President Polk had sent troops under General Taylor to defend Texas; he had sent commissioners to Mexico to make a peaceable solution of the dispute.  Besides, he was anxious to get the Mexican province of California, as Douglas was, including the wonderful bay and harbor of San Francisco.  Would Mexico sell them without a fight?  Mexico had declined.  General Taylor was therefore ordered to advance to the Rio Grande.  There was war!  Its shadow entered my household.  Dorothy was in tears.  Mammy and Jenny were shaking with fear.  For I had resolved to enter the fight.

And Chicago was afire with the war spirit.  The streets echoed to the music of martial bands; orators addressed multitudes in various parts of the city.  Trade was stimulated.  The hotels were thronged with people.  The restaurants were noisy with agitated talkers.  Douglas’ name was on every one’s tongue.

Volunteers had been called for.  But Illinois could send but three regiments; she offered six to the cause.  Many companies were refused.  I organized a company, financing it myself.  But it could not be taken, and I joined the army under the colonelcy of John J. Hardin.  He it was whom Douglas had supplanted as state’s attorney.  Now he was to lead troops, to the vindication of Douglas’ dream.

Dorothy was inconsolable for my departure.  She could not have sustained the ordeal except for Mother Clayton.  There were fear, anxiety, and mystical foreboding in Dorothy’s heart for a different reason.  She was soon to bear a child.  She was loath to have me away from her in this ordeal.  Yet I had to go.  A whole continent moved me; great forces urged me forward.  I was now an American.  Martial blood stirred in me.  All concerns of home, of Dorothy, sank below the great vision of war.  The aggregate feelings and thoughts of a people make a superintelligence which may be mistaken for God.  Of this superintelligence Douglas’ voice was the great expression.  I broke from Dorothy’s arms, after vainly attempting to console her.

The six Illinois regiments assembled at Alton, where I had been so many times before.  I was to see this town again in the most dramatic moment of my life, how unimagined in this terrible time of war.  We hurried on to join General Taylor, who had already, as we learned later, won the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.  Characters later to figure momentously in the history of the country were here to settle the title of Texas with the sword.  Robert E. Lee, a lieutenant, was brevetted for bravery in the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, and Chapultepec.  Captain Grant had come with a regiment and joined the forces of General Taylor.  He took part in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Monterey; and then being transferred to General Scott’s army, he served at Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, and at the capture of Chapultepec.  Here too was Colonel Jefferson Davis, who led his valorous Mississippians, who put to flight Ampudia at the battle of Buena Vista.  Lee, Grant, Davis, Taylor, the next President, all in arms for the ocean-bound republic of the young Congressman from Illinois!