Old Abe and the Union City Soldier
Shipman W. Griffith played a game of geographical musical chairs to get in his Civil War soldiering. He started from his New York home and enlisted in the Wisconsin Eagle Regiment. Later in his life he joined the Grand Army of the Republic in Union City, Pennsylvania. In between he enjoyed many adventures and compiled and impressive war record.
Shipman W. Griffith was born in Pike, New York on June 9, 1830. He lived there until he turned 20 years old and then he moved to Wisconsin. On August 14, 1861, he enlisted in Company C of the 8th Wisconsin Regiment, better known as "The Eagle Regiment." His company had the distinction of carrying "Old Abe," the warrior eagle, into battle.
Old Abe Has a More Legendary Pedigree Than Shipman Griffith
Old Abe's beginnings were much more shrouded in legend than were Shipman Griffith's. The legend goes that Chief Sky of the Lac du Flambeau Indian tribe in northern Wisconsin found Abe in a treetop aerie and Abe bit the Chief's hand on first acquaintance.
In the spring of 1861, Abe rode in Chief Sky's arms to the cabin of Daniel McCann, located about ten miles up the Chippewa River from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
Although Abe wasn't any bigger than a crow, he sounded like a flock of them. Mrs. Daniel McCann gave Chief Sky a bag of corn in exchange for Abe, but after a few weeks Abe's quarrelsome and noisy personality got on her nerves. She told Daniel to take him to Eau Claire and get rid of him. Daniel sold Old Abe to some soldiers bound for Camp Randall at Madison, Wisconsin, for $2.50.
The soldiers didn't mind Abe's squawking or fighting spirit. In fact, they liked him so well that they adopted him as their mascot and changed the name of their company from "Badgers" to "The Eagle Regiment." Captain Perkins, who afterward was killed the Battle of Farmington, christened the eagle "Od Abe" to honor the services of Abraham Lincoln.
The Eighth Wisconsin or Eagle Regiment, organized on September 4, 1861. Colonel Robert C. Murphy of St. Croix Falls commanded the 986 men and one eagle who made up the regiment. Military life seemed to agree with Abe, so much so that the soldiers made a shield for him and painted the Stars and Stripes on it. They inscribed it, "Eighth Regiment Wisconsin," and fastened the shield on top of a five foot pole. The soldiers fought over who would carry the pole when the regiment marched, but no matter who carried the pole Abe always rode in the line of march beside the flag.
Women at Madison presented the Eagle Regiment with a metal perch for Abe and he was formally sworn into the Union Army decked out in red, white, and blue ribbons. The regiment stayed in Camp Randall at Madison, Wisconsin, until October 12, 1861, when on that morning at 9:30 it left for St. Louis. The Madison Journal remarked on its departure: "The departure was managed better than that of any regiment that has yet left Camp Randall. Within half an hour from the time the cars were ready, the regiment with all its baggage, band, and officers were on board, and the two trains and fifteen cars each were in action. The second train stopped a few moments at the depot, but was bowling across the bridge at twenty five minutes before ten o'clock."
Arriving in St. Louis on the evening of October 13, 1861, the Regiment attracted much attention. It was received and complimented by Secretary of War Simeon Cameron and Adjutant General Thomas. It was the first regiment from Wisconsin that had passed through the city and it attracted much attention. The march to Benton Barracks created a furor because Old Abe rode alongside the regimental flag.
The baptism of fire for Shipman Griffith and Old Abe took place on May 9, 1862, at Farmington, Missouri. On the morning of May 9, about 20,000 Confederate attacked General Pope's force at Farmington. Major Jefferson and Old Abe fought in the battle too on the side of the Union. He jabbered loudly and soared in widening circles as if he were scouting. If he spotted something, he returned to his perch and screamed at the men until they investigated what he was telling them.
Abe was so active that his comrades had to fasten a thong to one of his talons and attach it to his shield to slow him down. Like a true eagle, Abe didn't appreciate being tied down and he told he soldiers so at the top of his lungs.
At the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, shot from a Confederate battery cut the cord of Old Abe who sat on his perch viewing the battle.He slowly flew away and floated over the Rebel lines out of sight, which demoralized the Union troops more than the Confederate battery. One of the officers of Abe's regiment said, "our eagle usually accompanied us on the bloody field and I heard Confederate prisoners say that they would have given more to capture the eagle of the Eighth Wisconsin than to take a whole brigade of men.
