Both

there and in Indiana, to which in 1816 the family removed, as well as in Illinois, whither they went in 1830, Lincoln had the priva- YY tions and also the training of a backwoodsman’s life. His later epithet of the ‘‘rail-splitter ’ is a reminiscence of this early period, and he also about this time made a flat-boat voyage to New Orleans. In the Black Hawk War of 1832 he served as captain and private. He tried keeping store and failed, studied law, was postmaster of New Salem in Illinois, and deputy surveyor of the county. As a politician he had better succe , and after one defeat served in the Legislature from 1834 to 1842.