Military Lincoln Statue - Dixon IL
Posted by: 
kJfishman
N 41° 50.790 W 089° 29.109
16T E 293684 N 4635719
The only statue of Lincoln in military uniform.
Waymark Code: WMAT6K
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 02/21/2011
Views: 7
According to brochure this is the only known statue of Lincoln in a military uniform. He is in his uniform from the Black Hawk War of 1832.
Lincoln enlisted for a 40 days to fight in the Black Hawk War. He was assigned the rank of captain.
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"This is the only known statue of our 16th president in military garb, on his left side is a sword. Captain Lincoln was based in Dixon, then known as Dixon's Ferry, for a short period. He was mustered out when his enlistment expired, but immediately re-upped, this time as a private.
The Black Hawk War began when Sauk Chief Black Hawk and other Native Americans violated a treaty that stipulated that they stay out of Illinois. Most of the fighting occurred around the northern border of the state. Lincoln never saw combat, but it's believed he assisted in the burial of soldiers who were killed in action.
Lincoln, like Reagan, was blessed with a rollicking sense of humor; he dismissed his military career as consisting of "a good many bloody struggles with the mosquitoes."
But Dixon's soldier-Lincoln may soon have a rival. Freeport, which was the site of a Lincoln-Douglas Debate, is raising money for a similar statue depicting Honest Abe as a Black Hawk War soldier.