In an hour-long Flag Day ceremony with an atmosphere full of the sights of fluttering red, white and blue, the sounds of traditional patriotic melodies, and the smell of musket gun powder, about 120 people gathered at Springdale Cemetery in Peoria on Sunday evening, 14 June 2026, to shower great honor and gratitude upon the memory of three Revolutionary War soldiers who came to Peoria in their old age.
The occasion for Sunday evening’s program was the solemn dedication of Springdale Cemetery’s new Revolutionary War Patriot Plaza, located adjacent to Soldiers’ Hill, where hundreds of U.S. military veterans — including about 300 Civil War soldiers — rest from their labors. The three Revolutionary War soldiers now honored at Patriot Plaza are Capt. Zeally Moss (1755-1839), Pvt. William Crow (c.1757-1854), and Pvt. Levin H. Powell (1763-1836).
Moss, Crow, and Powell were all Virginians who fought in the Southern Campaign, all three were present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, on 19 Oct. 1781, and all three eventually left Virginia and came to Peoria. In the cases of Moss and Crow, they both settled in and lived out the rest of their lives in Peoria County, but in Powell’s case, he died at the Peoria Narrows only three weeks after landing at Peoria, while he and his family were on their way to settle in Washington Township, Tazewell County, Illinois. Powell’s son Mahlon later moved from Washington, Illinois, and settled in Peoria. Powell’s gravesite is unknown, and it is also unknown whether he is buried on the Peoria County or Tazewell County side of the Narrows. Peoria DAR historian Electa Spangler (1880-1967) believed Powell was buried near the banks of the Illinois River on the Peoria County side, but Susan Rynerson of the Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society believes the Tazewell County side or somewhere in the Washington area is much more likely. Be that as it may, thanks to the creation of Patriot Plaza, Levin Powell’s life and valor are now fittingly and permanently memorialized in Peoria’s most historic cemetery, located just a few miles from the Narrows.
Like Powell, Crow’s exact gravesite is unknown, though newspaper reports state he was buried at the top of Montague Hill, a former graveyard on High Street in Peoria. On 13 June 2017, the NSDAR placed a marker commemorating Crow’s Revolutionary War service on the Tripp monument at Springdale Cemetery, because Almina D. Tripp (1845-1918) of Peoria was Crow’s granddaughter. During Sunday evening’s dedication ceremony, it was noted that Cross had asked for military honors at his funeral, but unfortunately no honor guard was available at the time. At long last, 172 years later, Pvt. Crow has received the military honors he had desired.
In comparison to Crow and Powell, Zeally Moss is the best remembered of the three Patriots, with a grand grave monument and a 2016 National Society Daughters of the American Revolution plaque at his burial site in Springdale Cemetery. His daughter Lydia (Moss) Bradley (1816-1908) was the founding benefactor of Bradley University in Peoria. On Decoration Day (Memorial Day) in 1945, the Zeally Moss Chapter of the Children of the American Revolution (which had been formed and named in his honor in 1905) dedicated a plaque in his honor at his gravesite.
Prior to the creation of Revolutionary War Patriot Plaza, the most recent honor given to Capt. Moss was on Independence Day in 2014, when the local chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution placed a cenotaph historical marker near Soldiers’ Hill and American Legion Hill in Springdale Cemetery. A few years later, around 2018, Robert Hoffer of the Peoria Historical Society, himself an SAR member, proposed the creation of a special plaza in Springdale Cemetery that would include not only Moss’ cenotaph, but equivalent cenotaphs for Crow and Powell. With the strong support of a great many individuals and community organizations, Hoffer’s vision finally had been made a reality during the United States of America’s Semiquincentennial year.
Presiding over Sunday evening’s dedication ceremonies was Aaron Comte, Springdale Cemetery’s general manager. Music was provided by the Peoria Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet, which played “America the Beautiful” at the beginning of the ceremony, the National Anthem during the ceremony’s Flag Day “Salute to the U.S. Flag,” and concluded the program with “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Commander Jim Ulrich of Peoria’s American Legion Post #2 presented the “Salute to the Flag” and led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance. During the “Salute,” Ulrich told of the history of the U.S. flag and explained the special significance of each of the flags that were displayed at the Plaza during the dedication ceremonies. Among those flags was a genuine, historic 21-star “Illinois” U.S. flag. The period of time that the U.S. flag had only 21 stars was comparatively brief: from 1819 to 1820, after Illinois entered the Union as the 21st state in Dec. 1818.
Speaking during the dedication program were Linda Sedgwick, Peoria DAR regent and a trustee of the Peoria Historical Society, James Shadid, president of Bradley University (who delivered the keynote address), Peoria Councilman Zach Oyler (who read a City of Peoria proclamation signed by Peoria Mayor Rita Ali in recognition of Revolutionary War Patriot Plaza), Illinois State Sen. Dave Koehler (who read a similar State of Illinois proclamation signed by Illinois Gov. Jay Robert Pritzker), Sarah Varnes, president of the Springdale Historic Preservation Foundation, and Douglas Holmes, a member of the Capt. Zeally Moss Chapter SAR who is himself a descent of Capt. Moss.
The ceremonies concluded with a prayer of benediction by SAR Chaplain Thomas McMahill, a musket volley by SAR members in tribute to the service and valor of Moss, Crow, and Powell, and finally, while a bagpiper played “Taps,” the raising of a 13-star “Betsy Ross” U.S. flag over Patriot Plaza by Robert Hoffer and U.S. Marine veteran Cole Oliver, Springdale Cemetery operations assistant.
The formal dedication of Patriot Plaza marks the completion of “Phase I” of the project. Phase II will install parking and access that is compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. For more information on the project, or to donate, visit Springdale Cemetery’s website, “Honoring Peoria’s Revolutionary Spirit with the New Patriot Plaza.”
The chief partners in bringing about the creation of Revolutionary War Patriot Plaza included the Capt. Zeally Moss Chapter SAR, the Peoria Chapter NSDAR, the Peoria Historical Society, Springdale Cemetery & Mausoleum and the Springdale Historic Preservation Foundation, Bradley University, the Farnsworth Group, the Otto Baum Co. Inc. Foundation, and Caterpillar Foundation Matching Grants. Among the many who sponsored or in other ways assisted the project was the Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society, whose past president Susan Rynerson assisted Robert Hoffer in researching the life and family of Pvt. Levin H. Powell.
Following is a gallery of photographs from the Patriot Plaza dedication ceremonies:
