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These Old Abe feathers were donated in the months following the fire from as far away as Ohio and Massachusetts

The February 1904, fire that destroyed the Wisconsin State Capitol was only the beginning of a period of instability for the young Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall collection. While elements like Old Abe the War Eagle's remains were lost forever, the core of today's Wisconsin Veterans Museum object holdings—the Civil War battle flag collection—was saved thanks to brave bystanders. The will of the Civil War veterans who had advocated for the G.A.R. Memorial Hall's creation also survived. After decades of work to preserve their legacy, they would not hesitate to build again.

As soon as the fire was extinguished, immediate action was taken to save what remained. The battle flags were rehoused with the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, while on site the ashes and debris were sifted for surviving artifacts.

Custodian Hosea Rood told the Wisconsin State Journal two days later, "I found my old drinking cup that I carried on the march to the sea…Of course, we'll find some things such as gun barrels, swords, etc. but little else." Those recovered items were moved to 20 N. Carroll Street, the first of several temporary homes for the G.A.R. collection.

As soon as the fire was extinguished, immediate action was taken to save what remained. The battle flags were rehoused with the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, while on site the ashes and debris were sifted for surviving artifacts.

Custodian Hosea Rood told the Wisconsin State Journal two days later, "I found my old drinking cup that I carried on the march to the sea…Of course, we'll find some things such as gun barrels, swords, etc. but little else." Those recovered items were moved to 20 N. Carroll Street, the first of several temporary homes for the G.A.R. collection.

Tin cup carried by Hosea W. Rood during Sherman's March to the Sea was found by Rood following the fire. This Union belt plate was recovered from the ashes.

Rood appeared in the paper again on March 4, this time admonishing looters at the site. He had recently unearthed a Colt revolver inscribed by Colonel Colt and, in his excitement, showed it to the men helping him dig. But when the volunteers left, so had the revolver.

"I do not like having to lower my notion of the common honesty of men," he stated in his editorial, "If the man who took that revolver…will manage by hook or by crook to get it into our present room…no questions will be asked. He may then go home…and there undisturbed beg to be forgiven."

Rood's anguish and deep sense of responsibility to the collection were evident. There was also no pause in trying to rebuild what had once been.

By mid-March, Wisconsin G.A.R. Department Commander J. P. Rundle announced, "Now, we should begin at once to gather other relics of the great war…as soon as practicable for a new start."

Rood spent the following years integrating post-fire donations and reworking surviving pieces into new exhibits. One striking example is the collection of Old Abe feathers Rood received from around the country and assembled into a custom shadowbox c. 1905.

Meanwhile, construction of the new Capitol was largely completed by 1914. That June, the Wisconsin G.A.R. would hold their annual encampment in the new Capitol's assembly chamber, and Governor Frances McGovern ordered the Civil War battle flags to be returned in time for the meeting. They were the first pieces from the Memorial Hall to move to their new home.

The inscription within the shadowbox reads "After the burning of our Memorieal Hall in the Capitol Fire...and 'Old Ave' with it, several persons who had been keeping feathers of the old bird as souveniers sent them to take his place..." This example of Rood's relic cards explains a surviving object's history through the 1904 fire.

In July, the Wisconsin State Journal wrote, "Those in charge of it are anxiously watching the progress in the building of the north wing in the new capitol, for there, upon the upper floor, Grand Army headquarters and the memorials connected with it will find their permanent home."

Decoration of the space was completed in March 1917, and then Rood began arranging the museum's displays. By December, the flags were moved to their new glass cases, and on June 14, 1918—Flag Day—the G.A.R. Memorial Hall was rededicated. While the 1914 declaration that the Capitol would be the museum's "permanent home" proved incorrect, it was in no small part due to passionate caretakers like Rood that our museum endured and eventually outgrew its Capitol home in the 1980s.

This unusual cup made by a Scandinavian POW at Camp Tyler, Texas, still bearing Rood's original label, is an early post-fire donation.

"A Part of the Story: Rood Leads Collection Recovery and Rebuild" was written by Andrea Hoffman, Curator of Collections at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. This post is from an article first published in the Spring 2026 issue of The Bugle, and adapted for the web.