Trivia 5-3-16 Nickname

[Trivia Master]

What Civil War figure was nicknamed the War Eagle?

credit: @Hunter

 

[1stMN]

Taking a stab here...Old Abe (of the 8th Wisc) was the War Eagle.

 

[nextcity]

Old Abe, an American bald eagle who served as the mascot for the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

 

[kholland]

Old Abe was the eagle mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He took part in 30 battles and his visage is on one of the most recognized US army uniform patches, The 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagles".

 

[MajGenl.Meade]

What Civil War figure was nicknamed the War Eagle?

Whoever or whatever else it may have been, Old Abe, the War Eagle of the 8th Wisconsin meets the criteria of the question.

Old Abe the War Eagle

Expired Image Removed​

Old Abe Oil Painting by L.A. Dow, 1905
(Wisconsin Veterans Museum Collection)

One of the most well known figures in Wisconsin from the Civil War is Old Abe, an American bald eagle who served as the mascot for the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He participated in over thirty battles, narrowly avoiding significant wounds on several occasions. During the war, he became a rallying point to Union troops and an anathema to Confederate soldiers, who called him the Yankee Buzzard and set bounties on him. His service to the Union resulted in widespread fame, and his life after the war reflected the esteem with which Wisconsin and other states held him. While fire ultimately took Old Abe's life and physical remains, his legacy still remains and can be seen to this day around Wisconsin and the United States. This exhibit seeks to shed light on Old Abe's origins, wartime service, post-war life, and the ways in which he lives on today.

- See more at: http://www.wisvetsmuseum.com/exhibitions/online/old_abe/#sthash.Jli6sP6z.dpuf


Then again, the Auburn cry of "War Eagle" has an association with the War of the Rebellion:

Auburn University's website states that the most popular version of the "War Eagle" story dates back to 1892 when Auburn and Georgia met for the first time on the football field. The story tells of a Civil War veteran and his pet eagle he had found on a battlefield and rescued. During the game, the eagle soared into the sky over their field as the Auburn football team simultaneously charged the Georgia end zone and achieved their first, exhilarating win over Georgia. After the Tigers' victory, the eagle suddenly nose-dived, crashed into the field and died. But the "War Eagle" lived on in the hearts and spirits of proud Auburn fans everywhere. But if you were to walk down the bustling concourse and manage to stop a student dashing to class you might find a different answer.

Catchpole was stopped and asked which "War Eagle" story she was most familiar with. She replied, "The most common version of the 'War Eagle' story that I've always heard is that a professor discovered an eagle off the field of battle, brought the bird back with him when he returned and the professor and the eagle became a well-known sight around campus. During a game, in which Auburn was losing, the eagle took flight around the stadium and the students, recognizing the bird, began to chant, 'War Eagle.' This spurred the team onto victory and 'War Eagle' became the Auburn University war cry."

 

[MRB1863]

Old Abe, a bald eagle mascot was called the War Eagle.

One of the most well known figures in Wisconsin from the Civil War is Old Abe, an American bald eagle who served as the mascot for the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He participated in over thirty battles, narrowly avoiding significant wounds on several occasions. During the war, he became a rallying point to Union troops and an anathema to Confederate soldiers, who called him the Yankee Buzzard and set bounties on him. His service to the Union resulted in widespread fame, and his life after the war reflected the esteem with which Wisconsin and other states held him. While fire ultimately took Old Abe's life and physical remains, his legacy still remains and can be seen to this day around Wisconsin and the United States. This exhibit seeks to shed light on Old Abe's origins, wartime service, post-war life, and the ways in which he lives on today. - See more at: http://www.wisvetsmuseum.com/exhibitions/online/old_abe/#sthash.va4z0gDo.dpuf

 

[Stony]

The one and only General Nathan Bedford Forest.
source-Civil War Alabama by Christopher Lyle Mcllwein, page 163
From an advertisement of the Newspaper Mobile Advertiser & Register calling on men to "Volunteer for General Forest, The "War Eagle".
https://books.google.com/books?id=Aq1rCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA163&lpg=PA163&dq=was+nathan+forrest+known+as+the+war+eagle?&source=bl&ots
Also found this from this website-"A Battery for Gen. Forrest--By request of the citizens of Montgomery Manager Crisp gave a benefit Tuesday night in the Montgomery Theatre, to increase by its proceeds the subscription fund, now being raised by the people of the Confederacy, to present to the "war eagle," N. B. Forrest, for the use of his command a light battery composed of the newly invented "Travis Guns."

From an article dated, Dec. 5, 1864.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

Two answers. Old Abe, the eagle mascot of the Wisconsin 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry as nicknamed War Eagle and according to Peter Cozzens' Shenandoah 1862: Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign, "War Eagle" was the nickname of Union General Robert Milroy.

 

[NFB22]

Old Abe?

 

[Northern Light]

Old Abe the War Eagle was the mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
http://www.wisvetsmuseum.com/exhibitions/online/old_abe/

 

[Reb]

Old Abe, an American bald eagle who served as the mascot for the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment - See more at: http://www.wisvetsmuseum.com/exhibitions/online/old_abe/#sthash.HGzgkXt0.dpuf

 

[BlueGrayBlood]

Again we look to the scorekeeper for the semantics of the question!

Just as the word "buried" is officially defined as "in a tomb" (does not have to be in the ground i.e."buried at sea")
Is this also a "trick"
We now ask, what the word "figure" is defined as for this question?

I choose Oxford (online)
2.2 A person of a particular kind, especially one who is important or distinctive in some way:
. . something of a cult figure

as opposed to any symbol, or object, or person that; "play a significant role in a situation or event"

Ruling out "Old Abe" a/k/a "War Eagle", Wisconsin eagle whose likeness is on the 101st Airborne patch
http://www.army.mil/article/91178/ with picture
Now Old Abe the War Eagle was a symbol (figure) of patriotism, but not a person.

Also ruling out the Civil War Steamship War Eagle, a 290 ton side-wheel riverboat, powered by three 14 foot boilers, a swift and dominant packet on the Mississippi River. In the war she was used to transport troops and supplies. In 1862 however, a stray bullet pierced her smokestack while she was leaving the mouth of the Tennessee River.
Now War Eagle was a symbol (figure) of speed and strength, but not a person.

Therefore, my answer is:

Union Brigadier General Robert H. Milroy
(see references and notes, quotes)

"A nickname for Union Gen. Robert H. Milroy"
' . . designated by the army as "War Eagle"
" . . . Brigadier General Robert H. Milroy "The War Eagle" as this Indiana born officer was a proven soldier of great energy and courage."
" . . clear the road to the "Old War Eagle," as the men styled General Milroy."

http://www.ageod-forum.com/archive/index.php/t-5682.html
Union Generals - Nicknames * Robert H Milroy* "The War Eagle"

Also known as:
Grey Eagle: Major General Robert Huston Milroy and the ...
https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/view/11359/16427
Gen. Milroy, The Gray Eagle
http://www.myjcpl.org/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/4339/lesson1-milroy.pdf

The Gray Eagle Descends Upon Winchester - Gen Robert Milroy, Nat'l Park Service
https://www.nps.gov/cebe/learn/hist...escends-upon-winchester-gen-robert-milroy.htm

page 260 . .

page 9 - 10 . .

page 434 . .

Edit - Your answer of Robert Milroy is a correct answer.

I am also going to accept Old Abe, the mascot of the 8th Wisconsin, as a correct answer. It is clear that because the word "figure" was used instead of "person" or "personality," many players concluded that the correct answer need not necessarily be a human being.

Hoosier

 

[Brenal]

Old Abe, an American bald eagle who served as the mascot for the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

 

[JOHN42768]

Old Abe the War Eagle
Bald Eagles | Road to Camp Randall | At War | Close Calls
Eagle Bearers | Post-War | Legacy | Credits

Expired Image Removed​

Old Abe Oil Painting by L.A. Dow, 1905
(Wisconsin Veterans Museum Collection)

One of the most well known figures in Wisconsin from the Civil War is Old Abe, an American bald eagle who served as the mascot for the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He participated in over thirty battles, narrowly avoiding significant wounds on several occasions. During the war, he became a rallying point to Union troops and an anathema to Confederate soldiers, who called him the Yankee Buzzard and set bounties on him. His service to the Union resulted in widespread fame, and his life after the war reflected the esteem with which Wisconsin and other states held him. While fire ultimately took Old Abe's life and physical remains, his legacy still remains and can be seen to this day around Wisconsin and the United States. This exhibit seeks to shed light on Old Abe's origins, wartime service, post-war life, and the ways in which he lives on today.

- See more at: http://www.wisvetsmuseum.com/exhibitions/online/old_abe/#sthash.33oBs2bl.dpuf

 

[JOHN42768]

Never Forget Memorial Day. A War Eagle Remembers.

 

[donna]

Old Abe the American War Eagle and Mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Regiment.

 

[MaryDee]

Searching turned up two:

There's Old Abe the War Eagle, a bald eagle, the mascot of the 8th Wisconsin. http://www.wisvetsmuseum.com/exhibitions/online/old_abe/
Abe is certainly the best known War Eagle of the CW.

Then there's the War Eagle which inspired the battle cry of Auburn University, a wounded eagle supposedly found on a Civil War battlefield by a Confederate soldier (in one version, an Auburn professor) and nursed back to health. http://family.auburn.edu/m/blogpost?id=3964868:BlogPost:24440

Searching (either google or my memory, such as it is ) didn't turn up any Civil War humans with this nickname.

I'd pick Old Abe as the best known of the two. If @Hunter is an Auburn graduate, I hope he/she will pardon me!

Edit - The story of the Auburn War Eagle being brought off a Civil War battlefield is supported by a source, so I will accept that as a correct answer.

Hoosier

 

[TinCan]

Old Abe, mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry.

 

[adisciu9]

Old Abe the War Eagle, an American bald eagle who served as the mascot for the Eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

 

[FarawayFriend]

The question sounded easy enough, but I'm not sure that I found the right thing
I go with the young wounded eagle from this story from the Wikipedi article about the "War Eagle":

"According to the legend, a soldier from Alabama was the sole Confederate survivor of a bloody battle, Battle of the Wilderness. Stumbling across the battlefield, he came across a wounded young eagle. The bird was named Anvre, and was cared for and nursed back to health by the soldier. Several years later the soldier, a former Auburn student, returned to college as a faculty member, bringing the bird with him. For years both were a familiar sight on campus and at events. On the day of Auburn's first football game in 1892 against theUniversity of Georgia, the aged eagle broke away from his master during the game and began to circle the field, exciting the fans. But at the end of the game, with Auburn victorious, the eagle fell to the ground and died. In 2010, a children's book,"The War Eagle Story" by Francesca Adler-Baeder and illustrated by Tiffany Everett was published that favors this version of the story."

But while searching I found this site here, a wonderful source for future Trivia questions about nicknames! Help yourself!
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.ph..._of_military_figures_by_nickname&id=717131812