Abraham Lincoln visited Mercer County on at least two occasions. On May 7 and 8, 1832, at the onset of the Black Hawk War, Captain Lincoln led his company of Illinois militia northeast from Oquawka to the Rock River at Milan through Mercer County, passing west of Aledo and east of Millersburg. After crossing the Edwards River at “Army Ford” (now 151st Street), the militia made camp on a small creek several miles to the north, subsequently named “Camp Creek” to note the occasion. In late September 1834, the future sixteenth President of the United States rode from New Salem to Yellow Banks, the Indian name given to a 17-mile stretch of the eastern bank of the Mississippi River between Oquawka and New Boston, known for its prominent banks of yellow sand. At Upper (northern) Yellow Banks Lincoln spent several days surveying a town site and, on September 30, he completed a plat of survey of what is now the Town of New Boston. This was the first of several town sites he ultimately surveyed.