer was refused. His captor was an Indian who found him in 1861 on the Flambeau River, near the line between Ashland and Price counties in Wisconsin. The bird was young then, and the Indian sold him to Daniel McCann, of Eagle Point, for a bushel of corn.
    The bird’s military experience began a few months later. He was given to a military company which had just been organized by Capt. John E. Perkins for the Eighth Regiment. The eagle was sworn in by putting around his neck red, white and blue ribbons, and on his breast a rosette of the same colors. James McGinnis was made his attendant. The name of Old Abe was given to the eagle at Madison in honor of President Lincoln. The bird’s fame spread quickly and even before they went to the front the men of Company C were known as Eau Claire eagles, and the Eighth Regiment, of which it was a part, was called the eagles in honor of Old Abe. Old Abe was with the regiment from the time it was mustered in, and he never left it. Quartermaster Billings made him a perch in the shape of a heart, patriotically and properly adorned, and there he stood at the head of his regiment. No general attracted so much attention on the way south as did Old Abe. He occupied a conspicuous place with the colors, for Company C was the color company, and the color bearer and the bearer of Old Abe marched side by side.
    During the war Old Abe did gallant service. It was his nature to be greatly excited in the midst of turmoil, and to be calm when it was over. He always announced the approach of the enemy bya note of alarm, and during the battle would hover in the air, watching the outcome of the contest. He became as famous among the Confederates as among the Union army. The men made him a rallying cry and the sight of the bird would give them new courage for battle. So well was this understood that at the siege of Corinth the rebel general Price ordered his men to seize or capture the bird, and he declared that he would rather capture Old Abe than a whole brigade. But although wounded at the battle of Corinth and afterward before Vicksburg, as well as en route from Memphis to Helena, he survived the war.
    Old Abe came home in 1864 with his company on a furlough. After his return to his native place, which is now known as Price County, it was resolved that he should be presented to his native State, and on Sept. 26 the company made the gift. To-day the eagle, stuffed, stands in the War Museum at Washington.
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