Published May 13, 2012
By Patrick McGinley
“In
Memory of Brigadier General Henry Root Hill. Killed in France October 16, 1918.”
Every time I have to stop at Fourth and Maine, I look to the
southwest corner and see this inscription. I think how sad it is that this man
had to die less than a month before the end of the Great War.
So just who was
this Gen. Hill who, like so many in war, died too early?
Henry Root, his
maternal grandfather, was a merchant, president of the Quincy, Missouri and
Pacific Railroad, and president of the Union Bank in Quincy. The family was
well-known. Henry Root Hill was educated in Quincy schools and at first went
into business with his father. In 1894, when he was 18, Henry enlisted in the
National Guard. In 1898 when war was declared with Spain, Sgt. Hill went to
Chickamauga Park, but his Fifth Regiment was not called to Cuba.
In May 1899 he became a second lieutenant, and on Aug. 18,
1902, he became a captain. At the time of the race riots in Springfield, his
National Guard unit was called to restore order and he was named to the
commission to investigate the riots. On Dec. 2, 1914, he was made brigadier
general and assigned to the Second Illinois Brigade of the Illinois National
Guard.
When the Guard was ordered to the Mexican border in 1916, he
was the only National Guard general called to assist the U.S. Army. He
commanded the Second Brigade at Camp Wilson, near San Antonio, under the
leadership of Gen. Frederick Funston. Hill was near the border from June 1,
1916, until Jan. 27, 1917. His exemplary conduct caught the eyes of his
superiors, and when the National Guard was called up to assist the army, he was
one of the few National Guard generals allowed to keep that rank.
In July 1917, Hill was placed in command of the military
forces to squelch the rioting in East Saint Louis. He was there for three weeks
and named president of the board of inquiry established to ascertain the
breakdown of authority.
The Illinois National Guard was called into active service on
March 26, 1917, and President Woodrow Wilson commissioned Hill a brigadier
general in the Unites States Army. On Aug. 23, Hill went to Camp Logan near
Houston, Texas, to take command of the 65th Brigade, 33rd Division of the
United States Infantry. In May 1918, the 65th Division was sent to France under
Hill’s command. Through the months of June and July, the division was taught
the realities of trench warfare.
Shortly after arriving in France, superior officers of the
Army issued orders to take National Guard officers out of active command. Hill
was offered an honorable discharge with the rank of brigadier general. Hill was
replaced by Gen. Edward King. Henry Root Hill could have come home safely,
having served his time in the war. But that was not Henry Hill. Not
accepting the discharge, Hill was offered the lower rank of colonel with a
supply division behind the enemy lines, which he also refused. On Aug. 29,
1918, he was offered the still lower rank of major in command of the 28th
Infantry, 32nd Division, which was about to move to the front lines. Hill
quickly accepted.
On Oct. 16, 1918, the army was slowed down by German
machine gun nests secluded near a small forest area west of
Meuse and north of Verdun, near the little town of Eclisfontaine.
On May
26, 1919, Stanley Szerlong, who had served under Hill, visited friends in
Golden and came to Quincy to tell Mrs. Hill how her son died. Hill had
gone ahead with a small patrol. As they moved through the evening fog, Hill
noticed four machine gunners trying to flank his patrol, but Hill caught them
by surprise. Three of the Germans quickly surrendered, but one jumped for his
machine gun. Hill quickly tried to shoot him, but his gun misfired, and the
German let out a burst which killed Hill and three other American soldiers. The
German was killed by other soldiers in the group.
Brigadier Gen. Henry Root Hill was awarded the Distinguished
Service Cross. With “ … absolute disregard for his personal safety Major Hill
led his battalion over the top personally and cleaned out enemy machine
gun nests.”
Henry Root Hill’s rank of brigadier general also was
restored. At midnight Sept. 1, 1921, the body of General Hill was returned to
Quincy. His mother and the Rev. George Long, dean of the Cathedral of St. John,
members of the American Legion, and members of the Quincy Masonic Consistory
met the train which brought him home. Mayor Philip J. O’Brien issued a
proclamation that all business be suspended for 10 minutes at 2 o’clock on
Sept. 3, the time of the funeral. Flags were flown at half staff, and the
funeral procession was led by a horse with empty boots reversed in the
stirrups. Many dignitaries and citizens of Quincy escorted Gen. Hill to his
final resting place in Woodland Cemetery.
Mrs. Hill lived in the Newcomb Hotel, and her sitting room
faced the old Quincy Library. She later had the water fountain placed on the
library building so she could look out her window and see people stop, read
about her heroic son and get a drink of refreshing water.
The fountain no longer works, Mrs. Hill, but we still want
people to know about your son’s heroic and ultimate sacrifice.
Patrick McGinley is a retired educator of Quincy Public
Schools and John Wood Community College. He earned his doctorate at Southern
Illinois University-Carbondale and is the secretary of the board of directors
of the Historical Society.
Sources
Quincy Daily Herald, May 30, 1919. WILCOX
Quincy Herald-Whig, Nov. 11, 1979. LANDRUM
Quincy Herald-Whig, Oct. 2, 1998. HUSAR
