Josiah Gilbert Holland

“ He had passed through a period of great poverty, had acquired his education in the law in the midst of many perplexities, inconveniences and hardships, and had met with temptations, such as few men could resist, to make a temporary use of any money he might have in his hands. One day, seated in the law office of his partner, the agent of the post-office department entered, and inquired if Abraham Lincoln was within. Mr. Lincoln responded to his name, and was informed that the agent had called to collect a balance due the department since the discontinuance of the New Salem office. ”

“ Many of the volunteers were from New Salem and Clary's Grove, and Lincoln, being out of business, was the first to enlist. The company being full, they held a meeting at Richland for the election of officers; and now the influence of the Clary's Grove Boys was felt. Lincoln had completely won their hearts, and they told him that he must be their captain. It was an office that he did not aspire to, and one for which he felt that he had no special fitness; but he consented to be a candidate. ”

“ Berry proved to be a dissipated, trifling man, and the business soon became a wreck. Mr. Greene was obliged to go in and help Lincoln close it up, and not only do this but pay Radford's notes. All that young Lincoln won from the store was some very valuable experience, and the burden of a debt to Greene which, in his conversations with the latter, he always spoke of as "the national debt." But this national debt, unlike the majority of those which bear the title, was paid to the utmost farthing in after years. ”

“ 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 1ive, fighting Indians, 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." Mr. Lincoln then went on to say that if he should ever turn democrat, and be taken up as a candidate for the presidency by the democratic party, he hoped they would not make fun of him by attempting to make of him a military hero. ”

“ Sixty-eight Indians were killed, a large number wounded, and at last, just as the savages were crossing the Mississippi, the battle of Bad-Ax was fought, which resulted in the capture of Black Hawk himself, with nearly all his warriors.
The Black Hawk war was not a very remarkable affair. It made no military reputations, but it was noteworthy in the single fact that the two simplest, homeliest and truest men engaged in it afterward became Presidents of the United States, viz: General (then Colonel) Zachary Taylor, and Abraham Lincoln. Mr. ”

“ They had pushed farther up the river, and broken up into predatory and foraging bands, one of which pounced upon a settlement near Ottowa, murdered fifteen persons, and carried two young women away captive. ”