Since its inception, the 101st Airborne Division — made even more famous by Stephen Ambrose’s “Band of Brothers” — has fought in every major war, from jumping behind the lines on D-Day to fighting in decades of battle in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Its unit patch, the screaming eagle overlaid on a black shield, is perhaps the most recognizable insignia in the U.S. Army. Its history, however, is less so.

While the bald eagle is a national emblem, the 101st’s screaming eagle insignia pays homage to a genuine war bird from the Civil War.

Captured as an eaglet in 1861 by Ahgamahwegezhig (Chief Big Sky) of the Lac du Flambeau Band of the Lake Superior Ojibwe, the bird was soon sold to Daniel McCann of Chippewa County, Wisconsin, for a bushel of corn.

Old Abe at the time of the U.S. cente

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