When the United States found that a war with Black Hawk could not be
dodged, Governor Reynolds, of Illinois, issued a call for volunteers,
and among the companies that immediately responded was one from Menard
county, Illinois. Many of these volunteers were from New Salem and
Clary’s Grove, and Lincoln, being out of business, was the first to
enlist.
The company being full, the men held a meeting at Richland for the
election of officers. Lincoln had won many hearts, and they told him
that he must be their captain. It was an office to which he did not
aspire, and for which he felt he had no special fitness; but he finally
consented to be a candidate.
There was but one other candidate, a Mr. Kirkpatrick, who was one of the
most influential men of the region. Previously, Kirkpatrick had been
an employer of Lincoln, and was so overbearing in his treatment of the
young man that the latter left him.
The simple mode of electing a captain adopted by the company was by
placing the candidates apart, and telling the men to go and stand with
the one they preferred. Lincoln and his competitor took their positions,
and then the word was given. At least three out of every four went to
Lincoln at once.
When it was seen by those who had arranged themselves with the other
candidate that Lincoln was the choice of the majority of the company,
they left their places, one by one, and came over to the successful
side, until Lincoln’s opponent in the friendly strife was left standing
almost alone.
“I felt badly to see him cut so,” says a witness of the scene.
Here was an opportunity for revenge. The humble laborer was his
employer’s captain, but the opportunity was never improved. Mr. Lincoln
frequently confessed that no subsequent success of his life had given
him half the satisfaction that this election did.