14109 W. Blackhawk Road
Kent, Illinois
Open: Dawn to Dusk
This monument is located on the site of Kellogg’s Grove, an early settlement established in 1827 on a mail route between Peoria and Galena, and now on the National Register of Historic Places. The monument honors those killed in the Black Hawk War, including in the final Illinois battle which occurred at this grove in June,1832. Abraham Lincoln, a member of the Illinois militia, helped to bury five of the slain men. The remaining soldiers were originally buried throughout the area at the spots at which they fell. Fifty years after the Black Hawk War ended, farmers from the area initiated a movement to collect the remains and bury them in one enclosure with a fitting monument. Thus the Black Hawk War Monument was erected and dedicated in 1886 on top of this hill overlooking the Yellow Creek Valley. It is eight feet square at the base, three feet square at the top, and thirty-four feet high. The area surrounding the monument includes picnic areas, a shelter, playground, and a log cabin that was moved to the site in 1981.