 Captain Perkins named the eagle after President Abraham Lincoln, his quartermaster, Francis L. Billings, made a special perch on which to carry the bird into battle, and a young soldier, James McGinnis, volunteered to take care of him.On September 3, 1861, the Badgers embarked, aboard the steamer "Stella Whipple", on a trip down the Chippewa to the Mississippi and up the Wisconsin River to Madison, Wisconsin.They arrived on the 6th and were immediately mustered into service as Company C of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment.