Certificate of Discharge for Nathan Drake, 24 July 18321
I do hereby certify that Nathan Drake volunteered and served as a private in the Company which I commanded— in the regiment commanded by. Colonel Samuel M. Thompson— of the Brigade commanded by Brigadier General Samuel Whitesides— in an expedition directed against the Sac & Fox Indians—and that he was enrolled on the 29th day of April & discharged on the 9th2 day of June 1832— having served forty and two thirds-days— given under my hand this
24th July 1832—
A Lincoln— Captain<Page 2>
[ endorsement
]
^For value received^ I assign all the benefit of the within discharge to John Taylor and
hereby authorise the pay master to pay over to John Taylor, all the wages I may be
entitled to
receive for my Services
Nathan Drake[ endorsement
]
A Lincoln Comp[Company]
1Abraham Lincoln wrote and signed the text on page one of this document.
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.
Autograph Document Signed, 2 page(s), Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).