In the Kilbourn State Bank may be seen a collection of Indian relics, the property of L. N. Coapman, the cashier.
Grave of Rebel Spy
The grave of Belle Boyd, the noted Rebel spy, is in the Kilbourn Cemetery, her resting place being south of the center and near the Maybee monument. She was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 1846. When a girl she heard the federal troops were threatening her "beloved south" and galloped at night to Stonewall Jackson to convey to him the news. Soon after she was captured and taken to Washington where she became a favorite through her charming manners. After being in prison for a time, she was exchanged for Colonel Michael Cochoran of the Irish Brigade.
Not long after her boldness brought her into the custody of the federal troops again and this time she was ordered to be shot, but was banished. Once more she was captured, once more ordered shot, and once more ordered banished by President Lincoln. Then she went to London where she married Lieutenant Harding who had once caused her capture, creating an international sensation. After his death she married again and after the demise of her second husband wedded Mr. High at Detroit. While with a theatrical company in Kilbourn in 1900, death unexpectedly came and now with each returning Memorial Day flowers are placed upon her tomb by Northerners—those whom she risked her life to oppose.
Indian Mounds
About three miles southeast of Kilbourn where the highway crosses the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad tracks, there are a number of Indian mounds. The first of these, the Crossing Group, consists of six conical mounds on an elevation near the road at the river crossing. Across the creek to the south and near the highway is a conical mound and along the river bank, quite close to it, other mounds may be seen, the last holding a commanding view on the high bank. The cultivated land between the farm house and railroad track shows evidences of having been a village site.
Rattlesnake Rock is a high crag on the left.
In the woods east of the Crossing Group are fifteen earthworks, two effigy, three linear, and ten oval or burial mounds. These are known as the Gale Group, for Miss Hattie Gale of Kilbourn.
Partly in a cultivated field and partly in the woods to the northeast may be seen the Bennett Group, named for the late H. H. Bennett of Kilbourn. He it was who made the Dells widely known through his wonderful photography. Of these Indian memorial the most striking mound in the group is a bird (north side of the woods) having a wing spread of 295 feet.
Between the Crossing Group and Kilbourn are two mounds on the Ole Helle place.