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,
