Author: William Robert Hill
George Hill was born in 1758 and was living in Cecil County, Maryland when at age 20, on April 20, 1778 he enlisted as a private in the Second Troop of Horse in the newly created Second Partisan Corps of the Continental Army, also called Lee’s Partisan Corps, or more famously, Lee’s Legion.

His enlistment was for the duration of the war and he would serve over five years. His commanding officer, Major (later Lt. Colonel) Henry Lee, was the legendary “Light Horse Harry” Lee, known for his daring against the enemy and George Washington’s favorite cavalry officer. Light Horse Harry’s Legion would garner fame for its aggressive tactics combining cavalry and infantry, and for its prowess in battle and raiding from New York to Georgia, particularly in the southern campaign of 1781 against Lord Cornwallis.

According to army pay records and muster rolls, George Hill served as a farrier for Second Troop during his first year, but by the summer of 1780 he was serving as a light dragoon. He was promoted to corporal in May, 1783 and was detached from active service on June 19, 1783. He was present for a final muster in July, 1784.
In muster rolls and in his promotion to corporal, George Hill’s name often appears next to another dragoon named John Manly, also from Cecil County, Maryland. Their names would appear together in many instances during and after the war.

Both were awarded land bounties of 50 acres each from the state of Maryland for their services in the Revolution, and also land bounties of 100 acres each in the Military Land District of the Northwest Territory soon to become the state of Ohio.
On May 23, 1789 George Hill married John’s sister, Elizabeth Manly, and they settled in Cecil County. They had two sons, William and Jonathan.

The Hill and Manly families would travel to Ohio in 1804 and settle on 320 acres in the Congressional Land District administered by the Chillicothe Land Office. They would be among the first settlers of Walnut Township in Fairfield County according to a letter written in 1877 by Joseph G. Wiseman, an early resident of New Salem. Both George Hill and John Manly are acknowledged in the letter as veterans of the Revolution and Lee’s Legion of Horse.

During the War of 1812, both sons of George Hill were away serving in Captain Peter Lamb’s Company of Ohio Militia when death would claim their father, uncle, and a cousin. John Manly’s 22-year old daughter, Mary, died of an unknown illness on February 10, 1814. Three days later, John Manly died, and two weeks later, on February 27, 1814 George Hill died at the age of 56. Before he passed, George acquired his friend’s debt, and it appears in the listing of debts on George Hill’s estate in Fairfield County Probate Court records: “From John Manly (estate of) in note $197.28.” Friends unto death, in war and peace.