Comments on: Review: “Old Abe, Eagle Hero”

By: Patrick Young

Patrick Young — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 03:07:11 +0000

Re: Chris Evans comment on a history of the 8th Wisconsin and Old Abe.
The best book I know of is Old Abe the War Eagle by Richard H. Zeitlin, Ph.D., the late director of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum (Wisconsin Historical Society, 1986), which the Society is selling, I believe, for $9.95.
Zeitlin originally reserched the story of Old Abe and the 8th Wisconsin for his history Ph.D. at the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison. He later turned it into a book. It is a readable tale and thoroughly documented. The book’s biggest flaw, from my standpoint, is that it lacks an index.

By: Chris Evans

Chris Evans — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:25:03 +0000

Thanks for posting about ‘Old Abe’. He (or She) is one of my favorite stories of the American Civil War. I love the stories about ‘Old Abe’ breaking from his perch and then the men would think ‘Abe’ was gone forever and the he would somehow find them in camp after it was all over.

I believe ‘Abe’ killed another eagle mascot of a Wisconsin regiment when they were sharing quarters at the statehouse. ‘Abe’ really was a tough old bird.

When I see a demonstration of a eagle or see one flying in the sky I usually of ‘Old Abe’.

It would be neat if someone could do a unit history of the 8th Wisconsin and have a lot of verifiable information on ‘Abe’ tied into the story.

Chris

By: Nick Kurtz

Nick Kurtz — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:26:27 +0000

I did a presentation on the 8th Wisconsin for my roundtable and the consensus I found was that Old Abe was likely female. Of course it could be wrong but that’s the way the evidence leans.