idea occurred to the old farmer that the eagle should go to war. Acting on this idea he took him to Eau Claire and sold him. Shortly after the purchaser presented him to Co. C, 8th Wis. Vols., who made a standard for him upon which he was carried by the side of the regimental colors. For three long, hard, eventful years "Old Abe" was a comrade of that regiment, doing noble service in his way. He accompanied the regiment in all its marches, and took a lively interest in all of its battles. When the army was enveloped in smoke “Old Abe " manifested great delight. At such a time he was always to be found at the head of Co. C. When the storm of battle was raging fiercely and the air was dense with smoke, this noble bird would spread his pinions, jump up and down on his perch, utter such wild and unearthly screams as only an eagle can utter. The more terrific the battle, the fiercer the screams. A rebel soldier, brother of a noted guerrilla chief, visiting Madison in 1875, informed George W. Baker, one of the eagle's attendants, that, while in the Southern service, during one of the battles, he heard a rebel general say, "I rather capture ‘Old Abe' than a whole brigade."

During a lull in the battle, as the enemy was preparing again to fire from the brow of the hill, distant not over thirty rods from the 8th Regt., the eagle being exposed in plain sight of the rebels, a Confederate officer was heard by several in Company C to say, "There he is-the eagle-capture him, boys!" No sooner was this command given, than the rebel artillery opened upon our forces, under whose cover a column, just discerned in the gathering smoke, moved briskly over the crest to break and scatter our steady front, and capture the prize. All this while, the eagle scanned with fire-lit eye every movement on that hill, and as the rebel infantry hove clearly in sight, it is said, he whistled a startling note of alarm, and instantly both armies struck each other in deafening shock, commingling with the boom and crash of cannon that trembled forest and valley. Shouts from both sides rent the air, while death mowed his swath clear through both armies, and yet the bloody gaps closed up again and again. Such is war! In the general conflict, the eagle leaped up with a desperate spring, breaking his cord or else it was cut by a minie ball, and was seen by the combatants, circling, careering in the sulphurous smoke. The enemy pressed nearer, exultant, as if sure of their prize; the

bullets flew as hailstones; there was a wavering of a wingwas he hit?-but the war bird rallied again, and, as he rose higher, many a rebel shot went up to bring down the American eagle. Yet on he sped, towering above that awful din, screaming back to his assailants, eying the battle from his sky-eyrie, when, catching a glimmer of his comrades in the fight and the colors where his bearer stood gazing upward with suspense-as if inspired by the very Roman gods-he descended, like a "bolt of Jove," to the left of his regiment, where McLane, flying after him, easily caught him up in his arms, trembling and panting with ardor, and whistling with his peculiar air of satisfaction. By permission, his bearer immediately carried him cautiously from the field to the camp, where he remained till the close of the next day of battle, which ended in a Federal victory, purchased at a dear cost. On examination, it was found that the eagle was hit by a rebel bullet in the feathers of a wing near the flesh.

Col. J. W. Jefferson, who led the valiant 8th in the Red River expedition, thus happily describes the eagle on parade and in battle:

"Old Abe' was with the command in nearly every action (about twenty-two), and in thirty skirmishes. He enjoyed the excitement; and I am convinced, from his peculiar manner, he was well informed in regard to army movements, dress parade, and preparations for the march and battle. Upon parade, after he had been a year in the service, he always gave heed to Attention!' With his head obliquely to the front, his right eye directly turned upon the parade commander, he would listen and obey orders, noting time accurately. After parade had been dismissed, and the ranks were being closed by the sergeants, he would lay aside his soldierly manner, flap his wings, and make himself generally at home. When there was an order to form for battle, he and the colors were first upon the line. His actions upon those occasions were uneasy, turning his head anxiously from right to left to see when the line was completed. Soon as the regiment got ready, faced, and was put in march, he would assume a steady and quiet demeanor. In battle he was almost constantly flapping his wings, having his mouth wide open, and many a time would scream with wild enthusiasm. This was particularly so at the hard fought battle of Corinth, when our regiment repulsed and charged, or,

you might say, made a counter charge, on Price's famous Mo. brigade."

Thus the Wisconsin war eagle became the most famous bird that ever fanned the breeze of heaven.

He came out of the war known as the " Eagle Veteran” of the great Rebellion, with eye unblenched, with fearless and untiring wing, with talons still grasping the lightnings of battle, he came home to rest, crowned with the highest honor, revered and loved by all.

