Lincoln, Abraham
(b. February 12, 1809; d. April 15, 1865) Sixteenth president of the United States (1861–1865).
Abraham Lincoln's life was lived under the shadow of war. During his lifetime he would witness three major American wars: the War of 1812, the War with Mexico (1846–1848), and the Civil War (1861–1865).
Born in Kentucky to impoverished parents, Lincoln migrated with his family to Indiana and then to Illinois, where he left his father's farm in 1831 to settle in New Salem, Illinois, and try his hand unsuccessfully at business. In 1832, the Sac and Fox chieftain, Black Hawk, attempted to resettle his followers on lands near Rock Island, Illinois, which they had previously vacated by treaty. Governor John Reynolds called out the Illinois militia, and New Salem's militia company was sworn into state service on April 28, 1832, with Lincoln elected as captain for thirty days' service. He re-enlisted two more times in other units, and was finally mustered out on July 10, 1832, near Black River, Wisconsin, without having seen action.
The Black Hawk War would prove to be Lincoln's only direct experience of soldiering. In 1836, after years of private study, he was licensed as a lawyer—a profession in which he had considerable success.
