Battery Rock is a limestone bluff located at Mile 860 of the Ohio River in Hardin County, Illinois, across from Caseyville, Kentucky. The bluff is a prominent navigational landmark along the river.

The site played a role in several conflicts during the Civil War. In 1862, the Union Army based its troops at Battery Rock during a standoff with Confederate troops at Caseyville; the standoff ended when the Union troops moved to Caseyville, found that the Confederates had left the town, and punished the rebellious residents. The bluff also played a role in Confederate general Stovepipe Johnson's attack on riverboats in 1864. During the attack, boats used the landing at Battery Rock as a safe harbor and a place to monitor the situation. In addition, two Union recruiters from Kentucky used the bluff as a recruiting station in 1864, and either a Union garrison or a local defense force placed two cannons at the site; graffiti left by an Indiana regiment has also been found at the site.

Battery Rock

The bluff was used as a filming location for the film How the West Was Won in the 1960s.

Battery Rock

Battery Rock was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 5, 1998.

Battery Rock

See also

Thompson Brothers Rock Art, a Civil War site in Union County

References

Ohio River

American Civil War sites

Illinois in the American Civil War

Natural features on the National Register of Historic Places

Landforms of Hardin County, Illinois

Cliffs of the United States

National Register of Historic Places in Hardin County, Illinois

Conflict sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois

American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places