Person:Charles Hill (46)

He was a veteran of the Confederate Army, beginning his service by raising a Maryland regiment, the "Beauregard Rifles," which became a regiment of the First Virginia Infantry and of which he was elected Lieutenant. It saw action at First Manassas. He was commissioned 1st Lieutenant in the Regular Confederate States Army in December 1861, Brevet Captain, Artillery by Gen. Beauregard and Brevet Lt. Col. Artillery by Gen. Forrest in 1865.

At the war's start he was engaged at the evacuation of Alexandria, the Battle of Manassas, 21 July 1861, Mason's Hills and Falls Church. Later he was ordered to the staff of Gen. Sam Jones and served in Florida and the Gulf Department and in the Army of Tennessee. He was at part of the Battle of Shiloh, all of the siege of Corinth, and the Kentucky campaign. He was then ordered to South Carolina and was engaged daily from July to September 1863, spending about 40 days at Battery Waggoner. For his service there he was placed on the Confederate Roll of Honor.

After being ordered back to the Army of Tennessee he was engaged daily at Missionary Ridge, Ringgold Gap, Dalton, Atlanta, and all of Gen. Johnston's campaign of 90 days to Jonesboro, Georgia, and then in the Tennessee campaign of Gen. Hood. He was at Spring Hill and Franklin, being on the staff of Gen. Clebourne until Clebourne was killed 30 November 1864. Then he ll was ordered to the staff of Gen. Forrest and served as one of his Chiefs of Staff until the end of the war. He was twice wounded, once at Battery Waggoner, August 1863, by shell from the U.S. Ironsides, and again, slightly, on 23 August 1864. He surrendered at Gainstown, Alabama, with Gen. Forrest in June 1865.

After the war, he spent two years traveling in Europe, Mexico, and Central America. He worked briefly for the London & California Bank in San Francisco, and marrying in 1868 after a "long and romantic engagement," he went to New York as a customs broker. He then went to Washington where from 1879 to 1885 he was with the State Department in various capacities relating to tariffs and trade. Later he was involved in organizing the American Shipping and Industrial League.

He was a nephew and "favorite" of William Wilson Corcoran, his mother's brother and wealthy Washington businessman. Referred to in one account as "the dashing Charley Hill," he evidently was a charming and engaging person. My grandfather rarely spoke of him, however, and we always understood that was because of memories of problems within the family that caused an estrangement in his parent's marriage and perhaps contributed to his father's premature death.