Abraham Lincoln first saw Beardstown in the spring of 1831 as he, two friends, and Denton Offutt steered Offutt's merchandise-laden flatboat toward New Orleans. He returned in 1832, first in March to help get the steamer Talisman up and back down the Sangamon River, and again in April as captain of a volunteer company in the Black Hawk War. As a surveyor, candidate, state legislator, congressman, and lawyer, he often visited Beardstown and the surrounding region and became a strong friend of the area, supporting the creation of Cass County, writing the bill that led to construction of the state road from Beardstown to Petersburg, and working steadily for state financial support for the Beardstown and Sangamon Canal venture. On November 13, 1837, as a young lawyer, he traveled to Beardstown, most likely on horseback, for the first session of the Cass County Circuit Court, where Judge Jesse B. Thomas, Jr., presided over a one-day session, though it is unknown whether Lincoln appeared before the court. Although he strongly supported water transportation, most of his travel to Beardstown and elsewhere in the Eighth Judicial District in central Illinois was by horse or buggy over rugged prairie tracks that were especially difficult in winter. During his visits to Beardstown and Cass County, he most likely became acquainted with founder Thomas Beard, may have stayed at Beard's inn at State and Main Streets, and would have used Beard's ferry to cross the Illinois River. In the 1830s and 1840s, Illinois was still a rugged frontier state, and Beardstown was a rough frontier town of mostly wooden frame buildings, deteriorating wooden sidewalks, muddy streets after rain, and harsh conditions that demanded toughness from Lincoln and his fellow Illinoisans.