USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina biography, Volume V > Part 5
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"The stranger passing through Memorial Hall where we have ranged our dead, is shown this tablet and that, and told, 'here is the jurist, the statesman, the soldier or the ruler.'
"The tablet bearing the name of David Gaston Worth shall commemorate a Christian gentleman, who lived the good life and did not ever fail in his work, and his fame shall vie with them all."
KEMP PLUMMER BATTLE, SR., LL. D. In the ap- plication of their talents, energies and industry to the betterment of mankind and the improvement of social and economic conditions, the members of the Battle family have long been distinguished not only in their home state of North Carolina, but throughout the South and the entire nation.
One of this family is Dr. Kemp Plummer Battle, Sr., known as "the grand old man" of the State University of North Carolina. He was born near Louisburg, North Carolina, December 19, 1831, a son of William Horn and Lucy Martin (Plummer) Battle. He was graduated in the classical course from the University of North Carolina in 1849, and in 1852 took his Master of Arts degree. He received the honorary degree LL. D. from Davidson College and the University of North Carolina. From 1849 to 1854 Doctor Battle was a tutor in the university and being then admitted to the bar conducted an active practice until 1876.
Doctor Battle is one of the last surviving mem- bers of the secession convention of North Carolina of 1861. From 1866 to 1868 he served as state treasurer. In 1876 he gave up his law practice to become president of the University of North Caro- lina, and held that office until 1891. From that year until 1907 he was professor of history, and the state owes much to him for his work in original historical research. He is the author of the "His- tory of the University of North Carolina" in two volumes, covering the annals of that institution from 1795 to 1868. Of the many other writings and historical monographs of which he is author or editor may be mentioned the following: His- tory of the Supreme Court of North Carolina; His- tory of Raleigh; Trials and Judicial Proceedings of the New Testament; Life of General Jethro Sumner; Old Schools and Teachers of North Caro- lina; Otway Burns-Privateer and Legislator; and Annotator of the Series of Sprunt Monographs.
Doctor Battle is now retired on the Carnegie Foundation. November 28, 1855, he married Martha Ann Battle of Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Doctor Battle has four sons who have also gained eminent rank in the various profes-
sions. K. P. Battle, Jr., is a prominent physician of Raleigh; Thomas H. Battle, banker and cotton mill owner at Rocky Mount, North Carolina; Her- bert B. Battle, formerly state chemist of North Carolina and now head of the Battle Chemical Laboratory of Montgomery, Alabama; and Wil- liam James Battle, who has served as dean and act- ing president of the University of Texas and now professor of Greek in the University of Cincinnati -sons whose character and worth are in a fine sense the continued achievements of their honored sire.
KEMP PLUMMER BATTLE, JR., M. D. The oldest son of the venerable Dr. K. P. Battle of Chapel Hill, former president of the University of North Carolina, Dr. Kemp Plummer Battle, Jr., has long enjoyed an enviable position of prominence in the medical profession of his native state. He is a specialist in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and for thirty years has been actively associated with another great specialist of North Carolina, Dr. R. H. Lewis.
Doctor Battle was born at Raleigh March ! 1859. With the ideals and inspiration that came from an ideal home life, he was also given the liberal advantages of the best schools at home and abroad. At the age of twelve he entered the Bing- ham School at Mebane under Col. William Bingham and Maj. Robert Bingham. In 1875 he entered the University of North Carolina where he was graduated A. B. in 1879. Other men of that grad- uating class who received the approbation of the world for their good deeds were Governor F. D. Winston, Judge R. W. Winston, Bishop Strange, Judge J. S. Manning, Dr. J. M. Manning and Mr. W. J. Peele.
After leaving the university he began the study of medicine at Chapel Hill and in 1881 graduated M. D. from the University of Virginia. In 1882 he received a similar degree from the Bellevue, Hos- pital Medical College of New York. Since 1882 he has been a member of the State Medical So- ciety. After graduation he served as interne at Charity Hospital on Blackwell's Island, New York, and in the Blackwell's Island Lunatic Asylum, and during 1884-85 was assistant surgeon in the United States Marine Hospital service, being stationed at New York, Pittsburgh, Memphis and New Orleans. This experience was of the greatest importance to his subsequent career.
