Enoch Preston Hill (1873-1930) was born on a farm in Franklin County in southern Illinois, the son of Joseph H. Hill and his wife Emiline. Shortly before the armistice ending the Spanish-American War Hill was mustered in to Co. F, 9th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served with that regiment from July 1898 to May 1899. From January to April 1899 the 9th Illinois was among the U. S. troops occupying Cuba. In the summer of 1899 Hill reenlisted, and after a period of training at Fort Sheridan near Chicago left for the Philippine Islands as a private in Co. A, 30th U. S. Volunteer Infantry. The 30th Infantry was one of 24 regular army regiments raised in 1899 to suppress the "insurgency" in the recently annexed Philippines (i.e., the Philippine-American War, 1899-1902). Hill spent about 15 months on the island of Luzon, around Manila and subsequently to the south, at Tayabas and Lucena. On his return home he married Mary Chilton (1882-1965), the daughter of James and Priscilla Chilton of Elk Prairie, Jefferson County, Illinois, adjacent to Hill's native Franklin County. Hill had begun corresponding with Chilton in April 1899, at the suggestion of mutual friend Willis Hodge; the two were not previously acquainted. They first met on Hill's return home from Cuba, and continued to write during his tour in the Philippines. The date of their marriage is not entirely clear, though the letters suggest it took place in 1901. Later records show the couple at Tyrone in Franklin County and at Ina in Jefferson County, where Hill died in 1930.