4 / OutdoorIllinois January 2009

2009 marks the bicentennial ofAbraham Lincoln’s birth. His rise toleadership began on a militarymarch across the prairies and forestsof Illinois.

Lincoln the SoldierStory By Rich WagonerPhotos Courtesy Abraham LincolnPresidential Library and Museum

A be Lincoln drifted into cen-tral Illinois just as he haddrifted his whole life—aim-lessly. But he knew he washeaded somewhere.

The fact that he had never stayed inone place long hadn’t bothered him. Itwas as if his long legs were perfectlysuited for wandering. He was a rareman, noted by others for his likeabilityand willingness to accept any type ofliving conditions, and he seemed happywherever he went.He was quickly accepted by his new

acquaintances at New Salem in 1831,his 22nd year. No one envisioned thisgentle soul as the commander-in-chiefof more than 2 million soldiers 30 yearslater during the Civil War.

In this the bi-centennial celebration ofLincoln’s birthday, we retrace Lincoln’stravels during the Black Hawk War.

In April of 1832, the Sauk, led byBlack Hawk, returned from Iowa andcaptured the attention of the pioneersettlers in the new state of Illinois. Themen of New Salem voted to give Lin-coln his first leadership role—captainof the New Salem Militia. He laterwrote that he had not had “any suchsuccess in life which gave him so muchsatisfaction.”Lincoln’s command was a volunteer

company comprised of farmers andrural men from the New Salem area.The men were asked to line up andstep next to the man that they wantedas their leader. Lincoln was thefavorite. Instantly, the lost and self-doubting Lincoln found a reason to beconfident and self worthy. He hadalready shown the men his great physi-cal strength when he bested the leaderof a gang of ruffians, Jack Armstrong,who became his friend and wasappointed as Lincoln’s first sergeant

when they marched off to war. Lincolncould now hone the mental tools need-ed to be a leader.Lincoln lived in New Salem from

1831 to 1837, working at DentonOffutt’s store. Things weren’t goingwell at the store and Abe was gladwhen asked to fight in the Black HawkWar. A group of men gathered tomarch to war, many never having beenfarther from home than the SangamonCounty boundary.From Richland, 8 miles south of

New Salem, the militia marched toBeardstown where they met up withother troops called up by Illinois Gover-nor Reynolds.

Painted by Fletcher Ransom in 1941, this

scene depicts the people of New Salem min-

gling cheers and farewells as Lincoln and

some of his men leave to serve in the Black

Hawk War. The painting is part of a series

commissioned annually for 25 years by the

Chicago & Illinois Midland Railroad Compa-

ny to be used on the company’s calendars.

January 2009 OutdoorIllinois / 5

The militia camped at Beardstownfor several days. Lincoln and LorenzoThompson, from Captain WilliamMoore’s company, wrestled for the bestcamping spot. Lincoln lost. Twenty-sixyears later Lincoln returned to Beard-stown to participate in his most famouslegal battle, defending a relative of JackArmstrong in a murder trial called the“Almanac Trial.” Today, visitors canstand in the courtroom where the trialtook place and see the crude jail thatheld Duff Armstrong, who Lincolnsaved from the noose.Lincoln’s men thought they were on

a grand excursion, but soon learnedthat soldiering was a serious matter. Atfirst the men cavorted and firedweapons in camp—whooping that theywere out for revenge for damages donein the supposed Native American upris-ing. During his 30-day enlistment, Lin-coln was arrested twice—once becauseone of his men fired a gun in camp andthe second time he had to wear awooden sword for two days when heaccepted responsibility for his drunkentroops after they broke into the storeroom and stole whiskey.In Beardstown, Lincoln’s troops

were combined with the rest of Gover-

nor Reynolds’s men, creating a contin-gent of 1,500 troops. They left for the“Yellow Banks” (Oquawka) on April 29,1832. On May 1st, the men hiked 25miles to Crooked Creek west ofMacomb, beginning their marchthrough the raw wilderness of westernand northern Illinois. The fun was over.Men walked waist-deep in mud. Manyofficers’ horses soon died from fatigue.Fighting malarial mosquitoes, constantphysical activity and food shortageshardened the men and made them wish

for home and family.Black Hawk felt the treaties that

ceded the Sauk lands were illegal and hewas determined to try to stay in hisancestral lands—the bountiful streamsand rich land of the Sinnissippi (RockRiver). Black Hawk had re-crossed theMississippi River at the Yellow Banksand Reynolds’s army, under the com-mand of Brig. General Samuel White-side, headed there to pick up their trail.Black Hawk sent messages to U.S.authorities that his intentions werepeaceful. However, the pressure frommining and agricultural interests pres-sured the military to expel the Sauks.Progress was coming to this region andthe native people were not to be a partof its future. Lincoln would soon realizefrom this early experience that not allintelligence derived from legitimatesources was to be believed at face value.The next day the men marched 20

miles through wet prairie, campingsouth of the Yellow Banks on the Mis-sissippi. Yellow Banks, so calledbecause of the yellow-colored sand,was the home of the Sauk and Fox andthey fished and hunted from both sidesof the river. Lincoln loved this area andbecame friends with Alexis Phelps,founder of Oquawka. Phelps was afriend of the Sauk and saved many frombeing killed at the hands of unfriendlysettlers. Lincoln returned there in 1858,when running for the Senate, and

Apple River Fort, a hastily erected structure

measuring 50 feet by 70 feet, provided refuge

for 45 area settlers during the estimated

45-minute attack on June 24, 1832.

