Joshua W. Sill

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Joshua W. Sill
December 6, 1831 – December 31, 1862

Brigadier General Joshua Sill
Place of birth Chillicothe, Ohio
Place of death Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Allegiance United States of America
Years of service 1853-1862
Rank Brevet Major General (Civil War)

Joshua W. Sill (December 6, 1831 - December 31, 1862, was a career officer in the United States Army and Brigadier General during the American Civil War. He was killed at the Battle of Stone's River in Tennessee. Fort Sill, Oklahoma, was later named in his honor.

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[edit] Early life and background

Sill's early education was obtained largely from his father, who was a lawyer. Sill was appointed in 1849 to the U.S. Military Academy. During his four years at West Point he ranked among the best scholars and graduated third in his class. Upon graduation he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in Ordnance and his first assignment was at the Watervliet Arsenal in Troy, New York. In 1855 he was assigned to West Point as an instructor. After two years there he was assigned to Pittsburgh Arsenal as an ordnance officer.

In May 1858, he was sent to Vancouver in Washington Territory to superintend the building of an arsenal. Difficulties with the British Government prevented the construction of this arsenal and he was reassigned to Watervleit Arsenal. A few months later he was ordered to Fort Leavenworth, but resigned his commission in the spring of 1860. He then taught mathematics and civil engineering in the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute.

[edit] Civil War

Following the bombardment of Fort Sumter he resigned his teaching position and offered his services to the Governor of Ohio, who appointed him Assistant Adjutant General of the State in May 1861. Here he was occupied in the organization of the Ohio forces. In August 1861 he was commissioned Colonel of the 33rd Ohio volunteers and accompanied General William "Bull" Nelson in the Eastern Kentucky expedition.

His regiment was then assigned to General Ormsby M. Mitchel's division and Sill was placed in command of a Brigade and was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. Shortly thereafter, Sill was elevated to command of the Division, though soon reassigned to command a brigade in General Philip Sheridan's division.

He took part in the bloodiest battle of the Civil War (in terms of percentage of casualties on both sides), the Battle of Stone's River, just outside of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In the first day of this battle, while leading his men forward, he was killed by rifle fire. On the eve of the battle, General Sill had been in conference with his chief, General Sheridan. When the conference adjourned and the attendees began to disperse, General Sill and Sheridan mistakenly put on each others coats. Sill was thus wearing Sheridans' coat at the time he was killed. A riflemen may have mistaken him for Sheridan and shot him.

His body was found by the Confederate troops, who buried it in a battlefield cemetery near the scene of his death. A few years later his body was removed to the Grandview Cemetery at Chillicothe, Ohio. An epitaph from one of his officers stated that "No man in the entire army, I believe, was so much admired, respected, and beloved by inferiors as well as superiors in rank as was General Sill".

[edit] Fort Sill

In 1869 his classmate from West Point and Division commander, General Sheridan, officially established a military post in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma which he named in memory of General Sill. Fort Sill is the largest Artillery Center in the world.

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Persondata
NAME Joshua W. Sill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION General
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH Chillicothe, Ohio
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1862
PLACE OF DEATH Murfreesboro, Tennessee