Sheriff Charles Leonedas Hill

The Civil War had been over a little more than a year when young Charles Leonedas Hill decided to run for sheriff of Union County, Georgia. He and his family lived in Ivy Log, a district in the county bordering on the North Carolina line.

The Hill family had moved from Cherokee County, North Carolina in the 1860's during the war years. Charles's parents were Felix Walker Hill (08-07-1806 - 08-24-1883) and Elizabeth Cooper Hill (10-29-1811 - 11-15-1896). Three of Charles's brothers served with distinction in the Civil War. They were Napoleon Bonaparte Hill, Abel Hill and Noah Hill. They had all enlisted in Company A, 29th Regiment of the North Carolina Infantry, Confederate States of America. Napoleon became a Second Lieutenant, and later, when the unit reorganized as Company H, he advanced to Major.

But this story is not about the war, or Charles Hill's brothers. Their stories can wait for another time. Felix W. Hill and his wife Elizabeth and their family had established a farm along Reece Creek in Ivy Log, Union County, Georgia. In addition to being a farmer, Felix Hill had been a traveling peddler where the family had lived in South and North Carolina before moving to Georgia. Whether the elder Hill continued this trade route in Union County is unknown.

Charles Hill ran on the Democratic ticket and was elected sheriff of Union County in November of 1866. Evidently the first few months of his term in service passed with the ordinary duties of keeping the law.

Six months into his service, in May, 1867, an incident requiring attention came about. A certain William Campbell, who lived in a mountain cabin just over the Towns County line committed a crime in Union County. Reportedly, he robbed a poor widow of all that she had.

Since the robbery took place in Union County, and Sheriff Hill was pledged to protecting and bringing justice for Union citizens, he endeavored to find Campbell and arrest him.

Taking his deputies with him, Sheriff Hill made his way through Gum Log and to the cabin on Crane Creek in western Towns County, close by the Union County line.

The story goes that he asked his deputies to remain on the mountain, in close proximity, as the sheriff himself, unarmed and walking, approached the cabin where Campbell was living.

Evidently the sheriff intended to persuade Campbell to surrender and stand trial for the crime of theft. Reportedly, the man was accused of other thefts in the area, not just the one when he had robbed the poor widow.

But surrender was not in the mind of Will Campbell. Two stories have been told of the incident. One version is that Sheriff Hill tried to talk Campbell into surrendering, but when he did not come out of hiding, Hill took an axe from a woodpile in the yard and began to cut the door open. That is when Campbell aimed at Hill and shot him.

Another version is that Campbell himself opened the door a crack, just enough to put the barrel of his pistol in the opening and aim at the advancing sheriff.

The deputies waiting on the mountainside heard the shot and went immediately to the scene. They found Sheriff Hill with a gunshot wound to the stomach, losing blood and in great pain. They borrowed a wagon in which to haul the wounded sheriff back to his parents' home in Ivy Log. It was a torturous trip, at best, over a road not much better than a forest trail, bumpy and rough. Reports are that Sheriff Hill went in and out of consciousness. He was nursed by his parents and others, but his life ebbed out, with the bullet still in his stomach. His date of death was May 17, 1867. Born August 21, 1839, this brave young man's span of life on earth was twenty-seven years and eight months.

On his tombstone at the Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery is this inscription, declaring his faith and his hope in the resurrection from the dead: "God my redeemer lives, and ever from the skies, Looks down and watches my dust till He shall bid it rise."

William Campbell fled from the deputies after he shot the sheriff and reportedly "went west." He was never heard from again. The indictment against Campbell in Towns County stated that he "feloniously, willfully, and of his malice aforethought" shot Sheriff Charles Hill with "a certain pistol of the value of $10.00" and put "a leaden ball into the belly of" Charles L. Hill, "near the navel." The mortal wound was described as "the breadth of one inch and of the depth ten inches." From this wound, he "languished and lingering and did afterwards" die. (Quoted from "The Murder of Sheriff Charles Hill" by Roxanne Powell in "A North Georgia Journal of History, Volume II" compiled by Olin Jackson, Legacy Communications, 1991, pages 296-297).

