Buffalo Grove ambush | |||||||
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Part of the Black Hawk War | |||||||
Historical marker located west of Polo, Illinois | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Kickapoo warriors | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Henry Atkinson James M. Strode | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
6 | Not known | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
1 | Not known |
The Buffalo Grove ambush was an ambush that occurred on May 19, 1832 as part of the Black Hawk War. A six-man detail carrying dispatches from United States Colonel James M. Strode at Galena, Illinois to General Henry Atkinson at Dixon's Ferry was ambushed by Native Americans during the attack. William Durley was killed and buried near the site of the ambush. Durley's remains were initially interred by the party that would become victims of the St. Vrain massacre. Two other men had bullet holes in their clothing, but were uninjured. In 1910 the Polo Historical Society moved Durley's remains to a plot beneath a memorial they erected west of Polo, Illinois.