Chauncey Hill, St. Charles Civil War Soldier: Epilogue

By Craig Hilmer

For the last several weeks The St. Charles Press has run a series of articles centered on the Civil War letters of Chauncey J. Hill to his young wife, Sarah Downing Hill. The Hills were residents of Saratoga in 1864, just starting their own farming operation when Hill was called up to serve the Union in the War Between the States. The Hills corresponded regularly from February 1864 to June of 1864 when Hill was captured at Brice’s Crossroad, Mississippi.

The marker for Chauncey Hill’s grave stands near Andersonville in Mississippi.  Photo by Kevin Frye

St. Charles area residents in the Civil War

By Craig Hilmer

The St. Charles Press recently ran an eight-part series containing excerpts of the letters between Private Chauncey J. Hill and his wife, Sarah. The Hill’s were a young farming couple just starting out on their own near Saratoga when the Union called on Hill to join the Army to fight the Confederates. What of others from the area who were called up with Hill to fight for the Union? In this article we’ll explore what we can find about area Civil War soldiers.

The first bunch of volunteers from Minnesota left to fight in 1861. In 1862 the Minnesota Regiments swelled due to the Dakota uprising of 1862. By 1863 Minnesota had been a state a mere 7 years, had been in either wars with the Indians or the Confederates or both for much of that time and needed new recruits. Area draft boards were set up.

Chauncey Hill: Part 8

By Craig Hilmer

Chauncey J. Hill, in 1864, was a 26 year old farmer just married to 20 year old Sarah Downing. Both had family who farmed in the Saratoga area and were themselves just setting up their own household and farm when Chauncey was called up to offer his services to the Minnesota 9th Regiment, Company K for battle in the Civil War.

He and Sarah corresponded during the war and those letters were maintained by family until they were donated to the Minnesota Historical Society in the 1960s.  The Press has run seven weeks of these letters to date. This is the final installment of the letters

Private Hill, in our series, finally sees battle at Brice’s Crossroads, Mississippi. Sarah struggles to deal with not hearing from Chauncey, even as she learns that she is pregnant with his child.

Chauncey Hill: Part 7

By Craig Hilmer

Chauncey J. Hilll, in 1864, was a 26 year old farmer just married to 20 year old Sarah Downing. Both had family who farmed in the Saratoga area and were themselves just setting up their own household and farm when Chauncey was called up to offer his services to the Minnesota 9th Regiment, Company K for battle in the Civil War.

He and Sarah corresponded during the war and those letters were maintained by family until they were donated to the Minnesota Historical Society in the 1960s.  The Press has run several weeks of these letters to date, with one final week to go to the final set.

Private Hill, in our series, is sitting in Rolla Missouri with Company K, waiting orders to move South to engage the enemy. In this series of letters he talks of camp life, while Sarah gives him the low down on home life and drops the news that she is pregnant.

Chauncey Hill: Part 6

By Craig Hilmer

Chauncey J. Hill, in 1864, was a 26-year-old farmer just married to 20-year-old Sarah Downing. Both had family who farmed in the Saratoga area and were themselves just setting up their own household and farm when Chauncey was called up to offer his services to the Minnesota 9th Regiment, Company K for battle in the Civil War.

He and Sarah corresponded during the war and those letters were maintained by family until they were donated to the Minnesota Historical Society in the 1960s.  The Press has run several weeks of these letters to date, with just two more weeks to go to the final set.

Private Hill, in our series, is sitting in Rolla Missouri with Company K, waiting orders to move South to engage the enemy. While the letters he sent Sarah over the month or so Company K was housed in Rolla are a great insight into the drudgery of camp life for the Civil War soldier, they don’t always make for scintillating reading. Therefore, we’ll excerpt some of the more interesting passages and today offer a poem that Chauncey wrote young Sarah Downing on May 24, 1863 when they were courting.

Chauncey Hill: Part 5

By Craig Hilmer

Chauncey J. Hill, in 1864, was a young farmer just married to 20 year old Sarah Downing. Both had family who farmed in the Saratoga area and were themselves just setting up their own household and farm when Chauncey was called up to offer his services to the Minnesota 9th Regiment, Company K for battle in the Civil War.

