Robert Benjamin Hilton (' Smith; 1821 – January 10, 1894) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor, soldier, and

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

politician who served in the

Congress of the Confederate States The Confederate States Congress was both the provisional and permanent legislative assembly of the Confederate States of America that existed from 1861 to 1865. Its actions were for the most part concerned with measures to establish a new nat ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Biography

Hilton was born in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

as Robert Benjamin Smith. He graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1843. He later moved to

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

, where he established a successful law practice. He legally changed his surname to Hilton in January 1849. Later that year, he and

Augustus Maxwell Augustus Emmet Maxwell (September 21, 1820 – May 5, 1903) was an American lawyer and politician. Maxwell served in a number of political positions in the State of Florida including as one of Florida's Senators to the Confederate States Cong ...

entered the newspaper business when they co-owned and edited the Tallahassee ''Floridian''. They later merged the paper with the ''Southern Journal'' to form the '' Floridian and Journal''. In 1858, he was elected as the Clerk of the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he received a commission in April 1861 as the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of Company D of the 1st Florida Infantry. He subsequently represented the state in the

First Confederate Congress The 1st Confederate States Congress, consisting of the Confederate States Senate and the Confederate States House of Representatives, met from February 18, 1862, to February 17, 1864, during the first two years of Jefferson Davis's presidency, a ...

and the

Second Confederate Congress The 2nd Confederate States Congress, consisting of the Confederate States Senate and the Confederate States House of Representatives, met from May 2, 1864, to March 18, 1865, during the last year of Jefferson Davis's presidency, at the Virginia S ...

from 1862 to 1865. He successfully sponsored a bill in January 1864 to withdraw the exemption from military service that had previously been granted to men of military age if they could provide a paid substitute. He also was active in legislation concerning tax limits and funding the Confederate currency. After the war he served briefly as a state court judge in 1867. He died in Tallahassee and was buried there in St. John's Episcopal Cemetery.The Political Graveyard
biography of R. B. Hilton (accessed 08-31-08). The journal Hilton maintained during the war is in the archives of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in Gainesville.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilton, Robert Benjamin Members of the Confederate House of Representatives from Florida 19th-century American politicians Confederate States Army officers People from Virginia People from Tallahassee, Florida Brown University alumni 19th-century American newspaper editors 1821 births 1894 deaths American male journalists 19th-century American male writers