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pendent spy company, of which Lincoln was a member, was sent with a brigade to the northwest, near Galena, in pursuit of the Hawk. The nearest Lincoln came to an actual engagement in the war was here. The skirmish of Kellogg's Grove took place on June 25; Lincoln's company came up soon after it was over, and helped bury the five men killed. It was probably to this experience that he referred when he told a friend once of coming on a camp of white scouts one morning just as the sun was rising. The Indians had surprised the camp, and had killed and scalped every man.

"I remember just how those men looked," said Lincoln, "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 heads towards us on the ground. And every man had a round red spot on the 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." Lincoln paused, as if recalling the vivid picture, and added, somewhat irrelevantly, "I remember that one man had buckskin breeches on."

Early's company, on returning from their expedition, joined the main army on its northward march. By the end of the month the troops crossed into Michigan Territoryas Wisconsin was then called-and July was passed floundering in swamps and stumbling through forests, in pursuit of the now nearly exhausted Black Hawk. No doubt Early's company saw the hardest service on the march for to it was allotted the scouting. The farther the army advanced the more difficult was the situation. Finally the provisions gave out and July 10, three weeks before the last battle of the war, that of Bad Axe, in which the whites finally massacred most of the Indian band, Lincoln's company was disbanded at Whitewater, Wisconsin, and he and his friends started for home. The volunteers in returning suffered much from

hunger. More than one of them had nothing to eat on the journey except meal and water baked in rolls of bark laid by the fire. Lincoln not only went hungry on this return; he had to tramp most of the way. The night before his company started from Whitewater he and one of his messmates had their horses stolen; and, excepting when their more fortunate companions gave them a lift, they walked as far as Peoria, Illinois, where they bought a canoe, and paddled down the Illinois river to Havana. Here they sold the canoe, and walked across the country to New Salem.

CHAPTER VII

LINCOLN RUNS FOR STATE ASSEMBLY AND IS DEFEATEDSTOREKEEPER-STUDENT-POSTMASTER-SURVEYOR

ON returning to New Salem Lincoln at once plunged into "electioneering." He ran as "an avowed Clay man,” and the country was stiffly Democratic. However, in those days political contests were almost purely personal. If the candidate was liked he was voted for irrespective of principle. "The Democrats of New Salem worked for Lincoln out of their personal regard for him," said Stephen T. Logan, a young lawyer of Springfield, who made Lincoln's acquaintance in the campaign. "He was as stiff as a man could be in his Whig doctrines. They did this for him simply because he was popular-because he was Lincoln."

It was the custom for the candidates to appear at every gathering which brought the people out, and, if they had a chance, to make speeches. Then, as now, the farmers gathered at the county-seat or at the largest town within their reach on Saturday afternoons, to dispose of produce, buy supplies, see their neighbors, and get the news. During "election times" candidates were always present, and a regular feature of the day was listening to their speeches. They never missed public sales, it being expected that after the "vandoo" the candidates would take the auctioneer's place.

Lincoln let none of these chances to be heard slip. Accompanied by his friends, generally including a few Clary's Grove Boys, he always was present. The first speech he made was after a sale at Pappsville. What he said there is not remembered; but an illustration of the kind of man he was,

interpolated into his discourse, made a lasting impression. A fight broke out in his audience while he was on the stand, and observing that one of his friends was being worsted, he bounded into the group of contestants, seized the fellow who had his supporter down, threw him, according to tradition, "ten or twelve feet" mounted the platform, and finished the speech. Sangamon County could appreciate such a performance; and the crowd at Pappsville that day never forgot Lincoln.

His visits to Springfield were of great importance to him. Springfield was not at that time a very attractive place. Bryant, visiting it in June, 1832, said that the houses were not as good as at Jacksonville, "a considerable proportion of them being log cabins, and the whole town having an appearance of dirt and discomfort." Nevertheless it was the largest town in the county, and among its inhabitants were many young men of breeding, education, and energy. One of these men Lincoln had become well acquainted with in the Black Hawk War *-Major John T. Stuart, at that time a lawyer, and, like Lincoln, a candidate for the General Assembly. He met others at this time who were to be associated with him

*There were many prominent Americans in the Black Hawk War, with some of whom Lincoln became acquainted. Among the best known were General Robert Anderson; Colonel Zachary Taylor; General Scott, afterwards candidate for President, and Lieutenant-General; Henry Dodge, Governor of the Territory of Wisconsin, and United States Senator; Hon. William D. Ewing and Hon. Sidney Breese, both United States Senators from Illinois; William S. Hamilton, a son of Alexander Hamilton; Colonel Nathan Boone, son of Daniel Boone; Lieutenant Albert Sidney Johnston, afterwards a Confederate General; also Jefferson Davis, President of the Southern Confederacy. Davis was at this time a lieutenant stationed at Fort Crawford. According to the muster rolls of his company he was absent on furlough from March 26 to August 18, 1832, but, according to Davis's own statement, corroborated by many of the early settlers of Illinois who served in the Black Hawk War, Davis returned to duty as soon as he found there was to be a war. When Black Hawk was finally captured in August, after the battle of Bad Axe, he was sent down the river to Jefferson Barracks, under the charge of Lieutenant Jefferson Davis. Black Hawk, in his "Life," speaks of Davis as a “good and brave young chief, with whose conduct I was much pleased."

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