He and Sarah corresponded during the war and those letters were maintained by family until they were donated to the Minnesota Historical Society in the 1960s.  Some of those letters are being reprinted in The St. Charles Press over the next few weeks.

In week five of our series Private Hill is in St. Louis, Missouri, being staged with his company at Schofield Barracks as they prepare to transport to Fort Wyman in Rolla Missouri. Fort Wyman was the last stop a Minnesota Regiment made before being shipped south to battle with the rebel army.

Chauncey Hill: Part 4

By Craig Hilmer

An early settler to the St. Charles area was Chauncey J. Hill. Hill, in 1864, was a young farmer, just married to 20 year old Sarah Downing. Both had family who farmed in the Saratoga area and were themselves just setting up their own household and farm when Chauncey was called up to offer his services to the Minnesota 9th Regiment, Company K for battle in the Civil War.

He and Sarah corresponded during the war and those letters were maintained by family until they were donated to the Minnesota Historical Society in the 1960s.  Some of those letters are being reprinted in The St. Charles Press over the next few weeks.

Week four of our series finds Private Hill in Missouri, following a short leave in St. Charles and an encampment in La Crosse as his company is on it’s way South to fight the rebel army.

Chauncey Hill: Part 3

By Craig Hilmer

During the 1860’s settlers to the Saint Charles area not only tamed the prairie for agriculture and commerce, but the settlers of this fledgling town and citizens of the young state of Minnesota sent their sons and husbands to help fight for the Union in the Civil War.

One of those early settlers in the area was Chauncey J. Hill of Saratoga. Hill was a 26-year-old freshly married pioneer who had followed his family to Minnesota from New York. He met a young neighbor girl, Sarah Downing, married her, and was starting up his own farmstead when he was called up into the Minnesota 9th Regiment, Company K.

He and Sarah corresponded during the war and those letters were maintained by family until they were donated to the Minnesota Historical Society in the 1960s.  Some of those letters are being reprinted in The St. Charles Press over the next few weeks.

Chauncey Hill: Part 2

By Craig Hilmer

During the 1860’s settlers to the St. Charles area not only tamed the prairie for agriculture and commerce, but they sent their sons and husbands to help fight for the Union in the Civil War.
One of those early settlers in the area was Chauncey J. Hill of Saratoga. Hill was a 26 year old pioneer who had followed his family to Minnesota from New York. He met a young neighbor girl, Sarah Downing, married her, and was starting his own farmstead when he was called up into the Minnesota 9th Regiment, Company K.

He and Sarah corresponded during the war and those letters were maintained by family until they were donated to the Minnesota Historical Society in the 1960s.  Some of that correspondence is being reprinted in The St. Charles Press over the next few weeks.

The image is some of the envelopes the letters were mailed in 150 years ago. 1 cent stamps.
Sometimes the envelopes are sent to Saratoga, some to St Charles.

Chauncey Hill, St. Charles Civil War Soldier: Part 1

By Craig Hilmer

The initial non-indigenous settlers of the St. Charles area experienced incredible hardship. They experienced no modern convenience, having given up any recent advances when they left the comfort of the East. They had to first travel incredible journeys just to arrive in a land that looked much different than St. Charles does today. That land needed to be cleared of rock and scrub trees so that it could be tilled for food for sustenance and income. Disease was ever prevalent, medicines were scarce and largely ineffective. Medical care was the same.

In early 1860’s settlers to the area were just calling Minnesota home when two crises broke out. The first was the uprising of the Native Americans, precipitated by encroachment of white settlers to the area. The next was the Civil War. Young men all over the new state and many from the St. Charles area were mustered into the Minnesota Reserves.

Chauncey J. Hill was one of those men. Hill was born in New York State in 1938. Somewhere along the way he and his family made a stop in Michigan, as, according to census records, he had a sister born there in 1856.

A picture of the newly married Chauncey and Sarah Hill. Sarah tells Chauncey in her letter that she doesn’t care for it as “they both look mad when it was taken”.By that 1860 census Hill, his siblings, and parents were residents of Saratoga. Hill served as a farm hand in the area as he turned to adulthood and from all available records seemed to be starting his own farming operation in 1864 when he was called into the Reserves to serve his newly adopted state of Minnesota.