Soldier Information
Name: Pleasant Hill
Alias:
Place of Birth: Warren KY Year of Birth: 1838
Occupation: Farmer
Eyes: Black Hair: Black Complexion: Black
Height in Feet: 5 Inches: 7 3/4
Enlistment Information
Enlistment Date: September 4, 1864
Enlistment Place: Bowling Green
Enlistment State: KY
Compiled Military Service Record
Document: View
Congressional District: 2
Company: F Regiment(s): 6th Regt USCC
Mustered Where: Bowling Green, KY (Warren County)
Mustered Out Date:
Rank at Muster Out:
Notes:
On September 4, 1864, Pleasant Hill, age 26, born in Warren County, Kentucky, enlisted at, and was mustered into Co. F 6th USCC as a Private, at Bowling Green, Kentucky. He was a “new recruit” from Butler County, County and “owed service Joseph Hill.” He was credited to Butler County (Congressional District 2). Private Pleasant Hill was killed in action during the horrific battle at Saltville, Virginia on October 1, 1864. At the time of his death, he had been issued $38 worth of clothing and had not yet received any salary or bounty money.
This soldier’s CMSR includes pages that conflict with his muster in date and location, and his muster roll dates that noted 1865 as the year. His company F and 6th USC Cavalry regiment are consistent.
Soldier Death Information
Died in war? Yes
Military Death Date: October 1, 1864
Military Death Location: Saltville, Virginia (Smyth County)
Military Cause of Death: Killed in action
Death Date: October 1, 1864
Cause of Death: Killed in action during the Battle of Saltville in Saltville, Virginia
Death Certificate
Soldier Pension Information
Pension Card Link:
Pension Application Date:
Application No.: Certificate No.:
Alternate First Name: Alternate Last Name:
Widow Pension Information
Widow Pension Card: Pension Card
Widow Application Date: December 20, 1867
Application No.: 155785 Certificate No.: 112256
Other Family Pension Information
Pension Card Link:
Application Date:
Application No.: Certificate No.:
Pension File Information
Pension File: Pension File
Pensioners: Caroline Hill
Catherine Hill
Benjamin Calvin Hill
Paradine (Pleasant) Ann Hill
Pensioner County: Warren Pensioner State: KY
Number of Pages:29
Pension Notes:
On March 25, 1867, Caroline Hill, widow of Pleasant Hill, of Smiths Grove, Kentucky (Warren County) applied for pension benefits. Her witnesses included Nancy J. Doughty (white) (1829-1880) and Benjamin Kirtley (Caroline Hill’s brother) (1828-1900), both of Warren County and both of whom were present when Pleasant Hill and Caroline were married. “The marriage was never questioned and their friends and acquaintances stated they were owned by the same master Joseph Hill.” “Mr. William Taylor and [illegible] Taylor residents of Warren County state that they were present on or about the 6th day of March 1858 at the residence of Joseph Hill in Butler County, Ky. [and] saw Pleasant Hill and Caroline Hill joined in marriage by one Peter Martin a minister of the gospel according to the fashion of colored people. They ever after lived together as husband [and] wife.” “Mr. Joseph Hill [enslaver] and Mahala Hill of Butler County, Ky. state that Pleasant Hill and Caroline Hill persons of color lived together [and] were recognized as husband and wife. Up to the time of the death of said Pleasant Hill the said Caroline was owned by us at the [and] up to the time the war [illegible]…the constitutional amendment during their said marriage there was born to them the following named children: Catherine Hill who was born in the 11th day of April 1859. [Benjamin] Calvin Hill who was born on…27 Sept. 1861 and Pleasant Ann Hill [Paradine] who was born 4th March 1864.” On December 20, 1867, Caroline Hill’s pension commenced. She received $8 per month plus $2 each for each of her three children. Sometime between 1875 and 1880, Caroline Hill and her family left Kentucky for Salina, Kansas (Saline County). During this transition, it appears that her pension payments stopped, possibly due to her relocation. The process was complicated by a house fire in 1875 in Warren County in which Caroline Hill’s pension certificate/paperwork were lost. She applied for a duplicate certificate and successfully petitioned for her widow’s pension to be reinstated and to receive the payments that were in arrears. Caroline Hill continued to receive her pension until she was dropped from the pension rolls as a result of her death on April 27, 1911. NOTE: When Benjamin Kirtley provided his testimony, it was not disclosed that he was Caroline Hill’s brother.
