Arthur Allen Hill was born on November 26, 1878 in Kansas — probably in Lawrence — to parents who had been born in Virginia, raising the question as to whether or not they had been slaves.  A city directory indicates that Arthur was a gardener before the war, but one who was college educated.  Census records indicate that fact, although there is no indication of where he attended college.  This was enough to qualify him for the officers’ training school, where he was commissioned a 1st Lieutenant.  He served in Company K of the 372nd Infantry, 93rd Division.

He came back to Lawrence after the war, where he and his wife, Maude, operated a laundry.  Hill died in Lawrence on September 21, 1949, and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery.

Continuing the recognition of African Americans from Kansas who attended the officers’ training school at Fort Des Moines, Iowa:  https://www.kansasww1.org/the-african-american-soldier-kansans-at-fort-des-moines/

Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.