History, Traditions and Adventures in the Chippewa Valley
By William W. Bartlett, 1929
Contributed by Timm Severud

 

Old Abe, the War Eagle

 

Not all who have heard of this famous bird are aware of the fact that it was captured in the Chippewa Valley and was taken out and carried through the war by Company C of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry. No extended history will be attempted here but extracts will be given from early day documents and records bearing on the subject. The most authentic history of Old Abe ever written was prepared and published by Reverend J.O. Barrett of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1865. At that time the eagle, after three years of being on the march and battle fields, had been brought safely back, been presented to the state and was being carefully cared for in the capitol at Madison. Nearly every person connected or familiar with its history was still living and reliable information could be obtained. A number of editions of the Barrett book were printed, but copies are now rare.

A few years ago the writer of this article, as secretary of the library board at Eau Claire, helped to secure for the library a copy of the fifth edition, printed in 1876. It is a small book, but really valuable. Mr. Barrett went at his task in a thorough and systematic manner. He wished especially to learn by whom, where and how the eagle was captured, also to secure a picture of its captor. To this end he enlisted the assistance of prominent fur traders and other pioneers of the upper Chippewa waters. Here is an extract from one letter:

February 13, 1865
J. O. Barrett, Esq.
Dear Sir:
I learned from Daniel McCann that the Indians who had brought the eagle to him in the summer of 1861 were of the Flambeau tribe and that the captor was a son of Ah-Monse, chief of the tribe. I proceeded to obtain the corroborative evidence of this and found through Jean Brunet, James Ermatinger, Charles Corbine, and others, all old residents of the Upper Chippewa and Flambeau Rivers, besides the testimony of different Indians, that McCann's statement was correct. All accounts agree that the name of the captor is A-ge-mah-we-ge-zhig, or Chief Sky. I have made arrangements as you suggested bringing the young Indians to Eau Claire as soon as possible. He is now with his band hunting between the headwaters of the Yellow and Flambeau Rivers and is shortly expected at Brunet Falls on the Chippewa.
Yours truly,
Theodore Coleman
(Note: This Mr. Coleman is still living (1929), in California)

On his arrival at Brunet Falls the young Indian was told about the 'white man at Eau Claire' who wished to talk to him about 'the eagle he had caught a few years before.' He hesitated, fearing it might be a trick, and appealed to his father, old Chief Ah-Monse. After considerable deliberation, and assurance of Brunet and others that they had nothing to fear, the old chief decided to go the next day to Chippewa Falls and consult the pioneer lumberman H. S. Allen. It was also arranged that the son who had the eagle, with another son, should follow two days later. At Chippewa Falls the old chief and his sons, also Elijah Ermatinger, who was to act as interpreter, were met by J.O. Barrett and Theodore Coleman and from there they all proceeded to Eau Claire, twelve miles below.

Photographs of the Indian were taken by the photographer Devoe and never did mortal appear more proud than did this young Indian, attired in his regalia as chief. The Eau Claire Free Press of that date makes mention of the visit. A-ge-mah-we-ge-zhig related his eagle adventure in a very intelligent manner, so simple and candid as to assure everyone present of its truthfulness. He said the eagles' nest was found in the spring of the year, soon after the time of making maple sugar, in a tall pine. The tree was cut down and the nest, 'as big as a bushel basket,' and made of 'sticks, turf and weeds,' was preserved. There were two young eagles in the nest but one was so badly injured in the felling of the tree that it died. After being kept several weeks at the Indian village, the young eagle was taken down river and sold, for a bushel of corn, to Daniel McCann, who had a farm and stopping place on the Chippewa River a short distance above Jim Falls.
(Note: A woodsman cousin of the writer said he saw the young eagle at McCann's place, tied to a barrel in the door yard.)
Assistance was given Reverend J.O. Barrett by his brother, W.W. Barrett, as witness the following:

My Dear Brother:
Today I saw Israel Gould, the Indian interpreter who rendered you such valuable assistance on your Flambeau expedition. He is an intelligent old Scotchman and has lived with the Chippewa Indians 15 years. At my request he drew a map of the Flambeau River and lakes and it agrees perfectly with the drawing made by Ah-monse and his son. I believe you can rely on it as being correct. The Flambeau River is a wide crooked stream; the largest tributary of the Chippewa and its general course is southwest. Upon its North Fork are the rapids at which the young Indian said he caught the eagle. It is about 125 miles from Eau Claire and 70 miles from the mouth of the Flambeau River, and it is three miles up from the rapids to Asken Lake or Little Flambeau, which is three miles long, six miles from there to the main Flambeau Lake or 'Ah-monse Lake,' as it is also called, a stream connecting the two. From Mr. Gould's description and sketch map the eagle must have been caught in or near Township 40 North Range 1 East.
Your Brother,
W.W. Barrett.
(Note: William Whipple Warren, who was an authority on the Chippewa language and history, mentions the old chief, father of the captor of the eagle, but gives the name as Ah-mous instead of Ah-monse and states that the name means Little Bee. Warren is probably right.)

