Killed during the first battle of the Blackhawk War. He was a Corporal in the 5th Illinois Mounted Rangers.

War Hero Bird Ellis and Abraham Lincoln (see monument in "Photos" attached)

Bird Ellis was killed in the first engagement in what would be known as the Black Hawk War of 1832. In a speech given by the Hon. John. A. Atwood of Stillman Valley, Illinois, before the 1904 meeting of the Ogle County Old Settlers' Association, he noted the "Heroism of Volunteers" and started with Bird Ellis:

"I have said that the men who fell at Stillman's Run were heroes. Let me give you a few illustrations. Corporal Bird W. Ellis was a young man of but twenty years, but he was as brave as a Colonel Ellsworth. Knowing full well that a cruel death was inevitable he cheerfully gave his horse to an old man, a neighbor and comrade, whose steed had been killed under him, and took the almost hopeless chance of saving his own life on foot. Three miles south of Stillman Valley . . , his mutilated body was afterwards found and near it lay two dead Indians, a pony and a dog which he had slain in a hand-to-hand contest that finally cost him his life." The full speech can be found at http://www.comportone.com/cpo/genealogy/articles/localhistory/ BattleofStillmanRun.htm

Major Stillman and about three hundred men were scouting ahead of the main force. The militia volunteers were very impatient to obtain the laurels of war and wanted to "ketch" the Indians before they could get away. With the issue quickly becoming a question of cowardice, Major Stillman knew he had to lead them even if it cost him his life. They camped on May 12, 1832, near what is now called Stillman's Creek not realizing he was quite near Black Hawk's camp. Black Hawk sent a small party of his braves to Stillman's camp with a flag of truce. On their approach some of the men, without reporting to their commander and without orders, hastily mounted and dashed down upon the approaching Indians. Two Indians were killed as they retreated to their camp where the warriors raised the terrible war-whoop and prepared for battle. As the militiamen approached, the rest of the tribe ambushed them and they fled in terror. Twelve soldiers under Captain John Giles Adams fought a nighttime rearguard action on a hill south of their camp, while the others escaped to Dixon's Ferry. All twelve along with Captain Adams were killed. Of the thirteen men who fell at this battle, four were from Fulton County, including Bird W. Ellis.

Excerpt from "History of Fulton County", published by C. C. Chapman in 1879, pgs 289-306

Abraham Lincoln

Another soldier who volunteered in the Illinois militia was 23-year-old Abraham Lincoln who was elected captain of his company. He noted that he has not since had any success in life which gave him so much satisfaction. He served nearly three months and endured hardships like the other volunteers but was not in any battle. 

At what is now called Stillman Valley in Ogle County (just south of Rockford, Il.), he helped bury soldiers who had been killed and scalped the day before. Lincoln recalled that "the red light of the morning sun was streaming upon them as they lay, heads towards us, on the ground. And every man had a round red spot on the top of his head, about as big as a dollar, where the red-skins had taken his scalp. It was frightful, but it was grotesque, and the red sunlight seemed to paint everything all over." 

From http://abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/sites/stillman.htm

The "History of Fulton County, Illinois," page 1032, notes that one of the primary causes of the Black Hawk War occurred when three Fulton County boys were out hunting. Bird Ellis, Joseph Farris, and Asa Smith found a young Indian, caught him, cut switches, and whipped him. When he tried to escape, one of the party hit him on the head with a gun. They left him near the Indian camp where he recovered enough to make it back to his friends, but then died.