Identifier: wakefieldshistor00wake (find matches)
Title: Wakefield's History of the Black Hawk war; a reprint of the 1st edition
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Wakefield, John Allen, 1797-1873 Stevens, Frank Everett, 1856-
Subjects: Black Hawk War, 1832
Publisher: Chicago, Caxton Club
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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al size was heard approaching. Hishorse became nervous and liable at any moment toattract attention; but he hastily threw a blanket overits head, and the party passed within a few feet ofthe sink-hole, without detecting him. The dangersand struggles of the Illinois frontiersman during thoseperilous days cannot be magnified, and Wakefield hadhis full share of them. At the close of the war he went to Cincinnati, wherehe studied medicine diligently for a considerable period,afterward going to St. Louis to finish his studies. Butit seems that once in possession of his diploma, hedecided medicine did not offer him the field antici-pated, and at once turned to studying for the bar,to which he was admitted when in his twenty-firstyear. His examination was conducted at Vandalia,where he settled and remained until 1837, during thelast three years of which time he saw much of AbrahamLincoln. As an outgrowth of an intimacy formed in MAJOR JOHN A. WAKEFIELD i General RusselL thei u ytn-miles, ers
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JOHN ALLEN WAKEFIELD 9 the Black Hawk campaign, Mr. Lincoln, while a mem-ber of the legislature, lived with Mr. Wakefield inVandalia. In 1818 Wakefield was married to Eliza Thompson,a native of Bourbon County, Kentucky, daughter ofAbram Thompson and Elizabeth (Brown) Thompson. One of the most important services rendered byWakefield, and one which should command the re-spect of every Illinoisan, was his determined standagainst the introduction of slavery in the State ofIllinois, attempted during the administration of Gov-ernor Edward Coles. The legislature which convenedat Vandalia, December 2, 1822, and adjourned Feb-ruary 18, 1823, passed a resolution by infamousmeans, calling for a constitutional convention, at whichan amendment was expected to be framed which wouldpermit slavery in the State. For sixteen months theyoung State was a battle-ground, during which theanti-convention men were made targets for every man-ner of insult and assault. Wakefield, being a readyspeaker and writer

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