Written & Contributed By his Great Grand Nephew, Charles L. Weidinger

John F. Hill, teacher and farmer, was born near New Holland, Pickaway County, Ohio, on 28 March 1828. He was the youngest child of John Benjamin Hill and Kitturiah Voadly Hill. His grandfather, Benjamin Shaugh Hill (1753-1831) came to Ohio from Frederick County, Maryland in 1807, after serving briefly as a soldier in the War of the Revolution. His father also served as a soldier in the Ohio Militia during the War of 1812.

Having received a common school education, he taught school in Ross County, Ohio, beginning in 1845 at age 17. Mr. Hill was married in September 1855 to Miss Mary Kearney, of Deerfield Township, Ross County. They had four sons, John B. Hill, M.D., born in 1856, educated at Lawrence University, Kansas, and Keokuk Medical College, Iowa, and practiced medicine at Hollowell, Kansas; Joseph Hill, born in 1857, educated at Lawrence University, and once a teacher at Labette County, Kansas; William Sherman Hill, born in 1859, educated at Fort Scott College, and once a teacher and farmer; and Robert Anderson Hill, born in 1861, educated at Fort Scott, and a farmer.

With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Mr. Hill’s feelings of patriotism and his ancestral past convinced him to join the battle. On 6 August 1862, he enlisted in the Union Army at Clarksburg, Ohio, recorded by Peter Adams. He was assigned to Company K, 89^th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, led by Major John H. Jolly (Jolly’s Infantry). He was with the regiment during its campaigns in Kentucky and West Virginia up the Kanawha River.

In June 1863, the 89^th was transferred to the Army of the Cumberland, 3^rd Brigade, 4^th Division, 14^th Corps. At the battle of Chickamauga, on 20 September 1863, he was captured with his regiment, and conveyed to Richmond, Virginia. In November he was transferred to the prison at Danville, Virginia. On 14 November 1863, he escaped with sixty others, evaded enemy forces for 16 nights, but was one of only three soldiers who successfully crossed Union Army lines at Fayetteville, Virginia, on 1 December 1863.

He reported to Governor Todd of Ohio, and was allowed to remain at home in Ross County for three months. He returned to his regiment on 8 March 1864. He was with General Sherman’s campaign into Georgia, and was severely wounded in the left leg on 1 September 1864 at the battle of Jonesboro. Prior to his injury, he had served duty as Company Clerk.

He was initially hospitalized in Atlanta, and in December, was moved to the 1^st Division U.S. Army Hospital at Evansville, Indiana. He remained there until 21 January 1865, when he was moved to the Military Hospital at Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati. He never completely recovered from his wounds, walked with a limp aided by a cane, and was honorably discharged on 8 June 1865 with a disability pension. Pension Certificate No. W.O. 107450 is on file at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Mary Hill passed away in 1866. In 1869, he married Miss Nan Clara Roberts of Chillicothe, by whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Hill, born in 1870. Having resumed his teaching career, Mr. Hill and family moved to Illinois, and from there to Labette County, Kansas. When he arrived in Kansas, he had but little means, but by prudence and economy, he purchased a fine 500 acre farm near Oswego. He served for eight years as a Justice of the Peace, and for two years on the Board of School Examiners of Labette County. He was a correspondent of the Agriculture Department in Washington, D.C., was with the Kansas Agriculture Department, and was Commander of Post No. 150, Grand Army of the Republic.

John Fletcher Hill died on 22 February 1899, and was transported for a final time to the Mount Union Federal Cemetery, near Chillicothe, Ohio, where he lies in repose.