Events, historic sites mark Lincoln Bicentennial in Northwest Illinois

In 2009, as the nation celebrates the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln's birth, the Blackhawk Waterways region of Northwest Illinois offers visitors a chance to see the places that helped shape the man who would become our 16th president.

Lincoln was born in 1809 in Kentucky, and as a boy moved with his family to Indiana. In 1830 Lincoln made Illinois his home. Two years later, he traveled to Northwest Illinois as a captain in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War of 1832.

The Battle of Stillman's Run
The war was named for Black Hawk, the well-known leader of the Sauk tribe that had claimed this region as its traditional homeland. However, two decades earlier the government relocated the Sauk across the Mississippi River to Iowa. When their Iowa land was ceded to homesteaders, Black Hawk led his tribe back across the Mississippi to Northwest Illinois. The Illinois Militia, joined by federal troops, eventually imprisoned Black Hawk and forced the Sauk west once again.

It was this historic war that brought Abraham Lincoln to Northwest Illinois. He and his Sangamon County Volunteers were mustered in at Fort Dixon in 1832. On the evening of  May 14, 1832, in an area now know as Stillman Valley, Major Isaiah Stillman and his detachment of 275 Illinois militia ran across 3 indian scouts that had been dispatched by Chief Black Hawk, which had a camp 7 miles away. Stillman's men attacked the scouts and chased them into an ambush by Chief Black Hawk's force. Stillman's Run marks the first engagement of the Black Hawk Indian war.

During the engagement, a band of 12 militia men led by Captain John Giles Adams made a stand on a small hill near what is now Stillman Valley. They fought by moonlight as the rest of their detachment retreated back to Dixon's Ferry (now known as Dixon Illinois). All 12 of the men were killed holding the hill including Captain Adamns. Back in Dixon's Ferry, news of the of the terrible slaughter spread. A detachment was later sent to the battle site to burry the dead. Included in this burial detail was Abraham Lincoln, then a 23 year old Captain in the Illinois Militia. He later wrote of his experience

I remember just how those men looked as we rode up the little hill where their camp was. The red light of the morning sun was streaming upon them as they lay head towards us on the ground. And every man had a round red spot on top of his head, about as big as a dollar where the redskins had taken his scalp. It was frightful, but it was grotesque, and the red sunlight seemed to paint everything all over.

Lincoln was just 23 years old at the time, and he had already run for political office. As an historical footnote, Jefferson Davis also served in the Black Hawk War. Davis later was president of the Confederacy and Lincoln's foe in the Civil War.

More than two decades later, in 1856, Lincoln returned to Northwest Illinois. This time he was a politician. Lincoln gave campaign speeches in Dixon and nearby Sterling, Ill., for John C. Fremont, the new Republican Party's first presidential candidate. Four years later, Lincoln was elected the nation's first Republican president.

Historic sites in the Blackhawk Waterways
Although Dixon is better known as the boyhood home of President Ronald Reagan, the city has commemorated Abraham Lincoln's military service with a large statue, the Lincoln Monument State Memorial.

The bronze stands on the banks of the scenic Rock River, along the River Walk near downtown Dixon. The statue is located on the site of Fort Dixon, where Lincoln served during the Black Hawk War. It depicts Lincoln as a tall, young man, sword by his side. It is the only known statue of Abraham Lincoln in a military uniform.

In addition, the lawn of the Lee County Courthouse in Dixon has a stone marker that commemorates Lincoln's 1856 speech to the crowd assembled on the courthouse lawn.

In Sterling, a full-size statue of Lincoln as orator stands in Propheter Park. The statue was dedicated in 2006, on the site where Lincoln spoke to Whiteside County residents on behalf of Fremont. An historical maker at 607 East Third St. in Sterling marks home where Lincoln stayed on the eve of his Sterling speech.

East of Dixon, in Franklin Grove, Ill., visitors can see the restored H.I. Lincoln Building. It was constructed by Abraham Lincoln's cousin in 1860 as a dry goods store. Today, this classic stone building is the national tourism headquarters of the Lincoln Highway Association, and includes its museum and gift shop.