Oft had he by example cheered the desponding, roused ambition, and encouraged sacrifices. He had enlivened the dull hours of camp life, and during the thickest of the fight he would stand aloft with unfurled pinions, and with a wild, terrible shriek, lead the deadly charge to victory. Under the national colors, tattered and torn, yet blazing with the stars he loved, this "Bird of the Union " taught, by his spirit and example, the true art of conquest. After his brave and noble career in field and camp with the 8th, he was formally presented to the state of Wisconsin, and assigned quarters in the State House at Madison, where he was called upon by thousands of people eager to gaze upon such a grand specimen of the feathered tribe.

Not only was "Old Abe" of great service on the field of battle, but he was the means of raising thousands of dollars for the benefit of needy soldiers, their widows, and orphans.

When the great sanitary fair was held at Chicago, Alfred Sewell had a beautiful little likeness made of the brave bird and organized a corps of patriotic boys and girls throughout the Union to sell them. This juvenile army numbered nearly 12,000 loyal children, and through their active effort the snug sum of $16,000 was turned over by Mr. Sewell to the committee of the fair.

At the Centennial "Old Abe" was the object of great interest and admiration of the masses who continually crowded about his perch. No bird in the history of the world ever gained such an enviable reputation or was so loved by a nation, and when in 18- the news was spread throughout the land that "Old Abe" was dead, thousands of hearts were caused to

sorrow.

SOLDIERS' LETTERS.

THE ARMY POST OFFICE AT PORT ROYAL, S. C

Reminiscences of the Civil Service at the Front During the War. How Soldiers' Letters and Papers Were Mailed and Distributed.

(HE volunteer army that fought through the War of the Rebellion was a reading and writing army. No other army ever equaled it in this respect. The men had scarcely left their homes for the field before the dear home folks began to follow them with letters, newspapers, books, and all descriptions of reading matter, and at every opportunity on their route and all through the long four years of fighting, the soldiers dropped the sword and took up the pen with their tales of labors, dangers, and sufferings. In many an old trunk and chest, to-day, are stored away precious packets of letters that in their day bore sad burdens of grief or precious freights of consolation from the soldier boy to his mother. Many others are the only relics of lives sacrificed for the country, containing the words and thoughts, and to a great extent the personality of men whose monument in some national cemetery is marked "unknown."

The departure of thousands of home-loving men to the front thus threw a tremendous burden of work upon the post office department. The government at once recognized that the postal service should become a means of moral support to the army, and no restrictions were placed upon frequent and unlimited communication by mail between the camp and the home. The service was greatly enlarged and extended to the army wherever that was practicable, red tape was cut mercilessly and the mails were hustled about, oftentimes regardless of regulations, the only desideratum being to "get there."

In the summer of 1863, after having been in the government service for a year as superintendent of abandoned plantations and "contrabands," near Beaufort, S. C., I was appointed assistant postmaster of the Port Royal post office, on the Island of Hilton Head, S. C. This was the general distributing office for the Department of the South, which included all the army posts in South Carolina, Georgia, and Eastern Florida. The number of troops in the department was about 10,000, but that number was doubled at one time, when the attack upon Charleston was in preparation. In addition, there were many civilians in the department, for Hilton Head became for the time being a lively place for business, and Beaufort, formerly, as now, one of the finest watering places on the Southeast coast, was the headquarters of an interesting movement for the benefit of the colored people. Under General Rufus Saxton, the military governor of South Carolina, as he was officially titled, were employed a large number of civilians, men and women, who were distributed about the plantations, teaching schools, helping the colored people to care for themselves, and generally trying to lift them out of the darkness and ignorance and indolence in which slavery left them, into something like civilization. The Port Royal post office also received and distributed the mails for the South Atlantic naval squadron, which blockaded the coast from Charleston to lower Florida, and cruised between the Bermudas and the Bahamas.

Hilton Head was the headquarters of the 10th Army Corps. The government had built a long, substantial wharf from the low, sandy shore, to deep water, where ocean steamships could lie and discharge their freight. From this wharf railroad tracks radiated in various directions to the army store-houses, ordnance stores, forage sheds, etc., which covered nearly a square mile of territory. Along the beach were built the quarters of the officers, not palatial residences by any means, but plain whitewashed wooden buildings, designed for comfort and convenience, rather than luxury. On the shore was also the department hospital, a very large building or collection of buildings, open to the fresh sea breezes and supplied with all the comforts and conveniences that could be afforded in the army. Near the head of the government wharf was an old mansion, once the residence of the planter who cultivated the