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138:. As a boy, Elias learned to read and write from white school children in York County. No one objected to having such a compromised child hanging around the school. Thus Hill gained certain privileges, but he was also ridiculed for his condition by other children. Daniel Harvey Hill was among those who taught Elias to read. Elias was very intelligent and driven, and his intellectual possibilities were not noticed by the white community around him due to his condition.
127:; in any case, he was crippled in one arm and leg. As an adult, his legs remained extremely skinny, his arms were withered, and his jaw was deformed. While still young, Hill's father purchased the freedom of his wife, Hill's mother, for $ 150. Hill's master included the crippled boy in the transaction.
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On May 5, 1871, a masked neighbor came to Hill's brother's cabin, which was next door to Hill's own. The neighbor slapped Hill's sister-in-law, demanding to know where the "uppity" Hill resided. Next, Hill was dragged by his arms and legs into the yard and beaten with a horsewhip. He was charged with
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in
October 1871. Before leaving, he testified before a congressional committee that emigration was the best solution: "We do not believe it is possible from the past history and present aspect of affairs, for our people to live in this country peaceably and educate and elevate their children to any
94:. His situation received wide attention on account of his condition, as Hill had been stricken by an illness while a child which had left him crippled with his arms and legs in a withered state. He was known for preaching about rights and equality, and taught local children how to read and write.
228:
This was the first episode of Ku Klux Klan violence which
Merrill witnessed in York County, and he was unable to step in to protect the black citizens. Eight days after the attack, Merrill met with community leaders demanding change, although violence continued over the summer. Merrill's efforts
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returned to York County and began work with Hill for the civil rights of blacks. Williams led a black militia group, one of what were known as Union
Leagues. Some whites claimed Williams had threatened to kill local whites and that Williams's militia was stockpiling weapons. They also repeated a
225:
denouncing the KKK, inciting a riot, and ravishing white women. They threatened to throw him in the river and told him to desist preaching against the KKK. The Klan also demanded Hill denounce the
Republican Party, as had his nephews, and cancel his subscription to the Republican paper.
183:(KKK) leaders to negotiate the safety of blacks in the community. The KKK worked to impose white supremacy in the postwar South. Around February 12, eight black men were killed by 500 to 700 whites in black gowns with masks; these murders were followed by nightly Klan raids for months.
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arrived in the area to try to quell the violence, Hill stepped in to lead the League, now in disarray. In another raid, Hill's nephews, Solomon Hill and June Moore, were attacked and forced to renounce their
Republican Party affiliation in the local paper, the
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degree which they desire." At least 21 of the 31 households that were part of the Clay Hill emigrant group either had suffered Klan attacks or had near relatives in York County who had been victims. "That is the reason we have arranged to go away," Hill said.
103:
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Elias Hill was born in 1819 to Dorcas and Elias in York County, South
Carolina. The elder Elias was possibly born in Africa. He was stricken with a disease at age seven in 1826 which left him crippled. Some observers described him as a
195:, brother of Williams's former owner John S. Bratton, was said to have placed the noose around Williams' neck. Williams was subsequently brought to Bratton's office where Bratton, in his medical capacity, served the inquest.
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rumor that
Williams claimed to desire to rape white women if he could. On March 6, 1871, about forty men seized Williams from his home and hanged him from a tree, also shooting him with many bullets. Local KKK leader
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The mob visited several other homes of men involved in the Union League militia, succeeding in gathering 23 guns but no other members. Members of the league swore vengeance, but did not act. Companies B, E, and K of
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The Clay Hill congregation remained in
Arthington. Hill and Moore, run by Hill's nephews, became a major firm in Liberia and its success enabled the pair to endow a nearby Baptist institute.
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eventually led to the dismantling of much of the Klan in the county. But
Bratton, who ran away to Canada for a number of years to escape prosecution, was never successfully prosecuted.
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300:, was overthrown in late 1871 in the wake of a financial scandal and was assassinated in early 1872. Hill died of malaria on March 28, 1872, after only six months in Liberia.
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Conditions in
Liberia were much worse than colonists had been told. Colonists believed that mortality and illness were low. However, as many as 20% of immigrants would die of
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289:. In 1870, John Roulhac and his party arrived. In 1871, parties led by Jefferson Bracewell and Elias Hill arrived, and in 1872 another group led by Aaron Miller came.
