A news article from the Wisconsin State Journal – July 20, 1895 reports, “The center of the capitol rotunda is now a place of much interest to GAR men and others who take an interest in the history of the war. All the flags carried by the Fifty-second Wisconsin regiments in the war, with several captured from the rebels, have been take from the quartermaster general’s office and tastefully arranged in eight new glass cases bordering the rotunda. Each flag is marked with a card showing the regiment to which it belonged; all the flags of each regiment are grouped together, and a placard giving the date of organization of the regiment, the battles in which it was engaged, and other details, are being printed and will be in place in a day or two.  The stuffed body of Old Abe, the war eagle, has been brought up from the basement and placed in a glass case in the center of the rotunda and a card will give his history also….”