History of Hillsboro, (Jasper County) Georgia United States of America

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Benjamin Harvey Hill, senator, was born in Hillsborough, Jasper county, Ga., Sept. 14, 1823; son of John and ?? (Parham) Hill; the seventh of nine children and the fifth of six brothers. His father was a man of limited means and education, and his mother a woman of fine character, who exerted a strong influence in the family circle. Both his parents were devout Methodists. He was brought up on his father's farm in Jasper county till 1843, when the family removed to the neighborhood of Long Cane, Troup county, on a new plantation in the woods which he helped to clear. By much sacrifice on the part of his mother and an aunt he was enabled to take a college course and was graduated at the University of Georgia with the highest honors in 1844. The same year he was married to Caroline Holt, of Athens, Ga. He was admitted to the bar in 1845 and to the supreme court of the state in 1848, and practised in La Grange, Ga. In 1851 he was elected as a Whig to the general assembly of the state. In 1854 he was defeated by Hiram Warner for representative in the 34th congress. In 1857 he was the unsuccessful American candidate for governor of Georgia against Joseph E. Brown, Democrat, and in 1859 was elected to the state senate. He was nominated an elector at large on the Fillmore and Donelson ticket in 1856, and supported the ticket on the stump with great oratorical power. His name led the electors on the Bell and Everett electoral ticket in 1860, and in 1861 he was a member of the Georgia state convention of Jan. 16, l861, where he opposed secession in a strong speech but voted for it when it came to a final test. He was a delegate to the Provisional congress in 1861 and a member of the Confederate senate. 1861-65, where he was chairman of the judiciary committee and a supporter of the administration of President Davis. He was arrested for disloyalty in 1866 and confined for two months in Fort Lafayette, New York harbor. He opposed the reconstruction measure of the Republican Party, 1866-70; retired from political strife, 1870-72; supported Horace Greeley for President in 1872; was an unsuccessful candidate for U.S. senator that year; was a representative from the ninth Georgia district in the 44th and 45th congresses, having been elected in 1875 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Garnet McMillan, and re-elected in 1876. He resigned his seat in the 45th congress in 1877 upon his election to the U.S. senate as successor to Thomas M. Norwood, and he took his seat March 5, 1877. In the house he made a notable speech on the amnesty bill; had a remarkable debate with James G. Blaine, and spoke in support of the electoral commission bill, which he declared to be "constitutional, wise and patriotic." His speeches in the U.S. senate were eminently patriotic and impressive. His death resulted from cancer on the tongue. A monument was erected to his memory at Atlanta by the citizens of Georgia. He was a trustee of the University of Georgia, 1856-82. He is the author of a political work entitled: "Notes on the Situation (1870). He died in Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 19, 1882.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Hillsboro, (Jasper County) Georgia

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