Young, brave and daring, Sheriff Charles Leonedas Hill paid the highest price for public service: he gave his life. Later, two of his brothers would seek and win the office of high sheriff of their counties. Abel Hill was sheriff in adjoining county, Cherokee, in North Carolina from 1872-1876, and Napoleon Bonaparte Hill was sheriff in Union County, Georgia in 1876.

c 2007 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published June 21, 2007 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserve

A Post Office in Gum Log called Napoleon and its founder, Napoleon Bonaparte Hill

In the Gum Log District of Union County, a post office by the name of Napoleon was opened June 20, 1881. This northwestern district of the county borders North Carolina, Towns County to the east, Ivy Log District on the west, and a portion of Lower Young Cane and Blairsville Districts to the south.

Why the unusual name Napoleon for this post office? It was given the first name of its first postmaster, Napoleon Bonaparte Hill. When he made application for a post office, he requested the name Reece’s Creek, as the location was on this creek. Evidently the U. S. postmaster general thought Napoleon would be an unusual name, as indeed it was. About two hundred people lived within the vicinity of the post office and would be served by it, according to the statistics given on the application.

Those who served the Napoleon post office were: Napoleon B. Hill (twice), June 20, 1881-March 12, 1883 and October 2, 1884-March 19, 1891. Miss Mary Ursula Hill, his daughter, served from March 12, 1883 until her father took the position again in 1884. The other three postmasters were Miss Callie Lance (3-19-1891), Charles N. Hill (4-22-1897), and Theodosia E. Mauney (5-17-1902) until the post office was discontinued March 30, 1907.

Napoleon Bonaparte Hill led an interesting life. Born to Felix Walker and Elizabeth Cooper Hill in Rutherford County, North Carolina on November 14, 1832, he seemed destined to become a soldier, with a name honoring that of the famous Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France and military leader during the Napoleonic Wars and the French Revolution. The name itself shows that the family was familiar with personages in world history.

Napoleon Bonaparte Hill married Mary Arabella Evans in 1860 in Cherokee County, North Carolina. Their first child, Mary Ursula (born September 14, 1861) came after he signed up for service in the Civil War, along with his brothers, Abel and Noah, on June 17, 1861. They served in Company A of the 29th Regiment of the North Carolina Infantry, State Troops, Confederate States of America. Napoleon was promoted to Second Lieutenant on November 4, 1861.

Napoleon saw action in many battles in Tennessee and, Kentucky, Mississippi and back to Tennessee. He was wounded and in a hospital in Atlanta when the infamous siege by Sherman’s Army occurred in August, 1864. Hill was sent back to Cherokee County, North Carolina in October, 1864, with orders to recruit absent, paroled and recently released soldiers of Company A, as well as any others eligible for enlistment. The forty-five men joined as Company H to Major Ben M. Ledford’s Calvary Regiment of North Georgia Troops. They patrolled North Georgia and Western North Carolina for renegades and bushwhackers, the most notorious of whom were the Ray (Rae) Brothers. Napoleon Bonaparte Hill received the rank of major prior to his company’s surrender and release at Kingston, Georgia on May 12, 1865.

In 1865, Napoleon, his wife, Arabella, their daughter Mary Ursula, Napoleon’s parents, Felix Walker and Elizabeth Cooper Hill, and other of the family moved to Reece Creek, Union County, Georgia. The Hills became the third owners of a land grant issued first in 1832.

Napoleon built an imposing two-story house north of Reece Creek on the Blairsville to Murphy, NC road (now Hwy. 129). He farmed the land and opened a general store. It was probably in the store where the Napoleon post office opened in June, 1881. There, as people came to the store and for their mail, they no doubt heard of Napoleon Bonaparte Hill’s experiences in the Civil War.

Napoleon “Poly” Hill served as sheriff of Union County in 1876 and Clerk of Superior Court in the late 1880’s. His brother Charles Hill, had served as sheriff and was killed in the line of duty in 1867.

Besides their firstborn, Mary Ursula, Napoleon and Mary Arabella Hill had these children: America Victoria, Benjamin Harrison, Julia Elizabeth, and Charles Napoleon.

Napoleon Bonaparte Hill died at age 78 on January 17, 1910. His wife died June 22, 1917. Both were interred in the Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery, as were others of the Hill family. Today, many descendants of this hardy family live and work in Union County and have made and continue to make contributions as worthy citizens.

One of the famous quotations attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte of France is: “He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.” This could well be a motto to the life and service of the Emperor’s namesake, Napoleon Bonaparte Hill.

c2005 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published May 26, 2005 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.