[Black Hawk crosses Mississippi River into Illinois for purpose, he declares, of raising corn along Rock River. With him are 400 or 500 horsemen, plus old men and boys in charge of canoes, as well as women and children, totaling about 2,000 people.Journal of Albert Sidney Johnston, 10 April 1832, Black Hawk War Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL; Gen. Henry Atkinson to Gov. John Reynolds, 10 April 1832, 13 April 1832, 27 April 1832, Atkinson Letter Book.]

Lincoln is elected captain of company in Thirty-first Regiment of Illinois Militia. Thomas Wigginton is appointed first lieutenant and Coonrad Elmore second lieutenant.IA—Executive Register.

News reaches New Salem of Gov. Reynolds' call for mounted volunteers to meet at Beardstown April 22, 1832 to drive Black Hawk and his band west of Mississippi River. Sangamon County is called on for 350 men. Stevens, Black Hawk War, 113; ISLA—Bulletin, No. 54.

Lincoln gives William Sampson receipt "in full of all demands up to the day." Receipt to William Sampson, 21 April 1832, CW, 1:9.

[In 1860 Lincoln wrote: "In less than a year Offutt's business was failing—had almost failed—when the Black Hawk war of 1832—broke out."Autobiography Written for John L. Scripps, [c. June 1860], CW, 4:60-67.]

Black Hawk War recruits of New Salem neighborhood meet at farm of Dallis Scott on Richland Creek, nine miles southwest of New Salem. They form company and elect Lincoln captain. ISLA—Bulletin, No. 54; Elliott, Services of Illinois Soldiers, 100; Wayne C. Temple, Lincoln’s Arms, Dress and Military Duty During and After the Black Hawk War (Springfield: State of Illinois Military and Naval Department, 1981), 12-15.

Lincoln's company goes into camp at Beardstown. In wrestling match with Lorenzo Dow Thompson, Lincoln is thrown in two straight falls. Match is to settle whether Lincoln's company or Capt. William Moore's company shall have camp ground. IHi—Trans., 1904, 433-34.

Gov. Reynolds writes to Gen. Henry Atkinson at Fort Armstrong that he expects to have "about 1,500 mounted men on the 25th or 26th inst." Spring of 1832 has been wet and little farm work has been done. Farmers who have volunteered expect to be home from campaign in few days to work fields. Horses are hard to get, and forage is scarce. Reynolds Letter Book, Black Hawk War Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL.