Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/275

 HILL

HILL

the U.S. Military academy, West Point, in 1842; and served in the 4th artillery, in Maine during the boundary troubles, and in the Mexican war, 1846-47, wlien he was transferred to the infantry with the rank of first lieutenant. He was brevet- ted captain for gal-

lant conduct at Con-

treras and Churubus- co,and major for vol- unteering and lead- ing in a storming party from Twiggs's division at Chapul- tepec. He received a gold-hilted sword from the state of ■^7 South Carolina in token of appreciation of his services. He resigned frona the army in 1849, and was professor of mathe- matics and military tactics in Washington col- lege, Va., 1849-53; of mathematics and engineer- ing at Davidson college, N.C., 1853-58; superin- tendent of the North Carolina Militarj' institute, Charlotte, 1858-61, and director of the military camp of instruction, Raleigh, N.C., 1861. He was commissioned colonel of the 1st North Carolina regiment and led it at the first important battle of the civil war. Big Bethel, Va., June 10, 1861. For his action in this engagement he was made brigadier-general and assigned to the Army of Nortliern Virginia. He was ordered to the Pen- insula when McClellan commenced his campaign against Richmond and was present in defence and evacuation of Yorktown, Va., May 1, and at the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862, where he commanded the fourth division of Longstreet's army. He was promoted major-general, and his division was conspicuous at Seven Pines, May 31 to June 1, 1862, in driving General Casey frona his intrenchments, and aided by Anderson's brig- ade commanded by Col. Micah Jenkins, met and repulsed the corps of General Kej-es. He was in command of the extreme left at Old Cold Harbor in the battle of Gaines's Mill. He was the hero of Boonsboro, Md., Sept. 14, 1863, which battle he directed, and he held the passes of South Moun- tain with 5000 men against McClellan's 80,000 from sunrise till three o'clock in the afternoon and thus enabled Jackson to unite with Lee and save the Confederate army from annihilation. He was also conspicuous at Sharpsburg, Sept. 17, and at Fredericksburg, Dec. 10, 1862. When Lee prepared to invade Pennsylvania in 1863 General Hill was intrusted with the command of the de- fences of Richmond and Petersburg, and of the department of North Carolina. On March 14,

1863, he ordered Gen. J. J. Pettigrew to make an attack on Newbern, N.C, with the purpose of recapturing the city, which proved ineffectual. He was nominated, July 13, 1863, lieutenant- general by President Davis and was assigned to the command of Hardee's corps in General Bragg's army at Chattanooga, and fought in the battle of Chickamauga, Sept. 19-20, 1863. With Generals Polk, Longstreet, Buckner, Cleburne, Cheatham, Brown and other general officers, he signed and sent to the President a petition stating that General Bragg had lost the confidence of the army and asking that he be transferred to an- other command and replaced by a more accept- able leader. President Davis was induced to be- lieve that Hill was the originator of this paper and he therefore withheld his name from the senate for confirmation as lieutenant-general. The repeated efforts of Generals Johnston and Beauregard and many of the subordinate officers to have Hill returned to the command of a corps were fruit- less and Hill's demand for a court of inquiry was tardily answered: "There are no charges to be investigated." He was in Lynchburg, Va., in June, 1864, when the city was threatened by General Hunter, and in the absence of General Breckenridge, who was suffering from an injury received at Cold Harbor, he assumed command of the defences and so effectively placed the small garrison as to prevent the threatened attack. He was at last assigned to duty in Charleston, S.C., and fell back with the Confederate forces to Augusta, Ga., from where Johnston ordered him to assume command and move north in front of the victorious march of Sherman's army. He disputed the ground with Sherman's vanguard at every stream and defile until the final surrender at Durham station, N.C, April 26, 1865, making a notable stand at Kinston, March 8, 1865, and taking a conspicuous part in the battle of Ben- tonville, March 9, 1865. He then retired to Char- lotte, where he founded and edited The Land We Love, a monthly magazine. He was president of the University of Arkansas, 1877-84; and of the Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural college, Milledgeville, 1885-89. He was married, Nov. 2, 1862, to Isabella, daughter of the Rev. Dr. R. H. Morrison and granddaughter of Gen. Joseph Graham, the father of Governor William A. Graham. He edited The Southern Home and de- livered a notable address on "The Old South" before the comrades of the Society of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States in the State of Maryland. He is the author of: A Considera- tion of the Sermon on the Mount (1858); The Criicifixion of f'/^r/.sf (1860); TJie Elemeyits of Algebra, and of the articles: iee's Attacks North of the Chielcahominij; McClellan'' s Change of Base and Malvern Hill; and Chickamauga,