It’s impossible to enter any cemetery in Kendall County and not find the graves of veterans of virtually every war in the nation’s history, from the American Revolutionary Warright up through modern Mideast wars.

A number of the earliest pioneers in the county were veterans of the War of 1812, and a couple were even Revolutionary War veterans. The first war that directly affected what would become Kendall County was the Black Hawk War of May 1832.

Many of the able-bodied male settlers living in what would later become Kendall County volunteered for the militia during the Black Hawk War. After war broke out and Fox Valley settlers fled to Chicago for safety, a militia battalion was formed to protect the settlement. David Bailey was elected to command the temporary unit.

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