buy him a cant-hook to move heavy logs. Lincoln had proposed, if
Kirkpatrick would give him two dollars, to move the logs with a common
hand-spike. This the proprietor had agreed to, but when pay day came
he refused to keep his word. When the Sangamon company of volunteers
was formed, Kirkpatrick aspired to the captaincy; and Lincoln, knowing
it, said to Greene: "Bill, I believe I can now pay Kirkpatrick for
that two dollars he owes me on the cant-hook. I'll run against him for
captain;" and he became a candidate. The vote was taken in a field,
by directing the men at the command "march" to assemble around the man
they wanted for captain. When the order was given, three-fourths of
the men gathered around Lincoln.[B] In Lincoln's curious third-person
autobiography he says he was elected "to his own surprise;" and adds,
"He says he has not since had any success in life which gave him so
much satisfaction."

[Illustration: A DISCHARGE FROM SERVICE IN BLACK HAWK WAR SIGNED BY
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, AS CAPTAIN.]

The company was a motley crowd of men. Each had secured for his outfit
what he could get, and no two were equipped alike. Buckskin breeches
prevailed. There was a sprinkling of coon-skin caps, and the blankets
were of the coarsest texture. Flintlock rifles were the usual arm,
though here and there a man had a Cramer. Over the shoulder of each
was slung a powder-horn. The men had, as a rule, as little regard for
discipline as for appearances, and when the new captain gave an order
were as likely to jeer at it as to obey it. To drive the Indians out
was their mission, and any orders which did not bear directly on that
point were little respected. Lincoln himself was not familiar with
military tactics, and made many blunders of which he used to tell
afterwards with relish. One of these was an early experience in