5. He had a brief military career during the Black Hawk War
From April to July, 1832, Abraham Lincoln was a captain of militia, in command of a company of volunteers, during the brief conflict known as the Black Hawk War. He was never involved in combat during his brief service, although his unit did dig graves for some of the dead. Black Hawk was the leader of a band of Sauk, supported by Potawatomi, Fox, and Kickapoo braves, who attacked settlements east of the Mississippi in an attempt to drive out the settlers and reclaim their tribal lands. They were supported by British agents, which led to Black Hawk’s thousand or so warriors described as “British Bands”. On May 27 1832, Lincoln’s company of volunteers was discharged from the service, and Lincoln reenlisted as a private in another company, commanded by Elijah Iles.
Again mustered out in early July when the company disbanded, Lincoln reenlisted yet again, in a company assigned to federal service as a spy (reconnaissance) unit. Lincoln later explained to his law partner William Herndon that he did so because he was otherwise out of work, and, “there being no more danger of fighting, I could do nothing better than enlist again”. Abraham Lincoln’s military service was of short duration, and became the fodder for jokes and more malicious tales about him among his political enemy’s years later, but his brief experience of army life had a life-long effect on him. In a later speech before Congress he admitted his lack of fighting experience with any Indians, but noted, “I had a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes, and though I never fainted from the loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very hungry”. His brief experience in the field taught him much about the plight of the common soldier, which he remembered in the 1860s.