David Bailey (militia officer)

David Bailey was an American militia officer and abolitionist in the Illinois Militia who fought during the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War, most notably serving at the Battle of Stillman's Run where he and Lt. Col. Major Isaiah Stillman were defeated by Black Hawk's British Band at Stillman Creek in present-day Ogle County, Illinois on May 14, 1832.

In addition, Bailey was the defendant in an emancipation legal case defended by Abraham Lincoln entitled Bailey vs. Cromwell. This 1841 Illinois Supreme Court case was Lincoln's first recorded emancipation case. (7)

"In 1841, Lincoln defended Major David Bailey, a friend with whom Lincoln had served in the Black Hawk War. Bailey was being sued by the estate of Dr. William Cromwell for refusing to pay to Cromwell's estate four hundred dollars for an "indentured servant", Nance Legins-Costly. In 1836, when he was moving to Texas, Cromwell had arranged to have Bailey purchase the unwed and pregnant Nance. In exchange, Bailey, an abolitionist, signed a promissory note agreeing to pay Cromwell four hundred dollars when he received legal proof of Nance's indentured status. Lincoln won that case on the basis that involuntary servitude was illegal in Illinois and that Cromwell's case could not produce the record of the woman's voluntary indentured status. Nance was free."(9)

David Bailey, a native of Hillsboro, N. H., where his birth occurred June 12, 1801. That gentleman was next to the youngest son of Joseph Bailey, who was born February 8, 1772, in Rowley, Mass., and his father bore the name of Daniel Bailey, whose ancestors came over in the "Mayflower." David Bailey cane to Pekin when in his eighteenth year, and was engaged as a merchant in this place on the outbreak of the Black Hawk War. He then entered the service as a Captain of militia, and was soon promoted to be Major, and afterward Colonel of his regiment, having charge of the army stationed at Ft. Dearborn. While there he met and afterward married Miss Sarah Ann Brown, who was born in Connecticut May 25, 1811; she was the daughter of Rufus Brown, one of the earliest settlers of the city of Chicago. (8).

Although held responsible for the defeat, it is accepted by many historians that both Bailey and Stillman may have been unfairly blamed for the disastrous battle which was due more to the unclear orders given by Governor John Reynolds whose actions may have been politically motivated.

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