In 1832, counties in central Illinois were recruiting volunteers to defend the frontier against Black Hawk and his Sauk warriors. On the morning of 14 May that year, tensions reached a critical point when Black Hawk's warriors discovered that Major Isaiah Stillman and some 300 men of the militia had encamped dangerously nearby, along Sycamore Creek in what is now Ogle County.
Black Hawk, not yet prepared for combat, sent three men to negotiate with the unit (sources disagree over whether he sent them under a white flag of truce), but also dispatched five additional men as scouts to watch over the safety of his messengers. Some of Stillman's men spotted the scouts and opened fire. Chaos erupted when two scouts and one messenger were killed. Although Black Hawk's men were few in number (between 30 and 50 according to most accounts), Stillman's troops were inexperienced (some claim intoxicated), and the confrontation—if it could be called that—was disorderly and confused.
Convinced he was outnumbered, Stillman ordered a retreat towards Dixon's Ferry. During this confused retreat, 12 of his men were killed whilst attempting to make a final stand on a hill. The following day, the future president Abraham Lincoln, then merely a soldier from Sangamon County, arrived at the remains of these unfortunate men and helped bury them in a common grave.
The names of these 12 soldiers appear on the Stillman's Run monument, and their military gravestones are displayed in front of it. The area around this hill is known as Stillman Valley, although Major Isaiah Stillman is remembered more for his ignominious military failure and the battle that bears his name.
