He never took his campaigning seriously. The politician's habit of
glorifying the petty incidents of a candidate's life always seemed
absurd to him, and in his speech, made in 1848, ridiculing the effort
on the part of General Cass's friends to draw some political advantage
from that gentleman's respectable but obscure services on the frontier
in the war with Great Britain, he stopped any future eulogist from
painting his own military achievements in too lively colors. "Did you
know, Mr. Speaker," he said, "I am a military hero! In the days of the
Black Hawk war I fought, bled, and came away. I was not at Stillman's
defeat, but I was about as near it as General Cass was to Hull's
surrender; and, like him, I saw the place very soon afterwards. 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 picking whortleberries, I guess I surpassed him in
charges on the wild onions. If he saw any live 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. If ever I should conclude to doff
whatever our Democratic friends may suppose there is of black-cockade
Federalism about me, and thereupon they shall take me up as their
candidate for the Presidency, I protest that they shall not make fun
of me, as they have of General Cass, by attempting to write me into a
military hero."

[Relocated Footnote: A story to the effect that Lincoln was mustered
into service by Jefferson Davis has for a long time been current, but
the strictest search in the records fails to confirm it. We are
indebted to General R. C. Drum, Adjutant-General of the Army, for an
interesting letter giving all the known facts in relation to this
story. General Drum says: "The company of the Fourth Regiment Illinois