Lincoln’s popularity among his comrades in the field was so great that at the close of his military service, which had lasted three months, he was nominated as a candidate for the State Legislature.  “His first appearance on the stump in the course of the canvass was at Pappsville, about eleven miles west of Springfield, upon the occasion of a public sale.  The sale over, speech-making was about to begin, when Lincoln observed some strong symptoms of inattention in his audience which had taken that particular moment to engage in a a general fight.  Lincoln saw that one of his friends was suffering more than he liked, and stepping into the crowd he shouldered them sternly away from his man until he met a fellow who refused to fall back.  Him he seized by the nape of the neck and the seat of his breeches, and tossed him ’ten or twelve feet easily.’  After this episode—­as characteristic of him as of the times—­he mounted the platform and delivered with awkward modesty the following speech:  ’Gentlemen and Fellow-Citizens, I presume you all know who I am.  I am humble Abraham Lincoln.  I have been solicited by my friends to become a candidate for the Legislature.  My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman’s dance.  I am in favor of a national bank.  I am in favor of the internal-improvement system and a high protective tariff.  These are my sentiments and political principles.  If elected I shall be thankful.  If not, it will be all the same.’”

Lincoln’s friend, Mr. A.Y.  Ellis, who was with him during a part of this campaign, says:  “He wore a mixed-jeans coat, claw-hammer style, short in the sleeves and bobtail,—­in fact, it was so short in the tail that he could not sit down on it,—­flax and tow linen pantaloons, and a straw hat.  I think he wore a vest, but I do not remember how it looked.  He wore pot-metal boots.  I went with him on one of his electioneering trips to Island Grove, and he made a speech which pleased his party friends very well, although some of the Jackson men tried to make sport of it.  He told several good anecdotes in the speech, and applied them very well, I thought.”

The election took place in August, and although Lincoln was defeated he received two hundred and seventy-seven out of the two hundred and eighty-four votes cast in his precincts.  He was so little known outside of New Salem that the chances of election were hopelessly against him, yet the extraordinary evidence of favor shown by the vote of his fellow-townsmen was a flattering success in the midst of defeat.  His failure to be elected, however, left him once more without occupation.  He was without means, and felt the necessity of undertaking some business that would provide him an income, however small.  It seems that at this time he considered seriously learning the blacksmith’s trade, but while entertaining the idea an event occurred which opened the way in another direction.  The particulars of this event are given by Mr. W.G.  Greene.