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On June 19, 1783, the General Society of the Cincinnati adopted the Bald Eagle as its insignia. This date was one day short of the one year after Congress had adopted the Bald Eagle as the seal of the United States. The suggestion of the Bald Eagle as the Cincinnati insignia was made by Major Pierre L’Enfant, a French officer who joined the American Army in 1777, served in the Corps of Engineers, and later become a member of the Society. He noted, in making his suggestion: "The Bald Eagle, which is peculiar to this continent, and is distinquished from those of other climes by its white head and tail, appears to me to deserve attention." In 1784, Major L’Enfant was commissioned to design the eagle.

Major L’Enfant later planned and partially laid out the city of Washington.

Very few of the original "Eagle" exists today. The "Eagle" pictured here was owned by George Washington and given by him to another Cincinnatus, his Aide-de-Camp, Lt. Col. Tench Tilghman. This "Eagle" was presented to the General Society and is now at General Headquarters, Anderson House, in Washington, D.C.