Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2012, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and Submitted by Rhoda Taylor Fone for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM February 4, 1916 Former Quantrell Soldier Celebrates His Golden Wedding Anniversary at McKinney, Tells of Many Bloody Fights In Missouri and His Trips Across Borderland to Texas Tuck Hill Refused to Enter Kentucky with Guerillas, But Remained Confederate Special to The Star-Telegram McKINNEY, Texas, Feb 4.—Capt. Tuck Hill and his wife have just celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. But it isn’t this long span of marital bliss alone that makes these Collin county pioneers interesting to Texans. There’s more. Captain Hill’s life is written in the very blood of the Confederacy and is linked with the stirring annals of Quantrell’s daring band of border warriors. As a mere boy Hill enlisted in the Confederate army as soon as hostilities began in 1861, but remained with General Sterling Price’s command only three months, getting an honorable discharge and joining immediately afterwards Col. Charles William Quantrell’s company. He fought with the guerillas until Quantrell with a few men went into Kentucky. Here Hill balked, telling his leader that going into the open country would mean swift death for all. Battle of Centralia In 1864, 150 of Quantrell’s followers under the command of Capt. Bill Anderson, staged one of their most daring battles at Centralia, Mo. In speaking of this encounter with the Yankee troops, Captain Hill says: “We held up a train at Centralia, took off twenty-seven Yankees, whom we killed. We set fire to the train after we had taken every passenger off and turned the train loose, and it ran into Sturgin, seven miles distant, where several companies of Yankee soldiers were stationed. Colonel Johnson, in command of the Union forces at Sturgin, with 362 men came out with a black flag, which meant ‘death to all.’ Anderson sent out a scout of ten men under Dave Pool to meet Colonel Johnson and lead his men into our net. Frank James and myself were members of this scouting party. We met Johnson and his men some five or six miles out of Sturgin, opened fire on them and turned our horses toward camp. “They followed us and found our men at Singleton’s barn. We were feeding our horses and eating our dinner. Anderson gave command to bridle up, mount and fall in line! He then gave command to dismount and look after saddles, tighten them up, notice revolvers and see that they were in good shape and all loaded. He then gave command to mount again. The enemy had formed a line about one-quarter of a mile from us on the open prairie, all dismounted, leaving every fifth man to hold horses, the rest were sent to the front, about 100 yards from the horses. When Anderson was preparing to charge, one of the boys, who was quite comical, said ‘Them poor fools are going to fight us on foot. God have mercy on them.’ We charged them and they fired on us at distance of something like 100 yards. We waited until we were within about twenty- five yards of the enemy, when we sent a volley of shots into the line and they fell like a paling fence under a storm. The men who had been left behind with the horses turned the four horses loose, mounted their own steeds and fled toward Sturgin, leaving their comrades at the mercy of the guerrillas. We killed Colonel Johnson and all of his men with the exception of thirteen and ran them eleven miles. We lost only three men in the fight.” Fought Many Battles Hill’s activates didn’t cease with his retirement from the Quantrell band. Rather his real hazardous service began then. He carried important dispatches through the Union lines from one Confederate general to another, led his own company which he recruited into many successful battles and invariably triumphed. He enjoys the distinction of being the last Confederate captain to lay down his arms and take the oath of allegiance. He returned to Texas from Missouri, having surrendered at Lexington, and took up his residence at McKinney. He married Miss Mary Quintilla Graves in Collin county in January, 1866. Captain Hill says he knows only of four photos of Quantrell in existence and that three of them were copied from an original, which was the only one Quantrell didn’t destroy when he embarked upon his guerilla campaign. Hill owns one of the copies. Capt. W. W. James and Jack W. Borden of Fort Worth were comrades of Hill in the Confederate army.