Isaac J. Hill

Isaac J. Hill was a private in the Connecticut 29th Colored Regiment who served in the Civil War. After the war, Isaac moved to Woodbury, New Jersey and published the first account of the 29th called, “A Sketch of the 29th Regiment of Connecticut Colored Troops.“ The book was written in 1866 and published in 1867. Isaac also became a regular itinerant preacher for the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In April of 1882, Isaac was appointed to the Millville, New Jersey AME Church. On giving his inaugural discourse, he fell in the pulpit with paralysis. Isaac died 6 months later on October 17th, 1882. (Morgan, p.208)

Isaac was buried in Red Bank Colored Cemetery in Woodbury, New Jersey. In 1962, a parking lot was built over the Red Bank Colored Cemetery. It is said that the bodies were moved down the road to the Presbyterian Burial Ground. It's impossible to determine if they actual moved the bodies, but Isaac’s headstone was moved, as were many others. Those headstones were lined up against a fence at the back of the Broad Street Cemetery. Weathered and aged, Isaac’s name can hardly be read on the stone.

To correct this, I worked with the Presbyterian Church at Woodbury to complete the paperwork requesting a memorial headstone for Isaac J. Hill from the U.S. Office of Veterans Affairs. The V.A. approved the stone. The stone arrived and was installed by Cooper Monuments on February 26th, 2024.

To honor Isaac, a service will be held at the Presbyterian Burial Ground at the spot of Isaac’s new gravestone. The service will be on June 8th at 10am at 800 North Broad Street in Woodbury, NJ.

a registration link will be provided here once available.

Hope to see you there!