From 1861 to 1864, Old Abe served the Union Army well. He led his comrades
into battle at least 16 times, according to one tally. If the government had
awarded Purple Hearts, then Abe would have earned two of them since he was
wounded at Vicksburg and Corinth. Although Abe was battle scarred, he lived to
become a veteran, which made him more fortunate than many of the soldiers from
his Eagle Regiment who died from wounds or disease. Shipman Griffith also survived
Old Abe Raises Money for Soldiers and is Appointed State MascotWhen Old Abe and his regiment marched through Madison, Wisconsin, in September 1864, he was limber enough to pace his perch and inspect the cheering crowds. Abe got more attention than the soldiers did! In the winter of 1864 at the Chicago Sanitary
Fair, Abe raised $16,000 for the agency that did the work that the modern Red
Cross now does.
After the Civil War ended, the soldiers from Abe’s regiment presented him to the State of Wisconsin and state officials gave him the peacetime job of state mascot. One of the fringe benefits of his job included a roosting room in the basement of the state capitol and his own personal valet.
// A soldier by the name of Johnny Hill was appointed to be Abe’s valet, which suited Abe just fine. He and Johnny dated to the time when Johnny’s cabin stood within sight of Abe’s treetop aerie. They enlisted together in the summer of 1861, and became such close friends that when Abe went on the state circuit, Johnny Hill became his chaperon.
Old Abe Becomes a CelebrityThe state circuit made Abe more of a celebrity. People from all over the country came to visit Abe and grab souvenirs if they could. His molting feathers sold for $5.00 each and when the demand exceeded the supply, rumor had it that carefully matched chicken feathers had been substituted for the real thing. Abe’s popularity continued to grow and he became a national celebrity. At the convention where General U.S. Grant was first nominated for president, Abe stood on his shield screaming his victory scream for the General, of course.
Monetarily speaking, Abe and Johnny Hill could have been rich if they had chosen to hoard his earnings. The proceeds from his picture sales added up to thousands of dollars, but the money was used to aid disabled soldiers. A St. Louis businessman offered to buy Abe for $500.00. P.T. Barnum dangled a $20,000 inducement to use Abe as a circus attraction, but by this time, Abe was such a favorite son of Wisconsin that even big money couldn’t tempt Wisconsinites to sell their eagle.
Abe Attracts Famous PeopleAbe was so popular in Wisconsin that it required a special legislative act and approval of the governor to permit him to leave the state to attend the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. When Abe arrived, more people came to see him than Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, which was being demonstrated for the first time anywhere.
Jane Addams of Chicago was one of Abe’s friends and admirers,. She made a special trip to Madison to see Abe and she recalled, “We found Old Abe sitting sedately upon his high perch…I caught the notion of the martyred president as the standard bearer to the conscience of his countrymen, as the eagle had been the ensign of courage to the soldiers of the Wisconsin Regiment.”
Abe Dies in Smoke and Flame, but His Memory SurvivesDeath came to Abe as he had lived during his Civil War years, in smoke and flames. The warrior eagle who survived two battles and countless skirmishes, suffocated in a small fire originating in a pile of waste paper. The date was March 1886, and all of Wisconsin and American paused to mourn his passing, from governors to rough-hewn northwoods lumberjacks. Abe’s remains were artistically stuffed and mounted and for many years occupied a place of honor in the capitol rotunda in Madison. Then on February 27, 1904, history repeated itself. Fire struck the state capitol and Abe’s remains burned along with the capitol building.
Images of Old Abe still linger in the form of a granite statue guarding the entrance of the old Civil War training ground at Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin. And a mounted,
feathered likeness of Old Abe has guarded the speaker’s desk in the state capitol at Madison since 1915. In stories about Old Abe and books about the Eighth Wisconsin Regiment, Old Abe's voice can be heard over the boom of the guns.
Shipman Griffith told stories about Old Abe when he moved to Union City after he was discharged from the service on September 16, 1864 and moved to Union City. On September 9, 1868, he married Harriet S. Smith and they had a son, John a. Griffith.
Shipman Griffith was a long time member of the John W. McLane Post No. 102, GAR, and he never tried of telling his comrades about his experiences with Old Abe, the warrior eagle.