Freedman’s Bank/Freedmen’s Bureau Information
No Freedman’s Bank information found
No Freedmen’s Bureau Documents found
Family Information
Mother First Name: Mother Maiden Name:
Father First Name: Father Last Name:
Siblings:
Wife #1 First Name: Caroline Maiden Name: Lawrence
Wife #2 First Name: Maiden Name:
Wife #3 First Name: Maiden Name:
Children: Catherine “Katie” Hill 1859
Benjamin Calvin Hill 1861
Paradine Hill 1864
Family Notes:
According to the widow’s pension file, Pleasant and Caroline Hill had three children at the time of his death in 1864: Catherine “Katie” Hill (1859-1931); Benjamin Calvin Hill (1861-1883); and Paradine Hill (1864-1940). According to Census records, Caroline Hill claimed to be the mother of two other children (unlikely to have been fathered by Pleasant Hill): John Thomas Hill (1851-1917); and Anna Hill (1865-after 1940). Neither John Thomas Hill nor Anna Hill were mentioned in Caroline Hill’s widow’s pension claim. In addition to being widowed during the Civil War, Caroline Hill and her family endured many other tragedies. Her son Benjamin Calvin Hill died in 1883 from a gunshot wound from an accidental shooting. Caroline Hill’s brother, Benjamin Kirtley, was also the victim of a shooting accident when he was shot by his grandson. Caroline Hill’s son John Thomas Hill was accidentally killed when he was shot by his own son, Webbie Hill, age 16, who mistook his father for a rabbit. Another shooting victim in this family was Charles Stell (1888-1915) (Caroline Hill’s grandson), who was shot and killed during a scuffle for which the shooter claimed he acted in self-defense. Finally, another tragic figure in Pleasant Hill’s family was his daughter, Paradine Hill (1864-1940), who struggled with mental illness all of her long life and died in the Topeka State Hospital.
It is possible that John Thomas Hill was a son of Pleasant and Caroline, and was not referenced in the pension file because he was sixteen years old at the time of the widow’s pension application.
Family Tree:
View Family Tree on Ancestry.com Please note: this requires a paid Ancestry.com account to view
1870 Census
1870 Census Link: View
1870 Profession: Kept house
1870 Live with/near former enslaver? No
1870 Real Estate Value: 250 1870 Personal Estate Value: 225
1870 Ability to Read? Cannot read Ability to Write? Cannot write
1870 Census Notes:
In 1870, Pleasant Hill’s widow, Caroline L. Hill, age 45 (Census had 1825 as her birth year which was incorrect), who kept house, lived in her son John Thomas Hill’s household in the Elk Spring community (near Smiths Grove) in Warren County, Kentucky. Caroline Hill owned $250 in real estate and $225 in property. Her son John Thomas Hill, age 19, was a farmer and listed as the head of the household. John Thomas Hill owned no property. Also in the household were three of Caroline Hill’s other children: Catherine Hill, age 12, Benjamin Calvin Hill, age 7; and Paradine (transcribed as “Pesann”) Hill, age 3, all of whom were “at home.” Caroline Hill’s brother, Benjamin Kirtley and his family, lived nearby in Elk Spring.
1880 Census
1880 Census Link: View
1880 Profession: Keeping house
1880 Live with/near former enslaver? No
1880 Ability to Read? Unknown Ability to Write? Unknown
1880 Census Notes:
Sometime between 1875 and 1880, Caroline Hill moved her family to Salina, Kansas (Saline County). In 1880, Pleasant Hill’s widow, Caroline Hill, age 47, lived in Salina, Kansas with her four children: [John] Thomas Hill, age 28, laborer; Catherine Hill, age 21, at home; [Benjamin] Calvin Hill, age 17, laborer; and Paradine (enumerated as “Plesina”) Hill, age 15. Caroline Hill and her family were enumerated on the same Census page as Caroline’s brother, Benjamin Kirtley and his family.
1890 Census
1890 Census information not found
1900 Census
1900 Census Link: View
1900 Profession: None
1900 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Can write
1900 Own/Rent: Own 1900 Home Free/Mortgage: Free 1900 Farm/House: House
1900 Census Notes:
In 1900, Caroline Hill, age 65, lived at 502 North Third Street in Salina, Kansas. She was a widow who had eight children but only four were living in 1900 (John Thomas, Catherine/Katie, Paradine, and Anna). Both of Caroline Hill’s parents were born in Virginia. According to this Census, Caroline Hill could read and write (in conflict with other Census information) and owned her home, free and clear. The only other person in the household was her grandson (only child of Caroline Hill’s late son, Benjamin Calvin Hill, 1861-1883), Benjamin Hill (1883-1918), age 17, who was attending school.
