Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the D. H. Hill Papers #2035-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Some typescript transcriptions are available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Charles W. Dabney prior to 1940; from Pauline Hill in 1951; from John R. Peacock in 1953. The additions were purchased from Kenneth W. Rendell of Newton, Mass., in January 1985 (Acc. 85009) and from Stuart Lutz Historic Documents Inc. of Short Hills, N.J., in January 2004 (Acc. 99947).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff, 1960, 1985, 2006

Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, January 2006

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Barringer, Rufus, 1821-1895.
• Beauregard, G. T. (Gustave Toutant), 1818-1893.
• Calhoun, John C. (John Caldwell), 1782-1850.
• Chilton, R. H. (Robert Hall), 1816-1879.
• Confederate States of America--Officials and employees.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
• Dabney, Charles William, 1855-1945.
• Dabney, Robert Lewis, 1820-1898.
• Early, Jubal Anderson, 1816-1894.
• Graham, William A. (William Alexander), 1804-1875.
• Hampton, Wade, 1818-1902.
• Hill family.
• Hill, D. H. (Daniel Harvey), 1821-1889.
• Jackson, Stonewall, 1824-1863.
• Johnston, Joseph E. (Joseph Eggleston), 1807-1891.
• Kerr, Washington Caruthers, 1827-1885.
• Lacy, Drury, 1802-1884.
• Lane, James Henry, 1833-1907.
• Lawton, Alexander Robert, 1818-1896.
• Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870.
• Longstreet, James, 1821-1904.
• Stewart, Alexander Peter, 1821-1908.
• Toombs, Robert Augustus, 1810-1885.
• Wheeler, Joseph, 1836-1906.
• Whiting, William Henry Chase, 1824-1865.

• D. H. Hill Diary (#882)
• Charles W. Dabney Papers (#1412)

Daniel Harvey Hill (1821-1889), soldier and educator, was born in York District, S.C., to Solomon Hill and Nancy Cabeen Hill. He graduated from West Point in 1842. As a United States army officer, he participated in all the major battles of the Mexican War. Hill resigned from the military in 1849 to become professor of mathematics at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University). In 1854, he accepted the chair of the mathematics department at Davidson College, a position he held until 1859 when he resigned to become superintendent of the North Carolina Military Institute in Charlotte, N.C.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Hill joined the Confederate Army as a colonel. He led the First North Carolina in battle at Big Bethel, Va., and later fought in the Peninsular campaign of 1862 and at Second Manassas, South Mountain, and Sharpsburg. During that time, he received several promotions. In early 1863, Major General Hill assumed command of operations against New Bern and Washington before being called to defend Richmond during the Gettysburg campaign. He was promoted to lieutenant general in July 1863 and ordered to the Army of Tennessee. This promotion was short-lived. Following the Confederate victory at Chickamauga, Hill called upon President Jefferson Davis to remove Braxton Bragg from his command on grounds of incompetence, a criticism that resulted in Hill's own dismissal and loss of his recent commission. Hill's service was limited thereafter, though he did command a division in Joseph E. Johnston's small force at Bentonville, N.C., in March 1865.

After the war, Hill settled in Charlotte and began publishing a periodical The Land We Love in 1866 and the weekly paper The Southern Home in 1869. He also authored a mathematics textbook, several religious tracts, and numerous articles relating to the Civil War. Hill resumed his career in academia in 1877 as president of Arkansas Industrial University (later University of Arkansas). He held this position until 1884. From 1885 to 1889, he served at the Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural College (later Georgia Military College).

Daniel Harvey Hill died in Charlotte in September 1889.

Adapted from the entry for Daniel Harvey Hill by John G. Barrett in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988).

The collection consists of Civil War and postwar correspondence of General D. H. Hill with high Confederate military and civil officers, with some letters from Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1890), Virginia theologian and Confederate chaplain. There are also notes by Charles W. Dabney, who assembled the items, circa 1929-1931. Persons represented include Rufus Barringer, P. G. T. Beauregard, John C. Calhoun, Robert Hall Chilton, Robert Lewis Dabney, Jubal A. Early, William A. Graham, Wade Hampton III, Stonewall Jackson, Joseph E. Johnston, Washington Caruthers Kerr, Drury Lacy, James Henry Lane, Alexander Robert Lawton, Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, Alexander Peter Stewart, Robert Augustus Toombs, Joseph Wheeler, and William Henry Chase Whiting. Also included is a Hill family genealogy and a few other items. Some items are originals and others are photocopies of items in private hands as of 1940 (as noted below).