References
Joseph Barrett, Old Abe: The Live War Eagle of Wisconsin that Served a
three Years Campaign in the Great Rebellion, Kessinger Publishing, 2008
Shipman W. Griffith was born in Pike, New York on June 9, 1830. He lived there until he turned 20 years old and then he moved to Wisconsin. On August 14, 1861, he enlisted in Company C of the 8th Wisconsin Regiment, better known as "The Eagle Regiment." His company had the distinction of carrying "Old Abe," the warrior eagle, into battle.
Old Abe Has a More Legendary Pedigree Than Shipman Griffith
Old Abe's beginnings were much more shrouded in legend than were Shipman Griffith's. The legend goes that Chief Sky of the Lac du Flambeau Indian tribe in northern Wisconsin found Abe in a treetop aerie and Abe bit the Chief's hand on first acquaintance.
In the spring of 1861, Abe rode in Chief Sky's arms to the cabin of Daniel McCann, located about ten miles up the Chippewa River from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
Although Abe wasn't any bigger than a crow, he sounded like a flock of them. Mrs. Daniel McCann gave Chief Sky a bag of corn in exchange for Abe, but after a few weeks Abe's quarrelsome and noisy personality got on her nerves. She told Daniel to take him to Eau Claire and get rid of him. Daniel sold Old Abe to some soldiers bound for Camp Randall at Madison, Wisconsin, for $2.50.
The soldiers didn't mind Abe's squawking or fighting spirit. In fact, they liked him so well that they adopted him as their mascot and changed the name of their company from "Badgers" to "The Eagle Regiment." Captain Perkins, who afterward was killed the Battle of Farmington, christened the eagle "Od Abe" to honor the services of Abraham Lincoln.
The Eighth Wisconsin or Eagle Regiment, organized on September 4, 1861. Colonel Robert C. Murphy of St. Croix Falls commanded the 986 men and one eagle who made up the regiment. Military life seemed to agree with Abe, so much so that the soldiers made a shield for him and painted the Stars and Stripes on it. They inscribed it, "Eighth Regiment Wisconsin," and fastened the shield on top of a five foot pole. The soldiers fought over who would carry the pole when the regiment marched, but no matter who carried the pole Abe always rode in the line of march beside the flag.
Women at Madison presented the Eagle Regiment with a metal perch for Abe and he was formally sworn into the Union Army decked out in red, white, and blue ribbons. The regiment stayed in Camp Randall at Madison, Wisconsin, until October 12, 1861, when on that morning at 9:30 it left for St. Louis. The Madison Journal remarked on its departure: "The departure was managed better than that of any regiment that has yet left Camp Randall. Within half an hour from the time the cars were ready, the regiment with all its baggage, band, and officers were on board, and the two trains and fifteen cars each were in action. The second train stopped a few moments at the depot, but was bowling across the bridge at twenty five minutes before ten o'clock."
Arriving in St. Louis on the evening of October 13, 1861, the Regiment attracted much attention. It was received and complimented by Secretary of War Simeon Cameron and Adjutant General Thomas. It was the first regiment from Wisconsin that had passed through the city and it attracted much attention. The march to Benton Barracks created a furor because Old Abe rode alongside the regimental flag.
The baptism of fire for Shipman Griffith and Old Abe took place on May 9, 1862, at Farmington, Missouri. On the morning of May 9, about 20,000 Confederate attacked General Pope's force at Farmington. Major Jefferson and Old Abe fought in the battle too on the side of the Union. He jabbered loudly and soared in widening circles as if he were scouting. If he spotted something, he returned to his perch and screamed at the men until they investigated what he was telling them.
Abe was so active that his comrades had to fasten a thong to one of his talons and attach it to his shield to slow him down. Like a true eagle, Abe didn't appreciate being tied down and he told he soldiers so at the top of his lungs.
At the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, shot from a Confederate battery cut the cord of Old Abe who sat on his perch viewing the battle.He slowly flew away and floated over the Rebel lines out of sight, which demoralized the Union troops more than the Confederate battery. One of the officers of Abe's regiment said, "our eagle usually accompanied us on the bloody field and I heard Confederate prisoners say that they would have given more to capture the eagle of the Eighth Wisconsin than to take a whole brigade of men.