In 1886 Doctor Battle began practice at Raleigh with Dr. R. H. Lewis, and this firm existed for twenty-eight years. Then in November, 1914, Dr. John B. Wright, one of the prominent younger members of the profession in this state was ad- mitted to partnership, and the firm is now Lewis, Battle & Wright.
Doctor Battle studied at the London Ophthalmic Hospital, the London Throat Hospital and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, and has taken many other post-graduate courses. He was honored as president of the Wake County Medical Society in 1913, belongs to the Raleigh Academy of Medi- cine, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Laryngology. He is one of the ophthalmolo- gists to the North Carolina State School for the Blind, one of the visiting oculists and aurists to the Rex and St. Agnes hospitals at Raleigh, is local . oculist for the Seaboard Air Line Railway, and from 1885 to 1914 was professor of physiology in the Leonard Medical School, and from 1902 to 1910 was professor of diseases of throat and nose in the medical department of the University of
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North Carolina. In 1913 Doctor Battle was made a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
From 1897 to 1900 Doctor Battle was a member of the State Medical Examining Board, and in that position perhaps did his greatest service to the state at large. Referring to his work on the board one of his colleagues has said that there probably had never served on the Board of Medical Exam- iners since its organization in 1859 a member more painstaking and careful than Doctor Battle.
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Doctor Battle is a Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity man, belongs to the Raleigh Country Club, and is a director of the Mechanics Savings Bank of Raleigh. On February 4, 1890, he married Miss Eliza N. McKee, a daughter of the late Dr. Wil- liam H. McKee, reference to whom is made on other pages.
HERBERT BEMERTON BATTLE, former chemist of the North Carolina State Board of Health, but now a resident of Montgomery, Alabama, is a son of Dr. Kemp P. Battle, former president of the Uni- versity of North Carolina.
He was born at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, May 29, 1862, was educated in the university from which he received the degree Bachelor of Science in 1881, and Doctor of Philosophy in 1887. From 1881 to 1887 he was assistant chemist of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, and from 1887 to 1897 was state chemist and director in charge of the North Carolina Agricultural Ex- periment Station. Doctor Battle was president of the Southern Chemical Company at Winston, North Carolina, in 1897-1901, and from 1902 to 1906 was connected with the Southern Cotton Oil Company at Savannah, Georgia, and Montgomery, Alabama. Since 1906 he has been president of the Battle Laboratory Corporation at Montgomery, Alabama.
His service as chemist for the North Carolina State Board of Health was from 1887 to 1897. He was also chemist with the North Carolina Geologi- cal Survey from 1887 to 1892, and was professor of chemistry in the Leonard Medical School at Raleigh from 1886 to 1897. He is a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Chemical Society, and is also widely known as an author on chemical subjects. With F. D. Dancy he is author of "Chemical Conversion Tables,"' published in 1885, and with W. J. Gascoyne of "Chemical Con- version Tables" published in 1909. On November 25, 1885, Doctor Battle married Alice M. Wilson of Morganton, North Carolina.
WILLIAM JAMES BATTLE, Ph. D., dean of the faculty of the University of Texas, Austin, is a North Carolina man, one of the distinguished sons of the venerable Dr. K. P. Battle, who for many years was connected with the University of North Carolina as professor and president.
Born at Raleigh November 30, 1870, William J. Battle graduated with honors and the degree A. B. from the University of North Carolina in 1888. He received a Master of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1891, and a Ph. D. degree in 1893, holding a Thayer Scholarship one year and a Morgan Fellowship two years.
For the session of 1889-1890 he was instructor in Latin at the University of North Carolina and was appointed tutor in Latin at the University of Chicago in 1893, but resigned to become associate professor of Greek at the University of Texas. This position he held till he was made professor of Greek in 1898. From 1908 to 1911 he was dean
of the College of Arts, and since 1911 has been dean of the faculty. Besides holding these positions he served as acting president from 1914 to 1916.
He is a fellow of the Texas Academy of Science, a member of the American Philological Association, of the Archeological Institute of America, the Hellenic Society of London, the Archeological So- ciety of Athens, Greece, the Texas Historical Asso- ciation, in which he is a member of the executive council. He belongs to the Zeta Psi Fraternity, is a former president of the University Club of Austin and a former secretary of the Town and Gown Club.
RICHARD HENRY BATTLE, who died in 1912, was one of North Carolina's most distinguished lawyers. Members of the Battle family that has so singularly enriched the professional honors of North Carolina he was born at Louisburg, North Carolina, December 3, 1835, son of William Horn and Lucy Martin (Plummer) Battle.
He was graduated A. B. and A. M. from the Uni- versity of North Carolina, receiving the former degree in 1854 and the latter in 1856, and in 1858 received his degree in the law department of the university and in 1895 was awarded the honorary title LL. D. Beginning practice in 1858 he was clerk and master in equity during 1861-62, but had in the meantime entered the Confederate army at the beginning of the war. He was nominated for first lieutenant and afterward for captain quartermaster, but resigned on account of ill health before getting his commission. During 1862-65 he was private secretary to Governor Z. B. Vance and also filled the office of state auditor. After the war he practiced law at Raleigh continuously until his death. In 1886 he was appointed judge of the Superior Court of North Carolina but declined that office.
He was president and attorney of the North Carolina Home Insurance Company, director and attorney of the Citizens National Bank of Raleigh, of the Raleigh Cotton Mills, of the Neuse River Mill, was president of the trustees of Rex Hospital, the Raleigh Cemetery Association and the Rainey Library. For many years he served as a member of the State Democratic Committee and was its chairman from 1884 to 1888. He took a very prom- inent part in the Episcopal Church, serving as a delegate to the General Convention in 1889 to 1904. He was a member of the Historical Society of North Carolina and was trustee, secretary and treasurer of the University of North Carolina and a trustee and attorney of St. Mary's School at Raleigh. He married November 28, 1860, Annie Ruffin Ashe, who died in 1883.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL D. H. HILL. As one of North Carolina's lieutenant generals during the Confederate war, Daniel Harvey Hill has been one of the famous figures and personalities of the state for two generations, and his service record as a soldier and leader in that mighty conflict is destined to be read by every succeeding generation.
It is not the purpose of this brief article to evaluate his work as a soldier. That is a large subject in itself and the data and records furnish- ing such an appreciation are to be found in many of the public works on the great war. Perhaps the most complete and adequate monograph on the subject is the "Memorial Address on the Life and Character of Lieutenant General D. H. Hill" prepared by Judge A. C. Avery of the Supreme
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Court of North Carolina. This was published twenty-five years ago. The present object is to furnish a concise biography of General Hill, con- taining only a suggestive outline of his military services.
He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His paternal grandfather William Hill, a native of the north of England, first settled in Pennsylvania and later came south with some of his fellow country- men through the Valley of Virginia and western North Carolina and settled in South Carolina. With Colonel Hayne as a partner he built in 1770 an iron foundry in York District. It was the only foundry south of Virginia where cannons were cast for the use of the Colonial armies in the Revolution. William Hill served as lieutenant colonel of Sumpter's Legion in the Revolution and fought in many engagements. Colonel Hill was wounded just before the Battle of King's Moun- tain, but he went to that field as a volunteer and was invited by the commanding officer to share in determining the plan of attack. After the war for twenty years he was representative of his dis- trict in the State Senate of South Carolina. Two of his sons served as soldiers in the War of 1812.
The parents of General Hill were Solomon and Nancy (Cabeen) Hill. His mother was a daughter of Thomas Cabeen, a native Scotchman whom General Sumpter called "the bravest man in his command." Daniel Harvey Hill was born in the York District of South Carolina July 21, 1821, and was only four years old when his father died. He and four other children were reared to man- hood by their pious and cultured mother. She exacted of her sons the most rigid observance of the Sabbath. General Hill was always devoted to his religious duties, and in his constant trust in a higher power his character was very similar to that of Gen. Stonewall Jackson and General Lee.
He early manifested a military ambition, and though lie possessed a frail constitution and rather delicate health he was accepted for entrance to the West Point Military Academy in 1838. He was member of a famous class, some of his asso- ciates who afterwards became distinguished in the Confederate army being Generals Longstreet, A. P. Stewart, G. W. Smith, R. H. Anderson and Van Dorn.
