Old Abe

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.

[5] In August 1861, John C. Perkins,[6] assisted by Seth Pierce, Frank McGuire,[7] Thomas G. Butler and Victor Wolf,[8] recruited a company of volunteers from Eau Claire and Chippewa Counties.

[3]Captain Perkins named the eagle after President Abraham Lincoln,[9] his quartermaster, Francis L. Billings, made a special perch on which to carry the bird into battle,[3] and a young soldier, James McGinnis, volunteered to take care of him.

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.

[12] 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.

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.

[10] 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.

[10]On November 2, 1862, the regiment moved to Grand Junction, Tennessee, where it joined forces being assembled for General Grant's first attempt to take the strategic river city of Vicksburg.

From this base, Grant moved down the Mississippi Central Railroad in conjunction with General William Tecumseh Sherman, who launched a simultaneous advance north of the city.

Skirmishes were fought along the railroad to Oxford, and the Confederates were pushed south past Water Valley, but after the battle of Coffeeville, managed to stall the Federal advance at Oakland.

[16] On December 20, while Grant was stalled, General Van Dorn led a successful cavalry raid on the Union supply base at Holly Springs.

After destroying the supplies, Van Dorn and General Nathan Bedford Forest moved north into Tennessee tearing up railroad and telegraph lines.

With his infrastructure disrupted, and with Sherman's advance turned back at Chickasaw Bayou, Grant was forced to end the campaign and retire to Memphis.

[12] On December 28, when the regiment had moved to La Grange, Tennessee, David McLain turned over his job as eagle bearer to Ed Homeston.

His objectives were to separate Vicksburg from Confederate units under General Joseph E. Johnston and to prevent supplies from reaching the city on the Southern Railroad.

From Helena, the regiment went to Young's Point, Louisiana, where they joined the second brigade of the third division of Sherman's XV Corps, under the command of Brigadier General Mower, who had been promoted on November 29, 1862.

After Sherman appointed Mower as military governor of Jackson, Union troops burned part of the town, destroyed numerous factories, and cut the railroad connections with Vicksburg.

It also, under the leadership of Gen. Mower, cleared the west bank of the river, driving the enemy out of Richmond, La., and bore patiently and manfully the deadly sickness of Young's Point, till the fall of Vicksburg admitted of its recall to join us on this higher and more healthy ground.

After leaving a blocking force to engage the defenders at the front, he made a detour of 15 miles to get to their rear, where he arrived around midnight on the cold and rainy night of March 21.

[20] This success made it possible for Smith's army to move quickly upriver to Grand Ecore, where it prepared to support forces of General Banks, which were advancing on Shreveport.

That evening, retreating units under Banks reached Pleasant Hill nearly simultaneously with Smith's XVII and XVI Corps, which included the 8th Wisconsin.

These reinforcements enabled the Union to win the next day's Battle of Pleasant Hill, but Banks immediately ordered a retreat to Grand Ecore, and from there, to Alexandria.

After heavy fighting, the Confederates fell back, and the Union troops marched toward Simmesport, where Bailey was building a bridge over the Atchafalaya River that would allow them to reach transport ships.

In early June 1864, General Smith ordered Mower to launch a forceful demonstration to deter interference with Mississippi river traffic near Lake Village, Arkansas.

The next morning, as he marched along the south side of the lake, Confederates, led by General Colton Greene, fought a delaying action at Ditch Bayou and then withdrew.

[3] A few days later, on June 26, 56 veterans of Company C arrived at Eau Claire, with the eagle, and were greeted with booming cannons, martial music, patriotic songs, and an abundant feast.

On August 13, 1864, the day after Mower had been promoted to Major General, the regiment, including the returned troops, participated in another defeat of Forrest's command at Hurricane Creek, Mississippi[21] This was Old Abe's last battle.

Eigg-native Captain Angus R. McDonald, the hero of the Battle of Fort Blakeley and Scottish-American descended from Somerled, King Robert the Bruce, and the Chiefs of Clan MacDonald of Clanranald, and last direct descendant of iconic Scottish Gaelic war poet Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, also served as Old Abe's paid caretaker.