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.

Kendall County men who served in this unit included Edmond Weed, George Hollenback, Edward Ament, Stephen Sweet, William Harris, Thomas Hollenback and Anson Ament. Many of them reenlisted in early June when a more permanent unit was formed.

Lewis B. Judson served as the paymaster of a Michigan militia company sent to help. Judson liked what he saw of the country so much, he came back after the war and helped establish Oswego.

The Seminole War started later in the 1830s in Florida when the U.S. Government attempted to force the Seminoles west of the Mississippi. The Indians declined to go, and the war was on. A few men from Kendall County served in the U.S. Army during that conflict, including S.D. Head, who is buried in Oswego’s Pearce Cemetery.

The first major war that affected the newly established Kendall County was the Mexican War of 1846. A mass meeting was held at the Kendall County Courthouse, then located in Oswego, upon word the war had begun.

A.R. Dodge and Alonzo B. Smith, both local lawyers, spoke at the rally, but enlistments were slow to start. Eventually, they picked up, though, and a 50-man company, Capt. Dodge’s Company, was enlisted from Kendall County.

Kendall County farmers volunteered to transport the company to Peoria by wagon, and from there they steamed by riverboat down to Alton where they were brought up to full strength. They were officially mustered in as Company E., 2nd Illinois Infantry Regiment.

The regiment finally arrived in Mexico in the fall of 1846 and in February 1847 participated in the Battle of Buena Vista. There, U.S. forces under Gen. Zachary Taylor soundly defeated the Mexican army under Gen. Santa Anna, with casualties on both sides approaching 3,000 men. The 2nd Illinois was mustered out in Mexico, the men arriving back in Kendall County on July 17, 1847.

The Mexican War was the first major conflict since the British invasion during the War of 1812. It not only proved the skill of the U.S. military, but also served to forcibly annex a huge chunk of land to the nation in line with Polk’s “Manifest Destiny” policies, at the cost of relatively few casualties. As the Rev. E.W. Hicks put it in his 1877 Kendall County history, “Uncle Sam had lost some of his boys but increased his farm.”

As it turned out, the Mexican War was essentially an officers’ training session for the Civil War, the nation’s bloodiest conflict, which was shortly to begin. In April 1861, South Carolinians opened fire on Ft. Sumter in Charleston harbor, touching off the fighting.

Illinois Gov. Richard Yates called for volunteers just five days after the South started the war. Three days later, Capt. Carr’s Company of Sandwich – including more than a dozen Kendall County men – was among 313 men who left northern Illinois headed for Cairo on the Mississippi. These men were organized into the 10th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, originally enlisted for 90 days. Almost all of them reenlisted when their terms were up.

As Rev. Hicks put it: “But though the boys of the Tenth were the first in the field, they were not the first to enlist. That honor belongs to a company of Kendall county volunteers, without historic fame save in local history.”

The evening of April 13, just hours after Fort Sumter surrendered, a crowded mass meeting was held at the courthouse in Oswego. Judge Helm, Judge Ricketson, Alonzo B. Smith (the old Mexican War veteran), and others gave rousing speeches. After the speeches, Lyman G. Bennett spoke, saying it was time for action – not words – to put down the South’s traitorous rebellion. He flourished a paper with one name on it – his own – and asked who else would enlist to fight.

In a few minutes 80 men had enlisted. Oswegoan James Cliggitt was the first to step forward and his name went directly below Bennett’s. Many of those who signed up that first emotional day eventually served in the 13th Illinois Infantry.

But among all the Illinois Civil War regiments, the 36th Illinois was considered Kendall County’s own. It was recruited in July 1861, Company D raised in Lisbon Township; Company E in Little Rock and Bristol townships; Company F in Newark; and Company I in Oswego. More than 300 Kendall County men enlisted in the 36th Illinois, nicknamed the Fox River Regiment.

Other units heavy with local participation were the 20th, 89th, and 127th Infantry Regiments and the 4th Illinois Cavalry Regiment. And more than one later county resident served in the all-Black 29th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment.

Eventually, an estimated 1,500 Kendall County men and boys served in the Civil War, an astonishing 10% of the county’s total 1860 population.

Later, dozens of county residents went off to fight in Europe in World War I and hundreds fought all over the world in World War II. Then more local men and women fought in frozen Korea, the jungles of Vietnam and then the desert sands of the Middle East.

Starting Nov. 6 and running through Nov. 29, the Little White School Museum, 72 Polk St., Oswego, will honor the thousands of local men and women who have served their country, some paying the ultimate sacrifice, during their annual, free “Remembering Our Veterans” exhibit filling the museum’s main room.

For more information, call them at 630-554-2999 or visit the museum website at www.littlewhiteschoolmuseu

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