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Genealogy Trails |
The Blackhawk Monument
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Genealogy Trails |
On the site of the battle of Kellog’s Grove, stands a monument erected in 1886. A marble slab on the north side of the monument bears the following inscription:
This monument stands on One of the highest points in Illinois and overlooks the beautiful valley of Yellow Creek. It can be seen for miles and miles in all directions. It is built of yellowish, flinty limestone, taken from the quarry nearby on the farm of Mr. J. B. Timms. The monument was built by Mr. William Ascher and is eight feet square at the base, three feet square at the top and is thirty-four feet high, surmounted by imitation cannon balls.
The credit for this monument is due to Mr. J. B. Timms, who has lived on the site of the battlefield of Kellog’s Grove since 1835. Mr. Timms’ father was a soldier in the Black Hawk War and Mr. Timms, himself, was born in Fort Funk, and as a child witnessed the attack on the fort at Apple River by Black Hawk in 1832. Mr. Timms has always maintained an extreme interest in the stirring events of the war, and it was he who presented the monument proposition to the county commissioners of Stephenson County, 1886.
In March, 1886, Mr. J. B. Timms appeared before the county commissioners of Stephenson County and addressed them on the events of the Black Hawk War, about Kellog’s Grove, urging the commissioners to make an appropriation to build a monument there. The commissioners looked upon the proposition and appointed a special committee to investigate the matter, consisting of H. W. Stocks, H. S. Keck and Isaac Bogenrief, of the board, and Mr. J. B. Tinims. At the April meeting the committee reported and the commissioners voted that a site be secured and the monument built. D. W. Hays, Wm. Dively; Isaac Bogenrief and H. S. Keck, with Mr. Timms, were appointed a committee to draft a plan and secure estimates. At the July meeting, plans were adopted and the committee was instructed to proceed with the work. The contract for the monument complete was let to Mr. Wm. Ascher for $535. A contract for an iron fence was let to Flachtemeier & Bros. for $144. Incidental expenses, exhuming and reburying the remains of the soldiers brought the total costs to the county almost to $1,000. The supervisors who voted the funds were: William Ascher, W. H. Barnds, Isaac Bogenrief, W. H. Bolender, W. I. Brady, J. C. Briggs, Ira Crippen, William Dively, T. J. Foley, D. W. Hays, Jacob Jeager, Joseph Kacheihoffer, Henry S. Keck, G. S. Kieckner, J. T. Lease, James Musser, J. M. Reese, S. F. Rezner, D. F. Thompson, J. W. Stocks and T. B. Young. The monument is the idea of Mr. J. B. Timms, who prosecuted it to its completion. As a boy he had walked over the battlefield and had kept in mind the unmarked burial places of the men who fell in battle. In 1886 he pointed out these places, the bodies were taken up and buried at the foot of the monument. Fifty-four years after the war, the remains of these men who stood between the Indian and the frontier settlements were decently buried and the place was marked by a suitable monument.
On the east side is inscribed on a tablet:
“Battlefield of Kellog’s Grove, where was fought, June 25, 1832,
the decisive battle between the forces of the United States and the great Indian Chief, Black Hawk.”
The tablet on the west side bears the following:
The remains of the soldiers who were killed in Captain Stephenson’s battle at Prairie Grove between Lena and McConnell, were taken up and interred with the bodies of the men who fell about Kellog’s Grove. The committee and Mr.
J. B. Timms, accompanied by W. H. Crotzer, Geo. Roush, S. J. Dodds, Ed. Shoesmith, A. Jones, Wm. Dively and sons, C. Shippy and Levi Robey, found the bodies of the three men, about eighteen inches underground. One of the skeletons was almost intact. The soles and heels of the shoes were well preserved. Pieces of blankets and blue coats were found. With one skeleton was found a bullet mould, a jack knife, part of a wooden ramrod, about thirty bullets, the handle of a camp knife, several rifle flints, etc. Under another body were found several bullets. One of the men killed here, Charles Eames, was a brother-in-law of James Mitchel, of Freeport. There is a tradition that after the battle, a white man and an Indian were found so tightly clasped in each others arms that they could be separated only by severing the head of the Indian. These men were Charles Eames, Stephen P. Howard, and Michael Lovell.
