Benjamin Jefferson Hill
Benjamin Jefferson Hill was born on June 13, 1825, in McMinnville, Tennessee. He worked as a merchant in McMinnville. He supported the Democratic Party, and he served in the Tennessee state senate from 1855 until 1861. He married Mary Smartt, and they had one child, who died in infancy. By 1860, he owned $12,600 of real estate and $18,400 of personal property. He supported secession, and in June 1861, he insisted that McMinnville was “united in a common cause for freedom and independence.”
 
In September 1861, he received a commission as colonel of the 35th Tennessee Infantry. The regiment took part in the Battle of Shiloh, the Battle of Murfreesboro, the Battle of Chickamauga, the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and the Atlanta campaign. He was promoted to brigadier general in November 1864, and he led a cavalry brigade in the Nashville campaign. He spent the final months of the war stationed in Atlanta.
 
He returned to McMinnville after the war and resumed his work as a merchant. He died there of consumption on January 5, 1880.
 
Image: Benjamin J. Hill (courtesy Wikicommons)
2798
DATABASE CONTENT
(2798)Hill, Benjamin Jefferson1825-06-131880-01-05
  • Conflict Side: Confederacy
  • Role: Soldier
  • Rank in: Colonel
  • Rank out: Brigadier General
  • Rank highest: Brigadier General
  • Gender: Male
  • Race: White

Documents - Records: 8

  • (7852) [writer] ~ Benjamin J. Hill to Mary V. Hill, 13 April 1859
  • (7853) [writer] ~ Robert T. Fleming Receipt, 10 May 1861
  • (7856) [associated with] ~ Benjamin J. Hill Receipt, 28 June 1862
  • (7865) [recipient] ~ James Gibson to Benjamin J. Hill, 5 March 1865
  • (7866) [recipient] ~ J. N. Smith to Benjamin J. Hill, 18 March 1865
  • (7911) [recipient] ~ Unknown to Benjamin J. Hill, 30 November 1864
  • (7912) [recipient] ~ Bromfield L. Ridley to Benjamin J. Hill, 1 December 1864
  • (7947) [associated with] ~ Blanche Spurlock to Mary V. Hill, undated

People - Records: 1

  • (2800) Hill, Mary Vesta is the [wife of] (2798) Hill, Benjamin Jefferson

Places - Records: 1

  • (1445) [birth, death] ~ McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee

Show in Map

Regiments - Records: 1

  • (837) [officer] ~ 35th Tennessee Infantry

Groups - Records: 1

  • (1) [politician] ~ Democratic Party
SOURCES

1860 United States Federal Census, available from Ancestry.com; Military Service Records of Benjamin J. Hill, available from Fold3.com; Nashville (TN) Union and American, 27 July 1855; The Tennessean (Nashville, TN), 11 June 1861; Paul G. Pierpaoli Jr., American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection, Vol. 2, ed. Spencer C. Tucker