Dr. George Washington Hill
Dawson, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Came to Texas in 1837. Indian agent, 1840-41. Member of the Congress of Texas, 1839-1842. Secretary of war under Presidents Houston and Jones. Hill County was named in his honor. Dr. Hill was a graduate of Transylvania University. Born in Tennessee, April 29, 1814; died in Navarro County, Texas, May 29, 1860. His wife Katherine M. Hill, born September 23, 1812; died April 24, 1871.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
George Washington Hill, a Transylvania University–trained physician, came to Texas in 1837 and threw himself into the affairs of the young republic. He served as an Indian agent, sat in the Congress of Texas, and held the post of Secretary of War under Presidents Sam Houston and Anson Jones. Hill County was named in his honor before his death in Navarro County in 1860.
Why it matters
Hill was among the statesmen who built the government of the Republic of Texas, shaping its military and its fraught relations with Native peoples during the years of independence.
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Related people
- · George Washington Hill
- · Sam Houston
- · Anson Jones
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Spring Hill
Dawson, TX
The oldest community in Navarro County grew up around springs that had watered Native peoples for centuries. Dr. George Washington Hill built a trading post here in 1838 — the year a surveying party skirmished with Kickapoo Indians nearby — and after serving as Republic of Texas Secretary of War he returned to practice medicine. Spring Hill flourished into the 1870s with mills, stores, and saloons, hosted a Confederate training camp during the Civil War, then declined after the railroad bypassed it in 1881.
Near Site of Trading Post of Dr. George Washington Hill
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On the raw frontier of the Republic of Texas, Dr. George Washington Hill practiced medicine while helping build a fledgling nation. Trained at Transylvania University, he came to Texas in 1836, served as a surgeon at Fort Houston, and rose to sit in the Republic's Congress, act as Indian agent, and briefly serve as secretary of war. His home, Spring Hill, was the first settlement in Navarro County, and stood near the site where surveyors, including his own brother, met a violent end in a clash with the Kickapoo.
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In October 1838 a party of twenty-five Texan surveyors pressing into Kickapoo hunting grounds ignored warnings to withdraw and was ambushed, with only seven men escaping and four of those wounded. Survivors later returned to bury their fallen comrades together in a common grave on this ground. The episode became known as the Battle Creek fight, one of the bloodiest surveyor clashes of the Republic era.
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