Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Order to Provide Muskets, 28 April 18321

Special Order (N^o )
Beardstown April 28^th 1832
The Brigade Inspector having inspected Captain Abram Lincoln Company and mustered them into service reports that thirty guns are wanting to arm the Company completely. Quarter Master General Edwards will furnish the Captain with that number of arms if to be had in his department.
John J Hardin Brig.[Brigadier] Major
By order of Brig Genl[Brigadier General] Samuel Whitside
Comdg.[Commanding] B. M. V.[Brigade of Mounted Volunteers] Ill

[ docketing ]
N^o 4

<Page 2>

[ endorsement ]
04/28/1832
Lincoln, Abraham

Received April 28^th 1832 for the use of the Sangamon County company under my command thirty muskets[,] bayonets[,] screws & wipers which I oblige myself to return upon demand2
A Lincoln Cap^t[Captain]

[ docketing ]
Hardin, John J.

Guns bayonets Screws wipers

19 15 [21?] 9 21

3 2 1 1

1 1 4 1

1 1 14 23

1 1

1 20

26

1John J. Hardin filled in Abraham Lincoln’s name, signed the order, and authored the endorsement on the back side. Lincoln signed his name to the endorsement on page two.

2Ball screws and wipers were attachments used in conjunction with a musket’s ramrod to clean the barrel and remove jammed musket balls.
At the outbreak of the Black Hawk War, Lincoln volunteered for the Illinois state militia. On April 21, 1832, Lincoln and other men from the New Salem area were mustered into a company in the 4th Regiment of Illinois Mounted Volunteers, and the members of the company elected Lincoln as their captain. When his month of service ended, Lincoln re-enlisted twice, for twenty and thirty days respectively, serving as a private both times. He was discharged finally on July 10, 1832.
Muster Roll of Abraham Lincoln’s Company of Mounted Volunteers; Muster Roll of Captain Elijah Iles’ Company of Mounted Volunteers; Muster Roll of Captain Jacob M. Early’s Company of Mounted Volunteers; Ellen M. Whitney, comp., The Black Hawk War, 1831-1832: Illinois Volunteers, vol. 35 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1970), 1:176-78, 227-30, 544-46.