He graduated from West Point in 1842. In August, 1845, he was ordered into active service . division to assume command in the State of North for the war with Mexico as a second lieutenant. He participated in nearly every battle fought in the commands of Scott and Taylor, rose to the rank of first lieutenant and for gallant conduct at Contreras and Cherubusco was brevetted cap- tain. He again distinguished himself by his bravery at Chapultepec, winning for himself a second brevet as major. He was one of the six officers in the entire army in Mexico who was twice brevetted for meritorious service upon the field. Later he was one of the two soldiers of South Carolina awarded swords in pursuance of an act of the State Legislature, providing such honors for the bravest of the soldiers in the war with Mexico.
At the end of the Mexican war Major Hill resigned his place in the army and became pro- fessor of mathematics in Washington College at Lexington, Virginia. Six years later he assumed the same professorship in Davidson College in North Carolina, and was connected with that institution five years. He was one of the first men in the South not only to foresee but to take
action in anticipation of the inevitable conflict between the North and the South. In these modern times the people of America have a keen understanding of what is meant by "military preparedness." General Hill in his time exempli- fied that idea and principle in the highest degree. In 1859 he gave up his congenial duties at David- son College to become commandant and manager of the Military Institute at Charlotte. In the spring of 1861 Governor Ellis invited him as a trained soldier and veteran officer to take com- mand of the citizen soldiery of North Carolina at Raleigh and he is distinguished as command- ing the first camp of instruction in North Caro- lina preparatory to the war between the states. In passing it should be mentioned that General Hill was a keen judge of personal military efficiency, and he designated and recommended for promotion and was instrumental in bringing out a number of men whose names the Confederacy will always honor as among its most distinguished officers.
After the outbreak of hostilities he first went into action at the battle of Bethel with the rank of colonel. After this battle he was issued a com- mission as brigadier general by Governor Ellis, but the appointment was delayed until Septem- ber, 1861. During the following weeks he was assigned the command of the coast of North Carolina with the duty, as far as possible, of con- structing fortifications wherever necessary. He brought all his energies to bear upon this work, but early in December, 1861, was ordered into the army of Northern Virginia under General Johnston. A few weeks later he was promoted to major general, and during the year 1862 he was one of the division commanders in the successive battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines, and in the Seven Days battle around Mechanics- ville, Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill. He shared with his division in the hard fighting of the Maryland Campaign and at South Mountain, Sharpsburg and through all the tremendous and almost constant fighting in which these battles were central points Major General Hill and his men were almost constantly in posts of danger, stubbornly resisting the onslaught of the foe or brilliantly forcing some strategic point of the line. In February, 1863, he was at the request of Governor Vance, detached for a time from his Carolina. From this state he was recalled a few weeks later to Petersburg, Virginia, and was put in command of the department extending from the James to the Cape Fear. He was in command of the troops left to defend Richmond when Gen- eral Lee invaded Pennsylvania.
In 1863 President Davis informed General Hill that he was to be appointed a lieutenant general and was ordered to report to the western army. He was one of the commanders under Bragg at the battle of Chickamauga, and as a result of the unfortunate reverses that befell the Confederate arms in that campaign General Hill reluctantly subscribed his name with those of other generals to the petition for Bragg's removal from the office of commanding general of the western army. President Davis came to believe that General Hill was the originator of this plan, and visited him with so much ill favor that General Hill was practically deprived of any important campaign until the last months of the war. President Davis did not send the name of General Hill for confirmation as lieutenant general and the latter
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was not reinstated in command of his corps until Sherman's forces had begun the invasion of the Carolinas. He was assigned the duty of impeding, with the remnant of the grand Army of Tennessee, the advance of the victorious hosts of Sherman and disputed that advance until it was useless to contend further. As one biographer states: "Hill's reputation as a soldier depends in no wise upon successful running. This final retreat was the first and last in which he took a leading part."'
After the war General Hill devoted himself to journalism and teaching. He was editor of The Land We Love and subsequently of The Southern -Home and through these publications he did much to defend the dignity and reputation of the heroes and leaders of the Lost Cause. His editorials and his opinions upon a great variety of subjects are characterized by terse and clear language as a result of his habits of thought and study. He also wrote two religious works.
To. conclude this sketch should be quoted the last two paragraphs of Judge Avery's Memorial Address :
"Unmoved in the presence of danger, schooled to hide his emotion for suffering in the critical time of battle, and forced by a sense of duty to show his bitter scorn for cowardice and treachery, it was the exclusive privilege of his family, his staff and his closest friends to fathom the depths of his true nature. The soldiers who saw him on camp or field could as little conceive of the humble Christian who, in the long hours of the night, pleaded with his God to spare their lives and save their souls, as they could of the affectionate father, the loving husband, the sympathizing friend, and the bountiful benefactor of the poor and helpless, known only to the favored few. A writer who in his last days was admitted to the inner circle of his friends, has so beautifully expressed his idea of his true character that I cannot do better than reproduce it as not an overdrawn picture from the standpoint of one who served on his staff, had free access to his home circle, and observed and studied his motives and conduct :
" 'Fancy a man in whom the grim determina- tion of a veteran warrior is united to a gentle tenderness of manner which would not be inappro- priate to the most womanly of women; affix a pair of eyes that possess the most indisputably honest and kindly expression; animate him with a mind clear, deep and comprehensive, and imbued with a humor as rich as it is deep and effective; infuse man and mind with a soul which in its lofty views compels subordination of the material to the spiritual, and holds a supreme trust in the wisdom and goodness of the Almighty-is zealous in the discharge of duty and looks with scorn on all that is mean and sinful. Add to all these a carriage that is indomitable, and a love of truth and honor which is sublime, and you have the earthly embodiment of D. H. Hill ! ' "
General Hill married November 1852, Isabella Morrison, oldest daughter of Rev. Dr. R. H. Morrison. Her grandfather General Joseph Graham was a distinguished soldier of the Revolution and father of Governor William A. Graham.
DANIEL HARVEY HILL, of Raleigh, formerly president of the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering, is sprung from a family of educators and writers. His father was president of the University of Arkansas and his grandfather was president of the Davidson
College. Doctor Hill resigned the presidency of the State College in July, 1916, in order to write North Carolina's Confederate, Military History. The volumes on which he is now engaged will give the social as well as the military history of North Carolina during the Civil War. The work is being done on a foundation endowed by Mr. Robert H. Ricks, of Rocky Mount. The con- dition of Mr. Ricks' endowment of the Founda- tion through the North Carolina Confederate Veterans' Association was that Dr. Hill could be secured to prepare these memorial volumes. Under these circumstances he felt it his duty to resign from an institution with which he had been con- nected for twenty-seven years and devote his remaining years to the history of his people dur- ing the most trying episode in their existence. ! Doctor Hill was born at Davidson College in 1859. He is a son of Lieut .- Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill, of the Confederate army, and a great-grand- son of Col. William Hill of the Revolutionary war. (His mother, Isabella Morris Hill, was a daughter of Rev. R. H. Morrison and a granddaughter of Gen. Joseph Graham of the Revolution. Doctor Hill was prepared for college at the Military Institute at Charlotte and at Horner and Grave's Military Academy at Hillsboro. In 1880 he was graduated from Davidson College. In 1885 the degree of Master of Arts was conferred on him, and in 1905 the degree of Lit. D. by the same institution. In 1910 the University of North Carolina conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws.
From 1880 to 1889 he was professor of Eng- lish in the Georgia Military and Agricultural College at Milledgeville. In 1889 he was called to the Chair of English in the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, and held that position until 1908, when he was elected president to succeed Pres. George T. Winston. He served as president until 1916, when he retired to devote his life to historical work.
For years Doctor Hill has been employing his talents for research and his literary ability in preserving the history of his state. He is the author of "North Carolina Troops in the Civil War," published in 1899; "Greene's Retreat,"' a booklet issued in 1901; "Young People's His- tory of North Carolina," published in 1907. In collaboration with two of his associates he aided in 1903 in the preparation of "Agriculture for Beginners, "' a widely used text-book, and with the same associates edited the "Hill Readers," a series of five volumes, published in 1906. Many other of his articles on historical and literary subjects have been printed in magazines and pamphlets.
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