frontier. 'Well, my son,' said the old soldier, 'here we are again. Good luck to you, my boy! As for me-six feet of Mexican soil, or a yellow sash !' He won the yellow sash-the distinctive mark of a general officer-by a double right, and left his share of the Mexican soil unoccupied.

"In this latter regiment he served for several years, chiefly in what was then the northwestern frontier. During this period occurred the 'Black Hawk war,' in both campaigns of which he took an active part. The surrender of Black Hawk, which closed the war, in 1832, although actually made to a party of Winnebago Indians, allies of the whites, was tendered to them in order to avoid capture by a detachment under command of Lieutenant Davis, who had pursued Black Hawk's party to an island in the Mississippi and cut off their intended retreat to the western bank of that river. Black Hawk and his principal warriors were retained for some time as hostages. They were sent to St. Louis under charge of Lieutenant Davis, whose soldierly bearing and considerate courtesy of treatment made a deeply favorable impression upon the captive chief.

"The services of Lieutenant Davis in these operations were handsomely recognized by his official superiors, but his own often avowed opinion was that the true heroes of that so-called 'war' were the Indians, both men and women, to whose courage, fortitude, endurance of hardships, fertility of resources, and constancy of purpose under the most appalling trials, difficulties and privations, he bore witness in terms of unqualified admiration.

"To this period of his life belongs the mention of a severe test to which his fidelity to principle was subjected—or at least threatened with subjection-and to which he himself sometimes referred as an illustration of the early formation of those convictions which governed his political course in maturer years. The circumstance derives its chief interest from the fact that we are enabled to present it in Mr. Davis's own words,

Scene in the Black Hawk War. It is worthy of note that Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln were both in the United States Army, and at this battle Davis

in the active and Lincoln in the reserve force.

as written in a manuscript never heretofore published. In this he says:

"The nullification by South Carolina in 1832 of certain acts of Congress, the conscquent proclamation of President Jackson, and the 'Force Bill' soon afterwards enacted, presented the probability that the troops of the United States would be employed to enforce the execution of the laws in that State, and it was supposed that the regiment to which I belonged would in that event be ordered to South Carolina.

"By education, by association, and by preference, I was a soldier, then regarding that profession as my vocation for life. Yet, looking the issue squarely in the face, I chose the alternative of abandoning my profession rather than be employed in the subjugation of, or coercion of, a State of the Union, and had fully determined and was prepared to resign my commission immediately on the occurrence of such a contingency. The compromise of 1833 prevented the threatened calamity, and the sorrowful issue was deferred until a day more drear, which forced upon me the determination of the question of State sovereignty or federal supremacy-of independence or submission to unsurpation.'

"The language of this brief statement of the case combines the expression of resolute and inflexible adherence to duty, with a touching and almost pathetic sense of the magnitude of the responsibility involved and of the sacrifice required, the unaffected sincerity of which will be doubted by none who knew the character of Jefferson Davis.

Early in the year of 1833 Lieutenant Davis, having been selected as one of the officers of the newly organized First regiment of dragoons, was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and transferred to that regiment, in which he was immediately assigned to duty as adjutant. In this capacity he took part in an expedition of somewhat extensive scope among the Indian tribes of the great Western plains, some of whom were

disaffected or unfriendly. The object of the expedition, however, was to avert rather than to suppress hostilities, by exhibiting to them something of the military power of the United States and cultivating their respect and good-will.

"After some further service, chiefly in garrison duty on the northwestern frontier, Lieutenant Davis resigned his commission in the army in June, 1835, to engage in cotton planting in the Mississippi Valley. About the same time he married Miss Sarah Knox Taylor, daughter of Colonel Zachary Taylor, afterwards President of the United States.

"[There is no truth whatever in the often repeated story that this marriage was effected in opposition to the wishes of the young lady's family, by means of an elopement. The only semblance of foundation for it is the fact that a breach of friendly relations had existed for some time between Colonel Taylor and Lieutenant Davis. Its origin was in a purely military question, which had arisen between the former as commander, and the latter as adjutant, of a post. It involved nothing affecting the personal character of either, although it was serious enough to cause a suspension of personal intercourse between them. Mr. Davis wrote to Colonel Taylor, informing him of the engagement and intended marriage. The young lady was legally of age, and his consent was not formally asked, but no opposition was expressed. Colonel Taylor was a widower, on duty as commander of a frontier post, but the marriage took place at the house of a near kinswoman of the bride, in Kentucky, openly and without concealment, and in the presence of several friends and relations of her family.]"