Numerous historic structures and parks may be visited when retracing Lincoln’s travels

during the Black Hawk War.

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attended Phelps’ funeral with, as it istold, teary eyes.Hungry and tired, the men resumed

marching on May 5, heading towardFort Armstrong at the mouth of theRock River. The fort was located nearthe site of the former Sauk Indian vil-lage, Saukenuk, capitol of the Sauknation and a large, well-organized com-munity. U.S. troops occupied the siteand there began their campaign to cap-ture Black Hawk.A 50-mile march brought White-

side’s troops to the mouth of the RockRiver, whose clear waters were full offish and mussels and beloved by theSauk. Reynolds’s troops camped nearthe ancient Saukenuk site for severaldays in early May.On May 10, Lincoln was sworn in as

a federal soldier by Zachary Taylor. Thesoldiers followed the north bank of theRock River to Prophetstown, a citynamed in memory of Wa-bo-kie-shek(White Cloud), Black Hawk’s advisorand a religious leader of the Sauk. Thevillage was destroyed on May 10 byGeneral Samuel Whiteside’s troops.The army then marched to Dixon’s

Ferry where an ill-fated expedition ledby General Isaiah Stillman left to attackBlack Hawk. Black Hawk had decidedto surrender, and with 40 to 50 men heapproached Stillman’s force at OldMan’s Creek, northeast of Dixon’sFerry, carrying a white flag of truce.Stillman’s undisciplined men had beendrinking and attacked and killed BlackHawk’s truce bearer. An enraged BlackHawk thought he had nothing to lose

so he savagely ambushed Stillman’smuch larger force and killed severalpoorly prepared men. Stillman fled westtoward Fort Armstrong claiming thatthousands of Indians had attacked him.Old Man’s Creek has been renamed

Stillman’s Run in memory of Stillman’sdisreputable actions. A monument andplaque there tell of Lincoln helping tobury the fallen soldiers of Stillman’sMassacre.Lincoln and his men never engaged

in battle. They marched southwardtoward Ottawa, following the FoxRiver, where they were discharged.Lincoln then re-enlisted under Elijah

Iles (Springfield’s Iles House has beenbeautifully restored and is open to visi-tors) and was given the oath of serviceby Lt. Robert Anderson. Anderson latercommanded Fort Sumter, where theCivil War began.The seeds of fate were sown. Men

who would play important roles in Lin-coln’s life during the Civil War orderedtheir future commander back into thefield for another 30 days. They marchedback to Dixon’s Ferry and were direct-ed to Apple River Fort, hastily erectedafter news of the Stillman Massacre andthe only fort attacked during the BlackHawk War. The fort, in Elizabeth alongIllinois Route 20, has been painstaking-ly reconstructed.After his enlistment expired, Lincoln

re-enlisted in a spy company under Cap-tain Jacob Early, originally a private inLincoln’s militia. Marching back towardthe Apple River, Lincoln helped burysoldiers killed in the Battle of Kellogg’sGrove, west of present-day Freeport. Amonument honoring the men killedthere stands in Kent.The army then moved northward, fol-

lowing Black Hawk into Wisconsinbefore running low on provisions nearpresent-day Fort Atkinson. General HenryAtkinson’s answer to his dilemma was todismiss the militia, essentially abandon-ing Lincoln in southern Wisconsin. Fromthere, after his horse was stolen, Lincoln

walked and canoed to Havana, thenwalked 20 miles to New Salem, glad tobe back home among his many friends.Meanwhile, Black Hawk and his peo-

ple were captured or killed. After BlackHawk’s capture, Zachary Taylorassigned Jefferson Davis, the futurepresident of the Confederacy, to escortBlack Hawk to prison.Black Hawk died in Iowa on October

3, 1838, banished from his beloved Sin-nissippi.Lincoln was greatly affected by the

Black Hawk War. He experienced thedifficult life of a soldier and met peoplealong his march who would influencehis life, including his future law part-ner, John T. Stuart, who encouragedLincoln to run for office.No longer would these men march

with him and listen to his campfire sto-ries. Now they would advise and sup-port him for postmaster, state represen-tative, congressman, senator and finallythe greatest office of all—president ofthe United States.In 1865 those men wept by Lin-

coln’s body.And they were there to lay him to

rest in the Prairie State—a land that hehad loved and volunteered to protect asa soldier in the Black Hawk War.

South of U.S. Route 20 near Kent is a mon-

ument located on the site of Kellogg’s

Grove, an early settlement established in

1827 on a mail route between Peoria and

Galena. Now on the National Register of

Historic Places, it honors those killed in

the Black Hawk War. Lincoln helped to

bury five of the slain men.

The 3-foot bronze statue by Fred Torrey

was created especially for Lincoln’s Tomb

and its 1930 reconstruction. It shows

Lincoln, the Ranger, in the earliest period

of his public career, in service during the

Black Hawk War.6 / OutdoorIllinois January 2009

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