Among the soldiers chasing Black Hawk in the summer of 1832 was a gangly 23-year-old named Abraham Lincoln.
Soon after enlisting, he was elected a militia officer and, though he didn't see any combat, historians agree he gained confidence in his own leadership abilities as captain of an unruly Illinois unit.
Lincoln made fun of his military career. Later comparing himself to a colleague whose army service had been praised, he said, "If he saw any live, fighting Indians, it was more than I did; but I had a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes, and although I never fainted from the loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very hungry."
His unit helped bury the mutilated remains of casualties after the Battle of Stillman's Run on May 14, 1832.
Two months later, with the Army's provisions running low and the enemy nowhere in sight, Lincoln's unit was mustered out at Whitewater.
The night before he left for home, his horse and that of a friend were stolen, probably by soldiers from other units.
"I laughed at our fate, and he joked at it," Harrison later recalled, "and we all started off merrily. The generous men of our company walked and rode by turns with us, and we fared about equal with the rest."
— Wisconsin Historical Society,
www.wisconsinhistory.org
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