Benjamin Harvey Hill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Senator from Georgia | |
| In office March 4, 1877 – August 16, 1882 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas M. Norwood |
| Succeeded by | Middleton P. Barrow |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 9th district | |
| In office May 5, 1875 – March 3, 1877 | |
| Preceded by | Hiram Parks Bell |
| Succeeded by | Hiram Parks Bell |
| Confederate States Senator from Georgia | |
| In office February 18, 1862 – May 10, 1865 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Deputy to the C.S. Congress from Georgia | |
| In office February 8, 1861 – February 17, 1862 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 14, 1823 Jasper County, Georgia |
| Died | August 16, 1882 (aged 58) Gurley, Alabama |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Other political affiliations | Whig (Before 1855) American (1855–1859) Constitutional Union (1859–1861) |
| Alma mater | University of Georgia |
| Signature | .png){kind=small} |
Benjamin Harvey Hill (September 14, 1823 – August 16, 1882) was a politician whose "flamboyant opposition" to Congressional Reconstruction is credited with helping inaugurate Georgia's Ku Klux Klan. His famous "brush arbor speech" in Atlanta on July 23, 1868, called for the use of violence against the governor, the legislature, and freed people.[1][2] His career spanned state and national politics, and the Civil War. He served in the Georgia legislature in both houses. Although he initially opposed secession and was elected as a Unionist in 1860, he nonetheless voted to secede in that year, and represented Georgia as a Confederate senator during the conflict.[3]
After the war and near the end of the Reconstruction era, Hill was elected in 1874 to the United States House of Representatives, and in 1877 as a U.S. senator from Georgia. He served in the Senate until his death in 1882.
- ^ Nelson, Scott (1999). Iron Confederacies: Southern Railways, Klan Violence, and Reconstruction. UNC Press. ISBN 0-8078-2476-3.
- ^ Huffman, Frank Jackson (1974). Old South, New South: Continuity and Change in a Georgia county, 1850-1880 (PhD thesis). Yale University.
- ^ The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Vol. X. New York: James T. White & Co. 1900. p. 194.