In honor of Memorial Day, our topic this week is "Military".
https://regnirpsstories.blogspot.com/2018/12/next-to-last-margaret-ann-hill-ferguson.html and https://regnirpsstories.blogspot.com/2018/10/ten-10-1-2018.html.
In the 1840 census, there is a "male under age 5", a "male 30-40" and a "female 20-30" in the home of John Hill in Giles County, Tennessee.
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| Source Citation: Year: 1840; Census Place: Giles, Tennessee; Roll: 523; Page: 157; Family History Library Film: 0024545. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Sixth Census of the United States, 1840. (NARA microfilm publication M704, 580 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. |
They are listed between James H. Hill and Walter M. Hill, who are John's brother and father. I believe that the "male under 5" is Erastus Horry Hill. On the next page, slaves of the persons on this page appear and John and James appear to have no slaves, but Walter M. Hill has 1, a male 16-24.
By the 1850 census, Erastus H. is 10, his father, John is 49, his mother, Nancy is 31 and his sister, Nancy C. is 8. They are still living in Giles County next door to John's parents, Walter M. and Ginetta and his sister, Louisa.
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| Source CitationYear: 1850; Census Place: District 5, Giles, Tennessee; Roll: M432_879; Page: 376A; Image: 142. DescriptionTownship: District 5. Source InformationAncestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C |
According to the 1850 Slave Schedule for Giles County, John C. Hill did not own any slaves, but his father, Walter M. Hill did, 1 male age 21.
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| Source Citation: Description; Township: District 5; Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1850 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Seventh Census of the United States, 1850. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1850. M432, 1,009 rolls. |
By the 1860 census, the family had moved to McNairy County. Here we find John, age 61, Nancy age 43, Erastus H. age 20, Nancy C. age 18, Mary E. age 9, Margaret A. age 7 and Virginia T. age 2.
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| Source Citation: Year: 1860; Census Place: District 5, McNairy, Tennessee; Roll: M653_1262; Page: 401; Family History Library Film: 805262. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. |
And in the 1860 Slave Census, John owns 1 slave, a black male, age 30. I wonder if it is the same one that his father owned in 1850, and that he inherited when Walter died. We can also see on this same page, that Luiza Hill, John's sister owns two slaves, a female age 20 or 21 and a male age 1.
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| Source Citation: Description; Township: District no 5; Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1860. M653, 1,438 rolls. |
Since Erastus had grown up with slavery, it is no wonder that he joined the Confederate forces. The division in the country over slavery was nearing it's boiling point. And that came on April 21, 1861, when shots were fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina and war broke out. Just a month later, Erastus and many other men from McNairy County, and surrounding counties, traveled the 50 or so miles to the town of Jackson, where W. H. Carroll enlisted them into the 13th Regiment of the Tennessee Volunteers. Erastus enlisted into Company F. for a period of 12 months.
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| https://www.fold3.com/image/74283745 |
https://tngenweb.org/civilwar/13th-tennessee-infantry-regiment/
On October 24, 1861, the regiment was in Colonel J. Knox Walker’s Brigade, which was composed of the 2nd (Walker’s), 13th and 15th Tennessee Infantry Regiments. The brigade was in Brigadier General Gideon J. Pillow’s Division, and as part of Pillow’s forces, the regiment participated in its first engagement at Belmont, Missouri, on November 7, 1861.
In this battle, the 13th was one of the regiments which crossed the Mississippi River to the Missouri side, and received the first brunt of the Federal attack. The regiment lost 149 men in killed, wounded and captured, of whom 54 were from Co. “A”.After serving only 160 days, it was in this conflict, the first action that he saw, that Erastus Horry Hill was killed. Here is a summary of the battle, according to one report: https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battles-detail.htm?battleCode=mo009
NAME: Battle of Belmont
CAMPAIGN: Operations at the Ohio - Mississippi River Conflue
DATE(S): November 1861
PRINCIPAL COMMANDERS: Lieutenant General Ulysses Grant [US] Brigadier General Gideon Pillow [CS]
ESTIMATED CASUALTIES: 1248 total (US 607; CS 641;)
DESCRIPTION:On November 6, 1861, Brig. Gen. U.S. Grant left Cairo, Illinois, by steamers, in conjunction with two gunboats, to make a demonstration against Columbus, Kentucky. The next morning, Grant learned that Confederate troops had crossed the Mississippi River from Columbus to Belmont, Missouri, to intercept two detachments sent in pursuit of Brig. Gen. M. Jeff Thompson and, possibly, to reinforce Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's force. He landed on the Missouri shore, out of the range of Confederate artillery at Columbus, and started marching the mile to Belmont. At 9:00 in the morning, an engagement began. The Federals routed the Confederates out of their Belmont cantonment and destroyed the Rebel supplies and equipment they found because they did not have the means to carry them off. The scattered Confederate forces reorganized and received reinforcements from Columbus. Counterattacked by the Confederates, the Union force withdrew, reembarked, and returned to Cairo. Grant did not accomplish much in this operation, but, at a time when little Union action occurred anywhere, many were heartened by any activity.Harper's Weekly kept the nation informed of the battles.
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| https://archive.org/details/harpersweeklyv5bonn/page/772 The Mississippi River, near Columbus and Belmont; The Mississippi River from Cairo to Chalk Bluff; The Retreat, the Tyler shelling the Rebel troops; The Battle of Belmont-The Charge of Colonel Dougherty, Twenty-second Illinois Regiment, Upon the Rebel Batteries - Sketched by Mr. Bill Travis Harper's Weekly - December 7, 1861 |
The rest of the pages from the Military Service Record file do not give very much more information.
There is another summary of the history of the 13th Regiment by Alfred J. Vaughan, Personal record of the Thirteenth Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, Memphis Press of S.C. Toof & Co., 1897. The actual book can be found here,
http://www.archive.org/stream/personalrecordof00vaug#page/12/mode/2up. On page 13, the list of men who died in that first battle are listed by Company, including E. H. Hill. In this eloquently written book near the end is a list of all the men who served in this Regiment, and two stories of "servants" and their service to their young masters, even in the face of death.
I was unable to find any record of when or how his family was informed of his death and whether or not his body was returned to them. There is an Erastus Hill buried in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, but the summary states that he was in the "U S Army", and no date is given for the death.
HILL, ERASTUS
US ARMY
CIVIL WAR
BURIED AT: SECTION 48 SITE 312 
I am not convinced that this is his burial site. Also, in all of the military documents, he is listed simply as E. H. Hill, not Erastus. In the censuses he was listed as Erastus H., so I am just not sure. There are apparently unknown soldiers buried in this cemetery from the Civil War period, so that may be his situation. Either way, or even if he is buried somewhere else, I am sure that his family remembered him fondly the rest of their lives.
And so, on this Memorial Day, 2019, I remember Erastus Horry Hill, and the many others who have made the ultimate sacrifice in support of their beliefs and fallen during their military service to our country.
'Til Next Time!
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