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153:. He regularly held political meetings at his cabin and was a popular and powerful preacher, serving a congregation in Clay Hill, near
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269:, a trip that included 243 regular passengers and two stowaways, all former slaves like Hill, except for the youngest and a few
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242:
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245:, seeking to escape the United States. Along with 135 other blacks, he sailed across the Atlantic to settle in
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ended in 1865, Hill worked as an ordained Baptist preacher moving from congregation to congregation in the
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296:. And Hill discovered when he arrived that the government was in "great disorder". Liberia's president,
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90:, he was among the victims in a series of attacks in York County against local blacks by members of the
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44:
513:
Sitting in Darkness: New South Fiction, Education, and the Rise of Jim Crow Colonialism, 1865-1920
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Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire During Reconstruction
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Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire During Reconstruction
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149:. He also taught reading and writing. By 1871 at the age of 50 he was president of the local
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330:, which was written in the 1950s and published in 2020 by University of Georgia Press.
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Arthington had been founded in 1869 by Alonzo Hoggard and his congregation from
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Shrill Hurrahs: Women, Gender, and Racial Violence in South Carolina, 1865-1900
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485:
Tayloe, Henry. "Letter from Mr. Henry Tayloe, New York, August 1884," in
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The Reconstruction Ku Klux Klan in York County, South Carolina, 1865-1877
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319:(1880), the character of Eliab Hill was based in part on Elias Hill.
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The Hills were owned by a famous Hill family, which included future
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Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law
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Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law
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Hill was afraid for his life and contacted Congressman
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Lynchings of Jim Williams, Solomon Hill, and June Moore
175:, partially inspired by the life of J. Rufus Bratton
383:. Harvard University Press (2009), p.85-86, 128-149
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489:, American Colonization Society (1886), p. 125-126
186:After the Civil War, ex-slave and Union veteran
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502:. Harvard University Press (2009), p.146-148
459:The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America
573:Activists for African-American civil rights
515:. Univ. Press of Mississippi (2010), p.222
409:. Rowman & Littlefield (2007), p.76-78
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525:Lumpkin, Katharine Du Pre (2020-04-22).
448:. Rowman & Littlefield (2007), p.1-5
255:Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad
593:People from York County, South Carolina
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106:Daniel Harvey Hill during the Civil War
346:Representatives, USA House of (1872).
322:The story of Elias Hill also inspired
179:In February 1871, Hill met with local
487:The African Repository, Volumes 60-62
435:. Univ of South Carolina Press (2013)
7:
528:Eli Hill: A Novel of Reconstruction
352:. U.S. Government Printing Office.
115:, and he described the disease as
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74:(c. 1819 - March 28, 1872) was a
578:American anti-lynching activists
471:Pearl, Matthew (March 4, 2016).
461:. Oxford University Press (1998)
265:. They sailed to Liberia on the
531:. University of Georgia Press.
82:congregation that emigrated to
55:Preacher, civil rights activist
603:Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina
422:. McFarland (2002), p. 126-130
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583:American emigrants to Liberia
287:Bertie County, North Carolina
253:The congregation boarded the
243:American Colonization Society
588:Victims of the Ku Klux Klan
80:York County, South Carolina
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598:South Carolina Republicans
568:African-American activists
86:. In May 1871, during the
444:Martinez, James Michael.
405:Martinez, James Michael.
281:Life in Liberia and death
259:Charlotte, North Carolina
155:Rock Hill, South Carolina
78:minister and leader of a
123:. It may also have been
324:Katharine DuPre Lumpkin
273:. The group settled in
201:George Armstrong Custer
147:South Carolina Piedmont
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119:, but it was probably
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233:Emigration to Liberia
220:Assault on Elias Hill
172:The Birth of a Nation
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317:Bricks Without Straw
263:Portsmouth, Virginia
239:Alexander S. Wallace
205:Seventh U.S. Cavalry
498:Witt, John Fabian.
431:Gillin, Kate Côté.
379:Witt, John Fabian.
275:Arthington, Liberia
84:Arthington, Liberia
45:Arthington, Liberia
214:Yorkville Enquirer
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136:Daniel Harvey Hill
125:muscular dystrophy
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88:Reconstruction era
538:978-0-8203-5719-5
457:Wade, Wyn Craig.
418:West, Jerry Lee.
313:Albion W. Tourgée
298:Edward James Roye
169:Movie poster for
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39:(1872-03-28)
563:1872 deaths
558:1819 births
132:Confederate
552:Categories
334:References
267:Edith Rose
141:After the
117:rheumatism
98:Early life
72:Elias Hill
64:Republican
20:Elias Hill
473:"K Troop"
326:'s novel
315:'s book,
143:Civil War
328:Eli Hill
271:freedmen
241:and the
134:general
294:malaria
247:Liberia
76:Baptist
29:c. 1819
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304:Legacy
121:polio
113:dwarf
533:ISBN
34:Died
26:Born
311:In
203:'s
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