Swinfield Hill and the Civil War

At the Start of the Civil war in Yancey County North Carolina a group of men went around trying to make men fight for their side (the side of the Southern states).   My grandfather, John Hill, said he was 7 or  8  years old. and that him and his brother, I would say it was Josiah Hill,  were  playing in a hollow log in the yard. They saw Swinfield shoot this man.  The rest of the men went after him and he escaped into the mountains and got away.

He went to Ceredo West Virgina and joined the 4th West Virginia Volunteers to fight on the side of the North on Dec 12, 1861.  He died  at Walnut Hills,   Mississippi on June 26, 1863.  

by Dallas Hill
(Grandson of John Hill, great grandson of Swinfield Hill)

Notes:

Swinfield Hill was the son of a William and Elizabeth Hill of Yancey County North Carolina.  The children found so far of  William and Elizabeth are: Swinfield, Leonard, Josiah Joseph and Nancy.   

Swinfield Hill married Sindesta Blair on March 11, 1852 in Russel County Virginia.   They had children:  Rose Carolina, John, Elizabeth J, Josiah S, Rickles, Stacy and William W.  

After Swinfield left for the war, his parents, his wife and his children moved from Yancey County into the mountains.  Some  went into Lincoln County West Virginia and later to Logan County West Virginia, some went into Pike County Kentucky and later Jackson Ohio.   Swinfield's widow last resided in Jackson Ohio when she died on December 11, 1901.

Swinfield's mother and father came into Lincoln County West Virginia.     William died sometime before 1880.   Elizabeth is seen in the Lincoln County census living in the household of her son Leonard Hill.  

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Sons of Swinfield

In the late 1800's my grandfather  John and his brother, William were in a bar here in Jackson, Ohio. A man was going to shoot William. My grandfather tried to take the gun and it went off  and John caught the bullet in his  mouth. If you look at his picture it looks like he is Hair Liped.  William was Shot in Hocking County, Ohio in 1888.

by Dallas Hill

Another son of Swinfield Hill was Josiah S. Hill.   He married an Elizabeth Mullins in Wise County Virginia.   Josiah and Elizabeth was found living in Lincoln County West Virginia in 1880.    They had two children in Lincon County, Swinfield and Nancy, before moving into Big Creek in Logan County West Virginia.   There was born unto them, John W, Tolbert, Robert Lee (my grandfather), Lillian, Delia, Edgar, Virgie and Elmer.    One of Robert Hill's sons, Thomas Orville Hill is my father.   Dad remembers all of his aunts and uncles except Elmer.  He remembers hearing of Swinfield but he died in 1906 of blood poisoning.    Everyone just called him Swin.   Nancy Hill married Elijah Duty but tragically died after falling from a horse and having a miscarriage.    The rest of Josiah and Elizabeth's children lived to marry and raise large families.    Josiah himself died of tuberulosis in 1913 in Henlawson West Virginia.  

by Dorna Jean (Hill) Chambers
(great, great, granddaughter of Swinfield Hill and Sindesta Blair)