Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War Abraham Lincoln served as a volunteer in the Illinois Militia from 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 . Background . Angered by the loss of his birthplace via prior disputed treaties , and against the best interests of other tribes affected , Black Hawk led a number of incursions across the Mississippi River beginning in 1830 . Each time , he was persuaded to return west without bloodshed . In April 1832 , encouraged by promises of alliances with other tribes and the British , he again moved his " British Band " into Illinois . On April 5 , 1832 , Black Hawk and around 1 , 000 warriors and civilians recrossed the Mississippi River into Illinois in an attempt to reclaim their land . About half of Black Hawk ' s band were combatants and the rest were a combination of women , children , and elderly . The band consisted of Sauk , Fox , some Potawatomi , and some Kickapoo ; in addition some members of the Ho - Chunk nation were sympathetic to Black Hawk . Black Hawk ' s reason for crossing into Illinois was that he wanted to reclaim lost lands , and perhaps , create a confederacy of Native Americans to stand against white settlement . Promises of aid from other Illinois tribes were made to the British Band and Black Hawk believed that promises of assistance were made by the British in Canada . Finding no allies , Black Hawk attempted to return to Iowa , but ensuing events led to the Battle of Stillman ' s Run . A number of other engagements followed , and the state militia s of Wisconsin and Illinois were mobilized to hunt down Black Hawk ' s band . The conflict became known as the Black Hawk War . At the time of Black Hawk ' s incursion into Illinois , Lincoln was living in New Salem , where he had lived for two years . Prior to the Black Hawk War , in March 1832 , Lincoln announced his candidacy for the Illinois House of Representatives but the election was several months away . One month later , he responded to the governor ' s call for volunteer militia . Enlistment and election as captain . On April 21 , 1832 Lincoln and the other volunteers gathered at the property of Dallas Scott . Lincoln rode a horse from New Salem to Richland Creek where neighbors had gathered to form a company of volunteer militia near Beardstown , Illinois . The men were sworn in and began the process of choosing a company commander . The men voted for a captain , and between Lincoln and one William Kirkpatrick , Lincoln received three - fourths of the votes and was elected captain . Many years later , Lincoln said this election as militia captain was " a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since . " Lincoln was commissioned as a captain in the 31st Regiment of Militia of Sangamon County , 1st Division and put in charge of a rifle company of the 4th Regiment of Mounted Volunteers within Samuel Whiteside ' s brigade by April 30 . The men spent time in Beardstown where they drew provisions and weapons , as many of the men , including Lincoln , owned no weapons . Other downtime in Beardstown was occupied by inter - company rivalry . One such incident occurred when Lincoln was challenged for a prime camping spot . Lincoln and his challenger wrestled for the spot and Lincoln was beaten before a crowd of fellow soldiers . After the April 22 wrestling match Lincoln and the other commanders spent April 23 – 26 conducting light drills and drawing supplies . On April 28 Lincoln ' s company was enrolled into state service by Colonel John J . Hardin and Lincoln drew further supplies including whiskey , food staples , and tin pans . The volunteers marched to Rushville , a distance of , on April 30 , 1832 . Following their arrival in Rushville the troops continued marching for several days , toward the mouth of the Rock River . Much of the rest of early May was spent marching and resupplying . General Samuel Whiteside , brigade commander , moved the volunteers to the Prophet ' s Village , which they burned on May 11 , and then continued the men toward Dixon ' s Ferry , another upstream . The men reached Dixon ' s Ferry on May 12 and the next day Isaiah Stillman and David Bailey led their troops toward Old Man ' s Creek , where it was rumored that Black Hawk and his men were encamped . War . Stillman ' s Run . Lincoln engaged in no combat during the Black Hawk War , Lincoln himself described his experiences as such . 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 . 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 . From captain to private . Two days after Stillman ' s Run , Lincoln and his company drew 10 quarts of meal and 10 pounds of pork from supply at Dixon ' s Ferry , Illinois . After a march on May 25 Lincoln ' s company camped near Paw Paw Grove . The next day Lincoln and his company marched another and camped two miles ( 3 km ) above the mouth of the Fox River . On May 27 Lincoln ' s company was mustered out of service . Lincoln was discharged from his command and re - enlisted as a private in the company of Captain Elijah Iles in Ottawa , Illinois . Atkinson arrived in Ottawa on May 28 , and on May 29 Lieutenant Robert Anderson formally mustered Lincoln and a hodgepodge of 71 other former officers into a company of mounted volunteers under Iles . Atkinson left and met with Governor Reynolds ; he returned to Ottawa on May 30 and decided not to pursue Black Hawk until further militia reinforcements arrived on June 15 . On June 6 , 1832 Captain Iles ' company , including