IN THE BLACK HAWK CAMPAIGN.
Though the young clerk proved faithful and efficient, his whole time was
not taken up by his duties in Offutt’s store. Knowing well the defects
of his education, it occurred to him that he could use profitably some
of his leisure by employing it in study. He knew little or nothing of
English grammar, and this was likely to interfere with him if called
upon to act in any public capacity where he would be required to make
speeches.
“I have a notion to study English grammar,” he said to Mr. Graham, the
schoolmaster.
“That is the best thing you can do, if you expect to enter political
life,” said the teacher in reply.
“Where do you think I can find a grammar?” asked Lincoln.
It must be remembered that educational books, and indeed books of any
kind, were scarce in those days.
“I think you will find one at Vaner’s.”
“I will go at once and see,” said Lincoln.
He set out at once, though Vaner’s was six miles distant, but such a
walk did not trouble the young man at all. I am sure it will strike some
of my young readers who dislike grammar, as odd that he should be
willing to take so long a walk with such an object in view; but they too
might do the same if they were as earnestly bent upon self-improvement
as our hero. It is enough to say that he succeeded in obtaining the
coveted book, and began at once to study it. Sometimes he was able to go
out of doors and lie under a shade-tree; at other times he stretched his
long, ungainly form on the counter and pored intently over the little
book. I don’t know whether the obscure little text-book is still in
existence; if it were, it would be a valuable memorial of this
transition period in the young man’s mental growth.
The time came for a change in young Lincoln’s mode of life. Mr. Offutt’s
business declined, and the store was closed. He was once more out of
employment. Now it happened about this time that the peace of this
region was disturbed by a series of Indian difficulties. Black Hawk, a
chief of the Sacs, was the instigator and Indian leader. He was a man of
commanding presence and superior abilities. In defiance of a warning
given him by General Atkinson, commanding the United States troops at
Rock Island, he left his reservation, and announced his intention of
ascending the Rock River to the territory of the Winnebagoes. The force
under General Atkinson being small, he issued a call for volunteers. One
company was raised in New Salem and the vicinity, and Lincoln enlisted.
Though without military experience, he was elected to the post of
Captain by a large majority of the company, and accepted, This was a
tribute to his popularity among his friends and neighbors.
Though the Black Hawk campaign was in no way remarkable, and involved
very little fighting, it is noteworthy, as Dr. Holland remarks, that two
men afterward Presidents of the United States were engaged in it. These
were Zachary Taylor and Abraham Lincoln. I do not propose to enter into
a detailed account of this campaign and of Lincoln’s part in it; I
prefer to quote Mr. Lincoln’s own account of it, years afterward, when a
member of the House of Representatives at Washington. It was during the
political campaign when General Cass was the Democratic candidate, and
was intended to ridicule the claims of his friends, that he had rendered
distinguished military service to the republic.
“By the way, Mr. Speaker,” said Mr. Lincoln, “do you know I am a
military hero? Yes, sir, in the days of the Black Hawk war, I fought,
bled, and came away. Speaking of General Cass’ career reminds me of my
own. I was not at Sillman’s Defeat, but I was about as near it as Cass
to Hull’s surrender; and, like him, I saw the place soon afterward. It
is quite certain I did not break my sword, for I had none to break; but
I bent my musket pretty badly on one occasion. If General Cass went in
advance of me in picking whortleberries, I guess I surpassed him in
charges upon the wild onions. If he saw any live, fighting Indian, it
was more than I did; but I had a good many bloody struggles with the
mosquitoes, and although I never fainted from loss of blood, I can
truly say I was often very hungry.”
When Mr. Lincoln himself became a candidate for the Presidency, an
attempt was made to make capital for him out of this military episode,
but fortunately he possessed more substantial claims than this.
Though there was little fighting to be done, there was an occasion that
tested the young Captain’s courage and resolution. As the incident is
characteristic of Lincoln, and shows his love of justice and humanity, I
will transcribe, as better than any paraphrase of my own, the account
given by Mr. Lamon in his Life of Lincoln:
“One day, during these many marches and counter-marches, an old Indian
found his way into the camp, weary, hungry, and helpless. He professed
to be a friend of the whites; and, although it was an exceedingly
perilous experiment for one of his color, he ventured to throw himself
upon the mercy of the soldiers. But the men first murmured, and then
broke out into fierce cries for his blood.
“‘We have come out to fight the Indians,’ said they, ‘and by G--we
intend to do it!’
“The poor Indian, now in the extremity of his distress and trouble, did
what he ought to have done before: he threw down before his assailants a
soiled and crumpled paper which he implored them to read before his life
was taken. It was a letter of character and safe conduct from Gen. Cass,
pronouncing him a faithful man, who had done good service in the cause
for which this army was enlisted. But it was too late; the men refused
to read it, or thought it a forgery, and were rushing with fury upon the
defenceless old savage, when Capt. Lincoln bounded between them and
their appointed victim.
“‘Men,’ said he, and his voice for a moment stilled the agitation around
him, ‘_this must not be done; he must not be shot and killed by us_.”
“‘But,’ said some of them, ‘the Indian is a spy.’
“Lincoln knew that his own life was now in only less danger than that of
the poor creature that cowered behind him. During the whole of this
scene Capt. Lincoln seemed to rise to an unusual height of stature. The
towering form, the passion and resolution in his face, the physical
power and terrible will exhibited in every motion of his body, every
gesture of his arm, produced an effect upon the furious mob as
unexpected perhaps to him as to any one else. They paused, listened,
fell back, and then sullenly obeyed what seemed to be the voice of
reason as well as authority. But there were still some murmurs of
disappointed rage and half-suppressed exclamations, which looked toward
vengeance of some kind. At length one of the men, a little bolder than
the rest, but evidently feeling that he spoke for the whole, cried out:
“‘This is cowardly on your part, Lincoln!’
“Whereupon the tall Captain’s figure stretched a few inches higher
again. He looked down upon these varlets who would have murdered a
defenceless old Indian and now quailed before his single hand, with
lofty contempt. The oldest of his acquaintances, even Bill Green, who
saw him grapple Jack Armstrong and defy the bullies at his back, never
saw him so much aroused before.
“‘If any man thinks I am a coward, let him test it,’ said he.
“‘Lincoln,’ responded a new voice, ‘you are stronger and heavier than we
are.’
“‘This you can guard against; choose your weapons,’ returned the rigid
Captain.
“Whatever may be said of Mr. Lincoln’s choice of means for the
preservation of military discipline, it was certainly very effectual in
this case. There was no more disaffection in his camp, and the word
‘coward’ was never coupled with his name again. Mr. Lincoln understood
his men better than those who would be disposed to criticise his
conduct. He has often declared himself that his life and character were
both at stake, and would probably have been lost had he not at that
supremely critical moment forgotten the officer and asserted the man. To
have ordered the offenders under arrest would have created a powerful
mutiny; to have tried and punished them would have been impossible. They
could scarcely be called soldiers; they were merely armed citizens, with
a nominal military organization. They were but recently enlisted, and
their term of service was about to expire. Had he preferred charges
against them, and offered to submit their differences to a court of any
sort, it would have been regarded as an act of personal pusillanimity,
and his efficiency would have been gone forever.”
Then, as afterward, Lincoln proved to be the man for the emergency. This
humble captain of volunteers was selected by Providence to guide and
direct his countrymen in the greatest and most bloody civil contest that
was ever waged, and at all times of doubt, danger, and perplexity he
manifested the same calm courage, the same firm resolution, and the same
humanity, which made him at the age of twenty-three the intrepid
champion of a friendless old Indian.