Too much reliance should not be placed on the distances as given by these old pioneers. It was a wilderness country and their estimates, or guesses, as to distance on those crooked streams would vary widely. To locate definitely after all these years the place where the eagle was captured is not as easy a task as one might imagine. Neither the sketch map of Israel Gould nor that of Ah-mous and his son has been preserved. The Barrett book contains a map of the entire Chippewa Valley, with a cross indicating the place where the eagle was captured, but the scale on which the map is drawn is so small as to make it of little value. The region had been only partially surveyed with streams and lakes inaccurately defined, nor not shown at all. Numerous floating dams put in by loggers and later dams for power development purposes have changed the size and outlines of many of the lakes. Present day plats do not show any such lakes as 'Asken' Lake, but as most of the lake are but a widening of the river channel it is possible that in the 60s' a section of the river was designated by the name.

Mr. Donald Boyd, land man for the Northern States Power Company, after careful study of the Gould and other descriptive matter in the Barrett books feels assured that the rapids near which the eagle was captured is the one for many years past known as Schultz Rapids, in Section 33, Township 41, Range 1 East, in the extreme southern part of Ashland County. To be more exact the rapids is located in the SE¼ of the SW¼ of Section 33. As this particular 40 is so largely taken up by the river it is designated on the government plat as Lot 4. A carefully drawn plat of Township 41 shows the rapids to be not over forty rods from the line between Townships 41 and 40, which line is also the boundary between Ashland and Price Counties. The nearest city or village is Park Falls, about five miles below the rapids on the Flambeau River.

Since My Boyd gave his decision as to the location of the place where the eagle was captured an interesting confirmation has come from another source. Mr. C.H. Henry of Eau Claire was for many years in charge of log driving operations on the upper Chippewa and its tributaries for the Chippewa Logging Company, his acquaintance with the water dates back to the 70s'. He secured the charter to put the flooding dams in the Flambeau region. He says he personally knew A-ge-mah-we-ge-zhig and had cut some of the pine on his allotment on the reservation. He says the Indians frequently related to him the circumstances of the eagle's capture and told where it was secured. Mr. Henry brought out a map on which he had some years ago noted the place of the eagle's capture as had been related by A-ge-mah-we-ge-zhig. It was just where designated by Mr. Boyd.

It is absurd to attempt to designate the exact spot, or 'the stump of the tree where the eagle was caught,' as some person's have done. The stretch of rough water designated Schultz Rapids is nearly two miles long. The Barrett map does show the eagle to have been captured on the south side of the Flambeau River, but just how far back from the rapids we do not know. It might easily have been over 40 rods, which would have brought it into Township 40 and into what is now Price County, instead of Ashland County. Why should not a marker be erected at some suitable point on the rapids?

In August, McCann took the eagle to Chippewa Falls and tried to sell it to a battery being organized there. Failing to dispose of it, he went to Eau Claire where a company, then called the Eau Claire Badgers, was about to leave for the front. A sale was made and the Eau Claire Free Press contains the following: 'The Eau Claire Badgers are going into battle under the protecting aegis of a veritable American Eagle.' Arriving at Madison the Badgers were made Company C of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry, also made the color company of the regiment and given the name Eagle Company. The regiment also was known as the Eagle Regiment. Captain Green of Company F, in writing from Madison to his wife, wrote as follows:

September 10, 1861
We have a new recruit, a live eagle. Company C, Captain Perkins, brought him down from Eau Claire. He is a fine specimen of the national bird and the boys have named him 'Old Abe.' A perch has been made for him, with a shield and a number of darts beneath. Old Abe is carried on a pole next to the colors. If he stands to go through the war he will be a famous bird.

Captain Green became a great admirer of the eagle and frequently mentions him in his letters written home. At Benton Barracks, Missouri, he wrote of Old Abe's exploits there, when he got loose as the soldiers were getting off the cars. He was given up for lost, but could occasionally be seen flying high above the soldiers as they marched to the barracks in the outskirts of the city. When the barracks were reached Old Abe settled down on his perch, to the great joy of the regiment.

One member of Company C was designated to carry and care for the eagle. During the three years that Old Abe was with the regiment six of the men had this honor. The writer was personally acquainted with three of them, also with a number of other members of the company. A young cousin of his, a brother to the one who saw the eagle in McCann's door yard, enlisted in the company at the first war meeting and his death, by disease, was one of the first in the Company.

For many years after the Civil War Old Abe as in great demand for public gatherings, especially of a patriotic nature, including the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. In 1881 a fire started in the basement of the old capitol, in a room in which paints and oils were stored. Old Abe was saved, but the dense and offensive smoke seems to have affected him seriously, and he commenced to droop and pine away and died in March. The body was mounted and placed in a glass case. When the writer was attending the state university in the middle 80s', this case stood at the end of the corridor in the capitol building. His mounted body was destroyed a few years later when the old capitol burned.

The last reunion of the Eagle Company was held in Eau Claire several years ago, the writer being on the citizens committee of arrangements. Only a few members of the Eagle Company were then alive and of these not more than two or three now remain.

 

 

Old Abe Main Page

The McCann Family

My Elusive Ancestors

Chippewa County

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