West Point 1899 .38 Special

[n4zov]

Another tidbit of information on Lt. Leroy Hillman appeared in The New York Times of June 18, 1900:

"WEST POINT, June 17 - Half a dozen members of the West Point class of 1900 will be married in the course of the next few weeks. This is the best record made in so short a time by any class.

Lieut. Leroy Hillman will marry Miss Mirian Ellis, sister of Lieut. Wilmot E. Ellis of the Fourth Artillery, next Thursday. Miss Ellis's father is Edward S. Ellis, the well-known author of boy's stories. Miss Ellis and Lieut. Hillman met last Summer while the latter was a cadet in camp. It was a case of love at first sight."

 

[jjones33]

Excellent! Does the records show who ordered the gun for him or just show that it was shipped to the young cadet. That is one gun truly worthy of display.

 

[mikepriwer]

TJ

This information thus far, from the shipping records, only shows that it was
shipped to him at West Point. Interestingly, his class was 54 cadets, and a total
of 17 1899's were shipped individually to members of that class. All were shipped
on June 11 1900 , two days before graduation.


N4

Thanks for the lead to Wilmot Ellis, Col. Hillmans brother-in-law. Wilmot Ellis
graduated from West Point in the class of 1889, and returned for a two-year teaching
stint for 1899 and 1900. I presume that is when Hillman and Ellis met. Col. Ellis
eventually retired in 1920, about a year after Col. Hillman died. Col. Ellis was
a very prolific writer on a number of topic, all generally related to artillery.
You can google his name, Wilmot Ellis, and you will find a lot of his writings.

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[mikepriwer]

This following image comes from a congressional investigation, right after the
Armistice, about the cost of the War. Col Hillman had sat on a board that was making
decisions about war materials left over.

You may need to zoom in, to read this.

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[mikepriwer]

This image is from the 1900 Yearbook, and is the page showing Col. Hillman, along with
two other members of the class:

This next image is the page from the Arsenal Record (that I referenced eearlier).
I'm trying the professional version of Adobe Acrobat, and it allows me to convert
pdf images to jpg images, that can be displayed here:

Later, Mike Priwer

 

[delta-419]

Mike, when I was on the RIA commander's staff there used to be a gallery of all the previous commanders just outside the commander's office, going all the way back to General Rodman of Civil War era. A copy of Col. Hillman's photo would go nicely with your revolver. The curater of the Browning Musem at RIA might help with this if requested. Just a suggestion.

 

[29-1]

Hi Mike, in looking up Hillman, from the Nevada State Journal, Jan 30, 1907 page 4, comes this tidbit:

'Leroy Hillman of Indianapolis, 27 years old is the youngest captain in the United States Army. He is now on duty at the arsenel in Rock Island
Ill.'

This was quite a distinction actually as it meant that he reached this rank before any of the other 1900 grads from West Point, doing so in about 5 years. You have to understand that before WWI, many officers never rose above Captain during an entire career of over 30 years. When the war started, most of the officers of his time in grade were brevet promoted to Colonel and at least one, MacArthur thanks to mom writing letters to J J Pershing, were made Brigadere Generals. And, all except MacArthur I believe reverted to their pre-war grades. This happened to Bradley, Eisenhower and Patton to name a few. Hillman, despite his short stature must have been an exceptional officer or had connections, maybe both.
Regards
Chuck

 

[mikepriwer]

Chuck & Delta

Thanks for the comments. The piece from the Nevada is very interesting, and I am
going to ask the curator at the museum about a picture.

There are lots of pieces to this story, and several people are helping, in a variety
of ways. My focus right now is trying to understand how this gun got to the marketplace,
instead of being kept within a rather interesting family. "Rather" is an understatement.

I may have mentioned earlier, in the postings, that Col Hillman married Miriam Ellis,
the sister of Col Wilmot Ellis. Wilmot is a 1889 West Point graduate, and was on a
teaching assignment at West Point during Leroy's junior and senior years. I presume that
this is how Col Hillman met his wife. They were married towards the end of the summer
in 1900. They never had any children, and he died in the great flu epidemic of 1918.
The question is - what happened to this Model of 1899 ?

Hillmans brother-in-law, Wilmot Ellis, married a woman named Sedie Clark Lauderdale.
She is the great-grand-daughter of William Clark, of the Lewis & Clark fame. Wilmot
and Sedie have two children, a son Edward Lauderdale Ellis, and a daughter Dorothy
Ysidra Ellis. Dorothy married a Col Claude W Cummins, who is a doctor.

Now - and this is the missing piece - Edward and/or Dorothy have a daughter named
Eleanor Glasgow. Those two names are part of the William Clark legacy. Eleanor Glasgow
is Wilmots grand-daughter. She marries Lt Daniel Light Hine, who graduates West Point
in the class of 1933. In about 1936, they have a duaghter named Virginia Eleanor Hine.
And, in about 1940ish, they have two sons - Daniel L Hine and William Clark Hine.
Wilmot Ellis acknowledges Virginia Eleanor as his first great-grandchild, in one of his
writings. From these three Hine children, they collectively have 3 or 4 children.

The Hillmans have no children, and Miriam's only relative is her brother Wilmot.
Leroy was an only child. In a big leap of faith, I'm guessing that she gave this
revolver to Wilmot, and I'm guessing that he gave it to his grand-daughters husband
Daniel. Conveniently, that keeps it in the hands of West Point graduates.

The gun is 98% plus, and shows no signs of use , or abuse. Its my guess that it
stayed in this family up until 10 years ago or so, when one of these Hine family
members decided to sell it - perhaps not realizing what it was.

The last assignment for Col Daniel Hine is Commander - Rock Island Arsenal !

Regards, Mike

 

[digi-shots]

Mike,

Great post and a very interesting gun.

Here's something I found:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C0DE...5BC1A9609C946197D6CF

"Special to The New York Times. June 18, 1900, Wednesday

WEST POINTERS TO MARRY.; Half a Dozen Members of the Class of 1900 Will Be Benedicts by July 1.

WEST POINTERS TO MARRY. Half a Dozen Members of the Class of 1900 Will Be Benedicts by July 1. Special to The New York Times. " WEST POINT, June IT.-Half a dozen members of the West Point class of 1900 be married in the course of the next few weeks. This is the best record made in so short a ttme by any class. Lieut. Leroy Hillman will marry Miss Miriam Ellis, sister of Lieut. Wilmot E. Ellls of the Fourth Artillery, next Thursday. Miss Elite's father is Edward S. Ellis, the well-known author of boys' stories. Miss Ellis and Lleut. Hillman met last Summer while the latter was a cadet in camp. It was a case of love at first sight."



Linda
SWCA #1965

 

[mikepriwer]

Linda

Thanks for taking the time, and effort, to help in this research project !

This link is very interesting :

http://www.manorweb.com/genea/theclark.html

You can search this for "Ellis" , and you will see the connection that Col Hillmans
borther-in-law has , to the William Clark family. Unfortunately, this site does
not make the connection, or is unaware of the connection, in which Wilmots
grand-daughter marries Daniel Hine,and one of their children is William Clark
Hine .

Regards, Mike

 

[delta-419]

One other thought occured to me, if COL. Hillman passed away while serving at Rock Island Arsenal, there was a small military hospital there that in later years was converted to use as the Deputy Commander's quartes. There is also a large national cemetary located on the island along with a Confederate graveyard when RIA was a POW camp. COL. Hillman may be intered at RIA.