Eagle Cliff - Miles Cemetery

Eagle Cliff - Miles Cemetery. . , Stephen W. Miles was born in New York and came to this area in 1819. He was a successful businessman and acquired large tracts of land. He would stand on the bluff and say, "For miles and miles, it all belongs to Miles." He would eventually control more than 2800 acres. Miles' Stately home was located on the floodplain below the bluff in the community called Eagle Cliff. , For many years, the Native Americans used this blufftop as a burial site. This spot had a special significance Native Americans, who once lived in this region, and predicted that in years to come the white man will visit these ground not with battle axes and scalping knives, but with mementos of an honored ancestry whose remains sleep here on the confines of two worlds. The more modern part of the cemetery includes more than 400 burials, including the graves of many early Monroe County settlers and Revolutionary War veterans. Those buried here include Shadrach Bond, uncle of the first Illinois governor by the same name, James Garretson and John Casper Moredock, after who Moredock Lake was named. , Stephen Miles commissioned the construction of a mausoleum and burial vault to be used by members of his family. Italian marble was used for the monument. The marble was brought up the Mississippi River by steamboat and then hauled to the up of the bluff by oxen. The burial chamber included 56 vaults-24 on each side and 8 on the back wall. The cost of the construction of the mausoleum was $25,000, which was a small fortune for that time period. Burials included Miles, his two wives and several other descendants, along with some of his servants, including his favorite, Annie. Stephen Miles died in 1858, three months before the structure was completed. , Large marble panels were included on either side of the doorway that said it was a memorial to Miles and his descendants, and the responsibility for of the monument was to be bestowed on the eldest living family heir. A wrought iron fence completely surrounded the monument. By the early 1960, vandals had broken open the mausoleum and destroyed the contents of the vaults inside. , The architectural gem only continues to exist due to the cleanup, restoration and maintenance of the cemetery and mausoleum by a dedicated group of volunteer century board members. Below you will find a listing of the veterans that are buried here. , Revolutionary War 1775-1783 , Judge Shadrach Bond, Col Clark's IL Expedition . James Garretson, Col Clark's IL Expedition, War of 18 12 1812-1815 , Elijah Axley, Militia . Steven Miles . John Mordoch, Major IL Militia , Black Hawk War 1832 , Moses Haskins . John C. James . Michael W. Shook, Mexican-American War 1846-1847 Joseph Liven, Civil War, 1861-1865 , William Agnew, Sgt. Co. 1. 6th Reg . Martin V. Asley, Co. G. 11th, IL Inf. . T. Faulkenberry . James Green, 49th Reg . Elias Inman, Co. F. 50h IL Inf. . Seth W. Iman. Sr, Pvt. Co A. 11th Il Inf. . Thomas Johnson, LA Inf. . Joseph V. Lacy, Sgt. Co G, 130th IL Inf. . William W. Lakin, Co A, 130th IL Inf. . David B. Pease . Ira Stanton, Jr., Co. A, 130th Reg. , World War II 1939 - 1945 , Gasper Vincent, US Army, Vietnam War , Ronnie Pruett, US Navy, Country Commissioners , John C James, 1826 - 1828 . Joseph Livers, 1847 - 1849 . Judge Sidney Todd, 1836 - 1841, U. S. Secret Service , Steven Miles, Jr.