David Bailey (militia officer)

David Bailey (1801–1854) was an American militia officer and abolitionist in the Illinois Militia who was a key participant in the Black Hawk War. Most notably, he served 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.^[1]