Two
Men With the Sai
I I
e
The name was Daniel Harvey Hill. The
younger beeame outstanding in the-ffrld of
ethical ion: the senior was one of the great¬
est soldiers in the Confederate Army.
Лате
By R. C. LAWRENCE
THAR'S gold in them lhar
hills" here in Carolina. We
produced the powerful
preacher. Dr. Halbert G. Hill, Mod¬
erator of the General Assembly of
the Presbyterian church; the states¬
man William Hill who served as
our Secretary of State nearly fifty
years; the eminent physician Wil¬
liam G. Hill, in whose honor a
Raleigh Masonic Lodge was named;
an outstanding lawyer in T. N. Hill
of Halifax. Theophilus H. Hill
was a scholarly poet, as meek in his
manner, as lowly in his offices, as
Walt Whitman, whose funeral
dirge "When Lilacs Last in the
Dooryard Bloomed," brought him
fame if not fortune. Hill’s verse
has never received that recogni¬
tion to which it is entitled, for
"The hush of his heart was as
holy
As hovers where angels have
flown."
Then there were two other Hills,
both bearing the name Daniel
Harvey Hill, the senior a soldier,
the younger an educator. The
younger Hill was born under the
handicap of a great name and had
to live that down and carve a career
for himself. This he did so well
upon the field of education, that
when what is now State College
was established in 1889, young
Hill was elected as Professor of
English and of Bookkeeping, serv¬
ing on the side as Secretary of the
Faculty and also as Bursar! Quite
a job this would be today. He be¬
came vice-president of the college
in 1905 and was elected as its
President in 1908. in which ca¬
pacity he served until 1916.
A Scholarly Man
The younger Hill was a scholarly,
bookish man. He was both a Doc¬
tor of Literature and of Laws; and
he was also a prolific author. His
series of Readers, and his North
Carolina History were adopted for
use as textbooks. His administra¬
tion of our Raleigh college was
marked as a period of growth, for
THE STATE. August 13. 1949
every year of his service saw some
new building added to its campus —
a power plant, a dormitory, an
engineering building, an animal in¬
dustry plant, a dining hall, a
Y.M.C.A. building, a textile depart¬
ment etc. Under Hill the enroll¬
ment doubled; the honor system
was installed.
Hill resigned his Presidency in
1916 to write the History
о/
the
North Carolina Troops in the Civil
War. a work which commemorates
as nowhere else the valor that
was Carolina's in the evil days of
the '60s; and he was also author
of From Bethel to Sharpsburg, pub¬
lished posthumously.
The older Hill has never re¬
ceived that recognition which his
service as a soldier entitles him.
Because he was not in immediate
command at the hour of some great
Confederate victory, there were
some who thought little of this
slight, slender, senior soldier of
our State. Much of Hill’s most
valuable service to the South was
behind the battle lines. For behind
every man in the front line
trenches, there must be several
men behind to bring up ammuni¬
tion and rations, to build roads,
bridges, fortifications — the sappers
and the miners.
The Senior Hill
General Daniel Harvey Hill was
born near York, S. C., in 1821. His
randfather, Colonel William Hill
ad served as a volunteer upon the
field of King’s Mountain; and two
of his uncles served in the war of
1812. He sprang from a line of
soldiers, and he was graduated
from West Point in 1838, in a class
which embraced in its membership
many men who were to rise to fame
in the '60s — Longstreet, A. P.
Stewart and Earl Van Dorn of the
Confederacy; Rosecrans, Pope and
Reynolds of the Federals.
His service embraced the whole
Mexican war. and he distinguished
himself for gallantry at Chapul-
tepec. Upon the conclusion of
peace, Hill, who had been pro¬
moted to be Major, became Pro¬
fessor of Mathematics at the Vir¬
ginia Military Institute, one of his
colleagues being a shy, modest
Presbyterian, later known to fame
as "Stonewall" Jackson. Hill and
Jackson were further associated in
the fact that they married sisters —
daughters of Rev. R. H. Morrison,
President of Davidson College. I
fancy this will be news to most of
our readers.
In 1858 Hill became Professor
of Mathematics at Davidson; and
in 1859 he became Commandant
of the Charlotte Military Institute.
Here he wrought until the South
served a summons upon him in
1861.
When the War Between the
States broke out in 1861. Hill was
named Colonel, and was placed in
charge of the camp of instruction
at Raleigh, where among his
subordinates were the men later
known as Major General Robert
F. Hoke. Brigadier Generals J. H.
Lane and W. G. Lewis, Colonels
Avery. Bridgers, Starr and others.
It was Hill who made a Major out
of Lieutenant Robert F. Hoke,
jumping him over the heads of ten
captains, for Hill sensed the mili¬
tary prowess that was Hoke’s as
evidenced on many a fierce field
thereafter.
Colonel Hill was in command at
Big Bethel, the first battle of the
Civil War, where Carolinian Henry
L. Wyatt became the first of the
sons of the State to fall before the
foe. That night Hill wrote his
wife: "I have God to thank for a
great and decided victory." Not
even Jackson could outdo Hill in
ascribing the victory to its rightful
source — the blessings of Provi¬
dence!
Became a Brigadier
Hill became Brigadier in Sep¬
tember, 1861. and distinguished
himself at Leesburg and at Gaines’
Mill — one of the bloodiest days of
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