and the hunger which were the only certain incidents of the campaign,
refused in great part to continue in service. But it is hardly
necessary to say that Captain Lincoln was not one of these homesick
soldiers. Not even the trammels of rank, which are usually so strong
among the trailers of the saber, could restrain him from what he
considered his simple duty. As soon as he was mustered out of his
captaincy, he re-enlisted on the same day, May 27, as a private
soldier. Several other officers did the same, among them General
Whitesides and Major John T. Stuart. Lincoln became a member of
Captain Elijah Iles's company of mounted volunteers, sometimes called
the "Independent Spy Battalion," an organization unique of its kind,
if we may judge from the account given by one of its troopers. It was
not, says Mr. George M. Harrison, "under the control of any regiment
or brigade, but received orders directly from the Commander-in-Chief,
and always, when with the army, camped within the lines, and had many
other privileges, such as having no camp duties to perform and drawing
rations as much and as often as we pleased," which would seem to liken
this battalion as nearly as possible to the fabled "regiment of
brigadiers." With this _elite_ corps Lincoln served through his
second enlistment, though it was not his fortune to take part in
either of the two engagements in which General James D. Henry, at the
Wisconsin Bluffs and the Bad Axe, broke and destroyed forever the
power of Black Hawk and the British band of Sacs and Foxes.

After Lincoln was relieved of the weight of dignity involved in his
captaincy, the war became a sort of holiday, and the tall private from
New Salem enjoyed it as much as any one. He entered with great zest
into the athletic sports with which soldiers love to beguile the
tedium of camp. He was admitted to be the strongest man in the army,
and, with one exception, the best wrestler. Indeed, his friends never