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HAD TO WEAR A WOODEN SWORD.
Captain "Abe" Lincoln and his company (in the Black Hawk War) were
without any sort of military knowledge, and both were forced to acquire
such knowledge by attempts at drilling. Which was the more awkward, the
"squad" or the commander, it would have been difficult to decide.
In one of Lincoln's earliest military problems was involved the process
of getting his company "endwise" through a gate. Finally he shouted,
"This company is dismissed for two minutes, when it will fall in again
on the other side of the gate!"
Lincoln was one of the first of his company to be arraigned for
unmilitary conduct. Contrary to the rules he fired a gun "within the
limits," and had his sword taken from him. The next infringement of
rules was by some of the men, who stole a quantity of liquor, drank it,
and became unfit for duty, straggling out of the ranks the next day, and
not getting together again until late at night.
For allowing this lawlessness the captain was condemned to wear a wooden
sword for two days. These were merely interesting but trivial incidents
of the campaign. Lincoln was from the very first popular with his men,
although one of them told him to "go to the devil."
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Stories and Anecdotes About the Life of Abraham Lincoln
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