1910 Census
1910 Census Link: View
1910 Profession: None
1910 Ability to Read? Cannot read Ability to Write? Cannot write
1910 Own/Rent: Own 1910 Home Free/Mortgage: Free 1910 Farm/House: House
1910 Census Notes:
In 1910, Caroline Hill, age 79, lived alone in her house at 500 North Third Street in Salina, Kansas. She had 8 children in her lifetime and four were living. She had no occupation but owned her home free and clear. Next door at 504 North Third was her daughter Catherine “Katie” Hill Stell and her family. Her daughter Anna Hill Cox and her family (including husband Rev. Robert Cox) lived at 601 North Third. lived None of these homes are standing today, but based existing houses on surrounding streets, they were likely modest, one-story frame houses. These houses were demolished (along with others on this block) to make way for railroad and industrial land uses.
1920 Census
1920 Census Link: View
1920 Profession: None
1920 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Can write
1920 Own/Rent: Unknown 1920 Home Free/Mortgage: Unknown 1920 Farm/House: Unknown
1920 Census Notes:
In 1920, only two of Caroline Hill’s children were living: Paradine Hill and Anna Hill Cox. Paradine Hill. In 1919, after years of bouts with mental illness, Paradine Hill was judged to be insane and was committed to the Topeka State Hospital where she lived when the 1920 Census was conducted. Paradine Hill, who never married, was about 61 years old in 1920, never left the Topeka State Hospital and died there in 1940. In 1920, Anna Hill Cox, age 53, lived with her husband Rev. Robert Cox, age 54, and their son Pleasanton “Plez” Cox, age 25, in their house at 601 North Second Street in Salina, Kansas. Also in the household was Anna and Robert’s “adopted daughter,” “Jenette Cox,” age 8, who was actually “Jenetta Franklin” their biological granddaughter (daughter of Nita Cox Franklin and Harry Lee Franklin). Nita Cox Franklin (1886-1915) died just a few years after giving birth to Jenetta Franklin and Harry Lee Franklin reluctantly allowed Anna and Robert Cox to legally adopt his daughter.
Enslaver Information
Name: Joseph Hill Location: Woodbury, Kentucky (Butler County)
Previous Enslaver:
Enslaver Notes:
Enslaver Joseph Hill (1811-not before 1870) moved back and forth between Warren County and Butler County, Kentucky for most of his adult life. He married Mahala J. Hendrick in Warren County, Kentucky in 1834. In 1850, he and his family lived in Warren County where he owned $1,000 in real estate and enslaved four persons, one of whom was a good match for Pleasant Hill. By 1858, Joseph Hill was living in Butler County where he served as a delegate for the Democratic Party. In 1859, he was a member of the Kentucky State Legislature as a delegate representing Butler and Edmonson counties. The 1860 Census places him in the Woodbury community of Butler County where he was the enslaver of seven persons, none of whom were a good match for Pleasant Hill. The 1860 Agricultural Census showed that Joseph Hill owned 80 acres of improved land, and 480 acres of unimproved land in Butler County. He had four horses but no mules. The largest number of livestock that he had were 31 sheep, more than most of his neighbors, and he raised 1,500 pounds of tobacco. The 1870 Census Joseph Hill was a farmer in Reedyville, Kentucky (Butler County), where he lived with wife Mahala Hill, who kept house. He owned $1,200 in real estate and $4,800 in property. According to the 1870 Agricultural Census, Joseph Hill owned 50 acres of improved and 218 acres of unimproved land in Butler County, and his most numerous type of livestock was sheep. He owned two horses and no mules. After 1870, no further records were discovered for enslaver Joseph Hill. No surviving children for Joseph and Mahala Hill were identified.
1850 Enslaver Census
1850 Census Link: View
1850 Slave Schedule Link: View
1850 Number of Enslaved: 4
1860 Enslaver Census
1860 Census Link: View
1860 Real Estate Value: $2,160 1860 Personal Estate Value: $6,000
1860 Slave Schedule Link: View
1860 Number of Enslaved: 7
1870 Enslaver Census
1870 Census Link: View
1870 Real Estate Value: $1,200 1870 Personal Estate Value: $4,800
1880 Enslaver Census
1880 Census information not found
Compensation Information
Compensation Application not found