Lincoln , began the march to Dixon ' s Ferry , they arrived during the afternoon of June 7 . From June 8 to June 10 the company moved on orders toward Galena ; on June 8 the group camped from Dixon ' s Ferry , and on June 9 near the Apple River Fort . The company found the people in Galena demoralized and was ordered to return to Dixon ' s Ferry on June 11 , the group made camp at the same campsites it used on its march toward Galena . The men arrived back in Dixon ' s Ferry on June 13 and on June 16 Anderson mustered them out of service at Fort Wilbourn . Before the end of the war Lincoln and the units he was attached to were mustered out of service and Lincoln re - enlisted twice . On June 16 he was mustered out of Iles ' company , and from that day until July 10 Lincoln served as a private in Captain Jacob Early ' s independent company . Early ' s company was known as an " independent spy company " , which was ordered into federal service by Atkinson and meant to operate separately from the other brigades . Later , Lincoln told William Herndon , " I was out of work and there being no danger of more fighting , I could do nothing better than enlist again . " Early ' s company was officially mustered into service on June 20 and two days later it was ordered to report to General Hugh Brady at Dixon ' s Ferry . The company remained at Dixon ' s Ferry through June 25 , 1832 . Early ' s company was then dispatched to Kellogg ' s Grove at 4 p . m . on June 25 . Kellogg ' s Grove . A number of sources assert that on June 26 , 1832 , the morning after the Second Battle of Kellogg ' s Grove , members of the company of Captain Jacob M . Early arrived at Kellogg ' s Grove to help bury the dead . Lincoln assisted with the burial and later made a statement about the experience that has been connected with both the battle at Kellogg ' s Grove and the fight at Stillman ' s Run . I remember just how those men looked as we rode up the little hill where their camp was . The red light of the morning sun was streaming upon them as they lay head towards us on the ground . And every man had a round red spot on top of his head , about as big as a dollar where the redskins had taken his scalp . It was frightful , but it was grotesque , and the red sunlight seemed to paint everything all over . I remember one man had on buckskin breeches . The Lincoln quote appeared both in William H . Herndon and Jesse W . Wiek ' s " Life of Lincoln " and Carl Sandburg ' s Lincoln biography , " Abraham Lincoln : The Prairie Years " . Documentation for the U . S . National Register of Historic Places listing for Kellogg ' s Grove cites Lincoln ' s presence as part of its historic significance . The same day , June 16 , Captain Early wrote General Atkinson , describing the situation in his own words . I arrived here by day brake this morning [ 26th ] & found Gen . Posey ' s men encamped here The circumstances connected with the attack on Maj . Dement ' s Bat [ talion ] . are as well as I can gather substantially these Yesterday morning the Maj . ordered out a small party for the purpose of examining a trail leading to the Mississippi The detachment had not proceeded more than half a mile when they discovered a few Indians at a small distance from them the men rushed on them in a disorderly manner till they came to the main body of Indians where they were secreted in a thicket on seeing the Indians the men wheeled & fled precipitately & all the efforts of Maj . Dement to rally them were unavailing ( for at the time the men commenced retreating before the Indians Maj . Dement came up with a reinforcement from the garrison The Maj . stated to me that his force on the field was equal in numbers to that of the enemy After the men retreated to the fort the Indians surrounded the house & commenced killing the Horses , they kept up a constant fire on the House & Horses for 2 or 3 hours . Major Dement Lost 5 killed & several wounded but none mortally when the Indians left the ground they retreated toward their encampment on the 4 lakes < br > < br > When Gen Posey came up about an hour by sun he sent a regiment in the direction in which the Indians had retired . When they had proceeded about ½ mile the Indians showed themselves from a thick wood which skirted the praeria . . . they [ regiment ] retired to their camps without engaging the enemy . The trail spoken of above has not yet been examined . Gen Posey says he will send a detachment with me to examine it . As soon as I see it you shall have the best information in my power to give you . Early ' s company , along with Lincoln , remained at Kellogg ' s Grove until June 28 when they began their march back to Dixon ' s Ferry , reaching the ferry sometime around 6 a . m . on June 29 . Mustered out . On July 10 , 1832 Atkinson decided he had too many men and mustered Early ' s company out of service , Lincoln ' s military career ended less than three months after it began . In his last duty as a soldier Lincoln wrote out the company role for Lieutenant Robert Anderson , the man who had mustered him into service in his second company under Iles . Lincoln ' s horse , along with a comrade ' s , was stolen the night before he was discharged from service , thus they made their way back to New Salem mostly on foot and occasionally on a comrade ' s horse . Once in Peoria Lincoln and his wartime compatriot bought a canoe and made their way down the Illinois River to Havana . At Havana , they disembarked and made the final jaunt on foot . Lincoln ' s military ability . Lincoln had no military experience when he was elected captain of his company but a large number of sources have described his command ability as capable and describing him as a popular leader . Lincoln himself expressed a desire to get into combat , though his company has been described as wild and the outcome of such a fight may not have been positive for Lincoln . John Todd Stuart noted that during Lincoln ' s Black Hawk War service he stood out for his great strength and athletic ability , as well as his kind manner and as a story teller . One popularly repeated story from Lincoln ' s Black Hawk War service illustrates Lincoln ' s qualities of honesty , and courageous , competent leadership . It involved a Potawotami who wandered into Captain Lincoln ' s camp and Lincoln ' s men assumed him a spy and wanted to kill him . The story goes that Lincoln threw himself between the Native American and the men ' s muskets , knocking their weapons upward . The militia men backed down after a few heated seconds . Another popularly repeated story about Lincoln ' s leadership during the war illustrates his inexperience as a military commander . The story relates that Lincoln was marching his company and encountered an open gate , through which his formation needed to pass . Unable to remember the proper command to direct his men through the gate Lincoln called " Halt ! " and ordered the men to fall out for two minutes and then reform on the other side of the gate . Cecil Eby ' s 1973 work " That Disgraceful Affair The Black Hawk War " contained one negative description of Lincoln ' s leadership during the Black Hawk War . Among the green officers unable to maintain discipline in his company was a pock - faced , stoop - shouldered , slab - sided assistant storekeeper from New Salem , a two - rut , hilltop settlement near Springfield . The first order Captain Abraham Lincoln ever gave to his men received the retort , " Go to the devil , Sir ! " Some of his men later confessed that they elected Lincoln as their commander , rather than his rival , William Kirkpatrick , because they would be able to do as they liked under Abe . Other negative accounts of Lincoln ' s ability as a military leader came in the 1870s when J . F . Snyder interviewed several of Lincoln ' s men from the Black Hawk War days . Snyder claimed the men , " never spoke of malice of Lincoln but always in a spirit of ridicule " and that they characterized Lincoln as " indolent and vulgar " , " a joke , an absurdity " , and the men " had serious doubts about his courage " . Legacy and influence on Lincoln . On April 16 , 1852 , by act of Congress from 1850 , Lincoln received a land - grant in Iowa for his service during the Black Hawk War . Soldiers in the Indian Wars often received land grants in exchange for their service . Lincoln received in total , with the other given to him in 1856 . Besides the tangible rewards , Lincoln ' s service during the Black Hawk War helped him cultivate political connections throughout Illinois . David Herbert Donald stated in his 1996 work " Lincoln " : Meeting volunteers from different parts of the state was useful to him politically , for it extended his reputation . While he was in the army , he came into contact with a number of rising young political leaders of the state , like Orville Hickman Browning , a cautious , conservative Quincy lawyer , who would become one of his most influential and critical friends . More important was his acquaintance with John Todd Stuart , a Springfield lawyer , who served as major in the same battalion as Lincoln . Later , in 1859 , Lincoln referred to his service during the Black Hawk War fondly , noting his election as captain as one of the proudest moments in his life . His Black Hawk War service has been referred to as a " shaping circumstance in his life " , as well as something he later referred to with modesty and self - depreciation . Lincoln made one tongue - in - cheek remark concerning his Black Hawk War service during an 1848 speech before the U . S . Congress in which he referenced his Black Hawk War service , mentioning the Battle of Stillman ' s Run by name . By the way Mr . Speaker , did you know that I am a military hero ? Yes sir , in the days of the Black Hawk War I fought , bled and came away . . . I was not at Stillman ' s defeat , but I was about as near it as Cass was Hull ' s surrender , and , like him , I saw the place very soon afterwards . . . 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 . Some have regarded Lincoln ' s brief stint in the militia as important to his presidential leadership later on , during the American Civil War . The 2002 essay collection , " Rediscovering Abraham Lincoln " , described Lincoln ' s familiarity with military affairs during the Civil War as " alien " , noting that he regarded his own military service as a subject suited to mockery . While campaigning for president the story of how Lincoln stopped his men from killing the Potawatomi they encountered before the outbreak of the war made its way into a campaign biography . Reporting by " The New York Times " during the campaign of 1860 noted Lincoln ' s war time service as a captain . The same article implies that his bravery during the Black Hawk War may have led to his post - war appointment as postmaster in New Salem . Following Lincoln ' s assassination , Ralph Waldo Emerson gave a speech in Concord , Massachusetts which highlighted Lincoln ' s Black Hawk War service .