Jim,

Thank you for your interest. If you have an email address I can mail to, I will send you a copy of the illegible invalid pension application that is on file at Ancestry. Unfortunately, I cannot confirm Russell B Hill actually fought for the Union Army. In fact, he is said to have served for the Confederacy and it is said that on his tombstone (I have never seen it) it mentions he served in the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry (CSA). But I havent been able to hunt down any other references.

As I mention, my GG Uncle was born in Feb 1821 in Burke/now Yancey Co. NC and dies June 1902 in McMinn County TN.

In 1850 he is living with his brother Charles Hill in Carter County, TN, but by 1860 he has moved to McMinn County TN along with several members of his family, including his father John Hill and his stepmother Elizabeth Hyder HAINs. Russell B Hill marries Ellen Tracy in McMinn County AFTER the war, about 1866.

PS--There are two Civil War documents with my GG Uncle's name on them at Ancestry.com. One is the illegible reference to an invalid pension application (the number starts out 1083.?67). The other is a special civil war veteran's census for McMinn County in which the Union veterans are listed with company/regiment info and the Confederate soldiers are listed but with no corresponding information. I can send you a copy of that, too, if you would like to see it.

Since he seems to have applied for a Union pension, I am wondering if my GG Uncle might not have been conscripted into one army, but fought for another. I understand that happened frequently, especially in TN.