The bones of the men exhumed at Kellog’s Grove were fairly well preserved. In one grave, a shattered hip and a flattened bullet were found. The bones of fourteen victims of the Black Hawk War, scattered over the county, in some cases a dozen miles apart, were exhumed and reburied at the base of the monument. Although fifty years had passed, some were in a good state of preservation. The lonely grave of Bennie Scott, the drummer boy, was marked by his initials, B. S., cut on trees near his burial place.
The monument was publicly dedicated September 30, 1886. The services were conducted by the William R. Goddard Post, No. 258, G. A. R. of Lena, G. S. Roush commanding.
Two thousand people attended the dedication of the monument, September 30, 1886. At 10:30 A. M. the W. R. Goddard Post and other G. A. R. members present fell into line at command of Commander Roush. The remains of the fourteen men as they lay in a rough box were viewed for the last time. The pallbearers, Messrs. Peter Yeager, A. S. Crotzer, W. W. Lowis, Isaac Bogenrief, Henry Bryman and John Winters lifted the box and, followed by the G. A. R. marched with solemn step, following John Van Sickle, fifer, and F. J. Harris, snare drummer, playing a military dirge. The coffin was lowered into its resting place and three volleys were fired over the open grave by a squad of eight from the Lena G. A. R. Post. The post then formed a half circle on the north side of the monument and after music by the Kent and Ward’s Grove band, the president of the day delivered over the monument in the following brief words: “Commander of William R. Goddard Post, No. 258, G. A. R., Department of Illinois: I have been authorized by the people of Stephenson County, through their legal representatives, to invite your post to dedicate this memorial shaft to the noble purpose for which it had been erected. I present it to you for dedication.” A guard was then placed at the four corners of the monument by Captain Sherry, the flag was raised by the color bearer, Mr. Sisson, the army symbol consisting of a musket and accoutrements were placed against the shaft and the beautiful dedicatory service of the Grand Army of the Republic, appropriately revised for the occasion, was read by Commander Roush, assisted by Mr. Charles Waite, representing the navy, and Captain W. S. Barnes, representing the army, Captain Geo. Sherry and Chaplain John M. Rees. At the close of the prayer, Commander Roush closed the services as follows: “In the name of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the people of Stephenson County, I dedicate this monument to the memory of the brave men and true, who suffered death but not defeat, at the hands of the red men. I dedicate it to the memory of the pioneer soldiers who fell while valiantly serving their country in the Black Hawk War.” The guard of honor with drum, the symbols and the flag was removed; the salute was given and the dedication of the Black Hawk War monument was complete.
At 1:3o after the basket picnic, the people assembled in the grove just across the road, north of the monument. A stand had been erected and seats provided. A stirring air was played by the band and Dr. Naramore, of Lena, called the meeting to order. “America” was rendered by the Yellow Creek Quartette, composed of J. P. Betts, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Goodrich and Mr. John Seabold, with Mrs. Hart at the organ.
Mr. S. J. Dodds, of Lena, explained that not all of the fourteen bodies were those of soldiers. Two were bodies of drivers; one, Rogers, dying of illness in the cabin and the other, Hallett, being slain in a quarrel by a companion, east of the grove, while St. Vram was an Indian agent of the government.
Mr. J. B. Timms has frequently advocated that the State of Illinois should buy a part, or all, of the site of the battlefield and convert it into a state park. The people of Stephenson County, and especially the young people, may well afford to make the trip to the battlefield and at the foot of the monument, give serious thought to the lives of the men and women of the pioneer days, and especially to the sacrifice of those men who drove back Black Hawk’s British hand with flintlock guns, and gave up their lives on the battlefields, about Kellog’s Grove, now Timms’ Grove.