From 1861 to 1864, Old Abe served the Union Army well. He led his comrades
into battle at least 16 times, according to one tally. If the government had
awarded Purple Hearts, then Abe would have earned two of them since he was
wounded at Vicksburg and Corinth. Although Abe was battle scarred, he lived to
become a veteran, which made him more fortunate than many of the soldiers from
his Eagle Regiment who died from wounds or disease. Shipman Griffith also survived
Old Abe Raises Money for Soldiers and is Appointed State MascotWhen Old Abe and his regiment marched through Madison, Wisconsin, in September 1864, he was limber enough to pace his perch and inspect the cheering crowds. Abe got more attention than the soldiers did! In the winter of 1864 at the Chicago Sanitary
Fair, Abe raised $16,000 for the agency that did the work that the modern Red
Cross now does.
After the Civil War ended, the soldiers from Abe’s regiment presented him to the State of Wisconsin and state officials gave him the peacetime job of state mascot. One of the fringe benefits of his job included a roosting room in the basement of the state capitol and his own personal valet.
// A soldier by the name of Johnny Hill was appointed to be Abe’s valet, which suited Abe just fine. He and Johnny dated to the time when Johnny’s cabin stood within sight of Abe’s treetop aerie. They enlisted together in the summer of 1861, and became such close friends that when Abe went on the state circuit, Johnny Hill became his chaperon.
Old Abe Becomes a CelebrityThe state circuit made Abe more of a celebrity. People from all over the country came to visit Abe and grab souvenirs if they could. His molting feathers sold for $5.00 each and when the demand exceeded the supply, rumor had it that carefully matched chicken feathers had been substituted for the real thing. Abe’s popularity continued to grow and he became a national celebrity. At the convention where General U.S. Grant was first nominated for president, Abe stood on his shield screaming his victory scream for the General, of course.
Monetarily speaking, Abe and Johnny Hill could have been rich if they had chosen to hoard his earnings. The proceeds from his picture sales added up to thousands of dollars, but the money was used to aid disabled soldiers. A St. Louis businessman offered to buy Abe for $500.00. P.T. Barnum dangled a $20,000 inducement to use Abe as a circus attraction, but by this time, Abe was such a favorite son of Wisconsin that even big money couldn’t tempt Wisconsinites to sell their eagle.
Abe Attracts Famous PeopleAbe was so popular in Wisconsin that it required a special legislative act and approval of the governor to permit him to leave the state to attend the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. When Abe arrived, more people came to see him than Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, which was being demonstrated for the first time anywhere.
Jane Addams of Chicago was one of Abe’s friends and admirers,. She made a special trip to Madison to see Abe and she recalled, “We found Old Abe sitting sedately upon his high perch…I caught the notion of the martyred president as the standard bearer to the conscience of his countrymen, as the eagle had been the ensign of courage to the soldiers of the Wisconsin Regiment.”
Abe Dies in Smoke and Flame, but His Memory SurvivesDeath came to Abe as he had lived during his Civil War years, in smoke and flames. The warrior eagle who survived two battles and countless skirmishes, suffocated in a small fire originating in a pile of waste paper. The date was March 1886, and all of Wisconsin and American paused to mourn his passing, from governors to rough-hewn northwoods lumberjacks. Abe’s remains were artistically stuffed and mounted and for many years occupied a place of honor in the capitol rotunda in Madison. Then on February 27, 1904, history repeated itself. Fire struck the state capitol and Abe’s remains burned along with the capitol building.
Images of Old Abe still linger in the form of a granite statue guarding the entrance of the old Civil War training ground at Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin. And a mounted,
feathered likeness of Old Abe has guarded the speaker’s desk in the state capitol at Madison since 1915. In stories about Old Abe and books about the Eighth Wisconsin Regiment, Old Abe's voice can be heard over the boom of the guns.
Shipman Griffith told stories about Old Abe when he moved to Union City after he was discharged from the service on September 16, 1864 and moved to Union City. On September 9, 1868, he married Harriet S. Smith and they had a son, John a. Griffith.
Shipman Griffith was a long time member of the John W. McLane Post No. 102, GAR, and he never tried of telling his comrades about his experiences with Old Abe, the warrior eagle.
References
Joseph Barrett, Old Abe: The Live War Eagle of Wisconsin that Served a
three Years Campaign in the Great Rebellion, Kessinger Publishing, 2008