page_title: Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War
section_title: Stillman's Run
hierarchical_section_title: Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War / War / Stillman's Run
caption_attribution_description: English: Abraham Lincoln, Congressman-elect from Illinois. Three-quarter length portrait, seated, facing front. Quarter plate
context_page_description: Abraham Lincoln served as a volunteer in the Illinois Militia April 21, 1832 – July 10, 1832, during the Black Hawk War. Lincoln never saw combat during his tour but was elected captain of his first company. He was also present in the aftermath of two of the war's battles, where he helped to bury the militia dead. He was mustered in and out of service during the war, going from captain to private and finishing his service in an independent spy company commanded by Captain Jacob Early.
  Lincoln's service had a lasting impression on him, and he related tales about it later in life with modesty and a bit of humor. Through his service he was able to forge lasting political connections. In addition, he received a land grant from the U.S. government for his military service during the war. Though Lincoln had no military experience when he assumed command of his company, he is generally characterized as an able and competent leader.
context_section_description: Lincoln engaged in no combat during the Black Hawk War, as Lincoln's own recollections of this time attest. He did, however, see scalped corpses and witness the results of the war's atrocities. Lincoln was 23 years old at the time of the Black Hawk War, and his experience in the volunteer militia was his only military experience prior to becoming president.
  Various sources, many compiled at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, document the movements of Lincoln's company after the outbreak of hostilities at the Battle of Stillman's Run. On May 15, 1832 Lincoln's company set out under the command of Whiteside and reached the site of Stillman's Run by sunset. According to letters from Whiteside to militia commander Henry Atkinson, the soldiers, including Lincoln, arrived to find militia men dead, scalped, and mangled.
  In a 2006 article, author Scott Dyer asserted that Whiteside's men, including Captain Lincoln, "paraded" the area the morning after, and buried the dead from Stillman's Run. Their movements were in an unsuccessful effort to draw out the Sauk, after which they returned to Dixon's Ferry. Lincoln's presence at Stillman's Run was still under investigation as of 2003.
  The marble facade on the Stillman Valley monument, erected in 1901, commemorating the battle, includes the reference to Lincoln's presence at Stillman's Run, "The presence of soldier, statesman, martyr, Abraham Lincoln assisting in the burial of these honored dead has made this spot more sacred."
  Still, other sources assert that it was General Whiteside who originally buried the dead in a common grave on a ridge south of the battlefield, marked with a rudimentary wooden memorial. These sources make no mention of Lincoln.
caption: This image is the earliest known photograph of Abraham Lincoln and dates to around 1847, 15 years after the war.
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